The Program

TechStars Blog

8th February 2012

Mentor Spotlight: Pat Condon and the Consumption of Computing

by Clare Tischer

Mentor: Pat Condon, Founder of Rackspace Hosting
TechStars Program: Cloud

What are you working on lately?
I spend most of my time at Rackspace thinking about what’s next for the company – lines of business we should be in, where we should go as a company from spending time with customers. SMB customers tend to pull us forward, they are early adopters moreso than bigger companies. One of the unique insights we have is that out of our hundreds of thousands of companies, many are startup in nature. It gives us a first look in terms of where things are going in a macro view.

How did you first meet Jason Seats?
I knew Jason through Slicehost. He was looking for new projects and TechStars Cloud was such a perfect opportunity for him. We have been connected the whole time. He and I work together as mentors on another project, 3 Day Startup, which is geared toward undergrads and grads and based in Austin. As a mentor or a student, you learn on the fly in that program.

This is our inaugural class for Cloud. What’s exciting about cloud infrastructure?
That’s easy. Every generation has a kind of big moment where there’s a shift in the way things are done. Ours is the way computing is being consumed. Now it’s being done over the web and not in some back room. It drives the price down and when things become cheaper, there are more ways to utilize things. It used to be that everyone had to generate their own electricity locally, paying for what you used. With Cloud, instead of digging a theoretical well at your house, you just pay for what you use over the web and as a result everyone is going online in bigger, broader ways. Looking at what our customers at Rackspace are doing, I see something new that amazes me on a daily basis.

At the time of this conversation, Cloud has just begun. Have you met the founders yet?
I met with half of the founders yesterday and it’s a great group of companies. One thing that’s different about this program is that it’s vertically focused so you end up getting companies that are more similiar than they are different. Everyone is somehow related to cloud infrastructure and I think they will collaborate because they’re using the same technologies and it will increase both the quality of mentoring and how they support one another as a class. I’m so excited to watch it unfold.


6th February 2012

Why Another Accelerator? A TechStars Cloud Company’s Two Cents.

by Clare Tischer

Last week we heard from Murfie about the TechStars program in Boston. Below is a guest post by Mat Ellis, CEO and Founder of Cloudability, a company currently in TechStars Cloud that has already been through an incubator and raised $1.2M.

Last September we entered the Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE). It was a great experience and ended with a $1.2M seed round just before Christmas. While we were meeting with investors we were also competing for a place at the brand new TechStars Cloud program in San Antonio. Almost everyone asked us the same question: why another incubator?

It became a sensitive issue for me as I knew investor optics are a critical part of a good raise. I was concerned our investors might think we didn’t have faith in ourselves or even worse, that maybe we’d become like one of those grown up students who never want to leave college preferring the family home and job. Folks told me that other companies had raised money before going into TechStars but that didn’t ease my mind.

But two things about TechStars kept standing out. First, there was the amazing track record of TechStars companies. It’s been such a successful program for so long that I reckoned it couldn’t be just one big selection effect, there had to be something in TechStars that made these companies thrive as well. We discovered what the secret sauce was on our visit to the TechStars Cloud open house in early November: the program itself was awesome but the people involved were truly outstanding. We had to get in, and fortunately we did.

Four weeks and 50 mentor meetings later we’re still being surprised (in a good way!) on a daily basis. It’s been an amazing ride, not unlike being caught up in some huge updraft, exhilarating and a tiny bit scary at the same time. We have had so many successful and incredible individuals apply their experience and talent to think about what we are doing at Cloudability, and we are already seeing tangible benefits. There is not a single area of our enterprise that has not been touched in some way by the program, and yet we are only a third of the way through.

The future beckons and one thing is for certain: it will be brighter and more exciting thanks to TechStars.


3rd February 2012

Job Openings at TechStars companies this week

by David Cohen

2nd February 2012

Murfie, Funding and TechStars

by Clare Tischer

This post belongs to Murfie Musings –a series where folks at Murfie and our guests take the time to share what Murfie is up to as well as explore issues that matter to media ecology.

It raised a few eyebrows in the tech-startup business press when we announced raising money in conjunction with joining the TechStars Boston 2012 class. If we’ve already raised capital, the thinking goes, then what’s the point?

>

Matt Younkle

It’s true that a crucial objective of many companies at TechStars is raising their first real round of seed capital. Turns out there are also plenty of funded companies that participate in TechStars, too. Murfie can now be added to this growing list.

I’m a competitive guy. Most entrepreneurs are. The competition to make it into TechStars is intense for a startup at any stage of growth, and it’s an awesome group that gets selected to participate. I think that what our team has built is incredible, and it’s great to see recognition of that via our invitation into the TechStars community. We’re midway through the second week of the program, and I feel privileged to be surrounded by such an amazing bunch of entrepreneurs.

So why TechStars for Murfie? Because seed funding is only one small step along a long path toward success. We need help developing our marketing strategy. We need help simplifying our message. We need help nailing our metrics. We need help establishing strong connections to additional capital for our next big raise. Murfie has a long way to go, and we want to be able to crush it every step of the way. That’s why TechStars is absolutely the perfect place for Murfie right now.


1st February 2012

SxSWi Save the Date – March 9th, 2012

by Clare Tischer

Startups Rock.
But TechStars Startups Roll (at SXSWi).

Going to Austin for South by Southwest? Join TechStars and the following companies as we celebrate entrepreneurs at SXSW Interactive on opening night!


do{
this.meet(entrepreneurs)
this.have(fun)
} while (true)

Save the Date Details:
Friday March 9th, 2012
Location TBA
8 p.m. until the party turns awkward

This party would not take place without the support of the following TechStars companies. We love them:

31st January 2012

Two Founders on Inc. Magazine’s 15 Women to Watch in Tech

by Clare Tischer

Two TechStars founders made the list of Inc. Magazine’s 15 Women to Watch in Tech, Caren Maio of nestio and Erika Trautman of Flixmaster.

I caught up with Erika to see how she felt when she found out:

“I’m thrilled to be included on the list with so many other really impressive women. It seems to me that our numbers are growing, which is fantastic. I’m looking forward to the day when half of all tech companies are female-founded. Things are going great over at FlixMaster. We are very, very close to public launch and maybe even closer to first revenue, with some fantastic flagship partnerships in the works. Our team (of 5 full-time and 2 part-time) is really gelling these days and every long day in the office is a blast. We’ve got launch, VCIR, and SXSW all coming up quickly, so it continues to be a roller coaster. I’m amazed every day at what this company is becoming and I’m loving it!”

Congrats to both women!

31st January 2012

Learn more about TechStars in Boulder on 2/23

by Nicole Glaros

TechStars in Boulder is now accepting applications!

But if you’re wondering whether the program is for you, or have questions about it or your application, then join us on 2/23. You can meet me (and yes, I review all the applications), mentors, and alumni who are here to help you answer any questions you have about the program.

Early application deadline (to be considered for TechStars for a Day) is February 26th, with a final application deadline of March 16th.

No agenda, just good old fashioned networking question and answer session. Space is limited, please RSVP!

Details
February 23rd, 2012
5:30 – 7:30pm
The Bitter Bar
RSVP required, click here