Techstars began in Boulder, Colorado in 2007 as a way to give young startups the mentorship, network and funding needed to get off the ground. Twelve years later, the Techstars accelerator program has launched dozens of programs across the world, and helped over 1,800 companies in their infancy — including well-known names like ClassPass, DigitalOcean, Sphero and more.
Despite becoming a global player, Techstars never left Colorado. The accelerator is currently accepting applications for the Techstars Boulder class of 2020, with applications closing on October 13.
Every year, Techstars Boulder chooses 10 startups for its 13-week program, which begins in January. Over the following weeks, the startups will be given mentorship from successful Colorado entrepreneurs, investors and corporate leaders.
Techstars says that this mentorship helps startups avoid some of the common early pitfalls, come up with a strategy to meet their goals, as well as network with influential and connected people. On top of this, Techstars provides each startup in its class with $120K in funding.
“We spend a lot of time recruiting amazing mentors, so there’s no other accelerator who has a network like we do,” Natty Zola, the Managing Director of Techstars Boulder told Built In. “We have almost 50 accelerators internationally and thousands of mentors, investors and corporate partners involved in our ecosystem. The scale of our resources to help entrepreneurs succeed is unrivaled.”
Perhaps the reason Zola is so passionate about Techstars Boulder is the fact that his company, Everlatter, went through the accelerator program in 2009. Fast forward a few years and Everlatter was acquired by AOL in 2012. Zola has been a Managing Director at Techstars since 2015.
A total of 143 companies have gone through the Techstars Boulder accelerator over 13 classes. Collectively, these companies have raised $1.2 billion in capital.
Zola is excited about the upcoming Techstars class and the continuation of the Techstars legacy.
“I know first-hand how valuable the program is,” he said. “Almost everything good that’s come out in my career has come from the Techstars network. So it’s been a real privilege for me to be involved in it for a long time.”
