Tag

Techstars Voices

184 posts

Building Aligned OKRs That Drive Team Execution

OKRs work best when they’re connected to the company’s longer-term direction and built together across teams, so everyone understands their contribution and the commitments that tie their work to others.

November 4, 2026

Insights & Trends

The First Hand Up Is Not Always the Right Hand

Founders will grab the first hand offered, and in a young startup community, that one mentor might be the only voice they hear. Here’s why it matters who’s actually in the room, and how to build a mentor program that gives founders more than one hand to choose from.

November 2, 2026

Insights & Trends

Get Comfortable With the Uncomfortable

Perfection shows up for founders, but it never sticks around for long. Every solved problem trades for a bigger one, and you’ll never have enough data to make the next call easy. The founders who thrive learn to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, decide with about seventy percent of the picture, and adjust as they go.

October 26, 2026

Insights & Trends

Your Meetup Is Missing Half Your Founders

More founders are choosing to build without venture capital, and community builders who only program pitch nights and investor mixers risk losing them without ever noticing.

October 19, 2026

Insights & Trends

When Someday Is Now

Most people have a business idea but never take the first step, and with community support, free resources, and AI now within reach, there's no better time to stop waiting for someday and start.

October 5, 2026

Founder Advice

Founders... Your Pre-Seed Round Probably Won’t Take 1–3 Months

Most pre-seed rounds take three to six months and as many as 200 investor conversations, so here's how to plan your raise around the norm and not the exception.

October 5, 2026

Insights & Trends

This Is the First Founder Class That Doesn't Need a Backlog

Techstars Founder & CEO David Cohen reflects on how AI is reshaping the earliest days of building a startup.

September 11, 2026

Insights & Trends

I Trusted the Wrong People at MapQuest

The deepest trust comes from something else: having actually lived the journey, and being willing to talk about it honestly. Not just the wins. The losses too.

August 3, 2026

Startup Spotlight

Neural Defend Founder & CEO Piyush Verma on Building the World's Trust Layer for Deepfake Detection

Piyush Verma on why Neural Defend (Techstars 2025) isn't just another API layer, but the trust infrastructure companies build directly into their core technology.

July 30, 2026

Insights & Trends

The Invisible Rules Preventing Change In Your Startup Community

True systemic change in a startup community isn't built on isolated programs, but on shifting the invisible norms and daily defaults that drive founder behavior.

July 27, 2026

Insights & Trends

Leadership Begins When You Go First

Leadership belongs to the people who host the first meeting, make the first introduction, celebrate someone else's success, or simply welcome the newest entrepreneur into the room.

July 20, 2026

Insights & Trends

Ask Yourself These 3 Questions If You Want To See Your Ecosystem's Future

The best startup communities don't all look alike. But they do behave alike.

July 14, 2026