04 March 2015
I’ve been spending more and more time at Techstars Cloud this year. They’ve got an incredible batch of companies many who can literally change the world.
Its always a pleasure to work with smart people and Techstars has kept the bar high in that regard. Someone told me that it is harder to get into Techstars than it is to get into Harvard. Something about the acceptance rate being lower at Techstars but I digress.
What is interesting (at least for me) is that talking about my startup experiences gives me great perspective on the things I’ve accomplished. I don’t often reflect back on what I’ve done so preparing and giving a talk on those events is cathartic. I’ve learned a lot from the time I’ve spent at Techstars and I highly recommend getting involved if you can.
Diverting for a moment, Kara Gomez took the awesome photo at the top of this page of me giving the founders talk. Photography is a passion of hers and it shows in the unique quality of her photos. I really love this photo because it includes me being all animated. I’m using my hands which I don’t do unless I get excited. Techstars MD Blake Yeager is laughing and Tom (Fantasmo Studios) looks bored. It is such a dichotomy of reactions which makes the photo interesting. I think she captured the essense of a founders talk.
The talk itself is a very intimate discussion between a founder and the current Techstars class. It is often given by mentors of the program and covers both successes and failures in the founder’s career. The talks are confidential in nature and this leads to great discussions. I sat in on someone else’s founders talk once and it was chock full of details including deal sizes which were previously unpublished.
Here is the full photo:
I really enjoyed this years talk as it gave me a chance to get some perspective on my last most recent startup Written. I hope I receive an invitation to do it again.
Originally published at joshkerr.com on March 4, 2015.
