Techstars Founder Catalyst

Nearly everyone does, and we highly encourage it. We provide the space (unless you're participating in one of our virtual programs), and our locations are fully equipped and have both traditional and lounge-like space. We do believe there is a great deal of value in being in the space together because the other companies and mentors interacting there present a great opportunity.

The primary language that we use in verbal and written communications during all accelerator programs—in every country—is English.

It’s your company, so you’ll be hard at work on your product. You can choose to work out of the Techstars office if you’d like, or you can work anywhere else that you might prefer. About two or three nights a week, we organize informal educational sessions with our mentors.

We also expect many of the mentors to drop into Techstars at various times throughout the program. In general though, you’ll be working on your product each day, just like all of the other founders in the program. We don’t tell you what to do or when, but we create an environment that is conducive to helping your startup every day. And we’ll make sure you have lots of experienced mentors around to help you.

This does happen now and then. Notably, Sphero went through the Techstars Boulder program in 2010, and then returned to go through the Disney Accelerator in 2014, which resulted in their opportunity to build the Star Wars BB-8 toy!

Watch what Sphero has to say about the experience, or read this terrific article from Wired.

We look at team, team, team, market, progress, idea—in that order.

We choose great founders who are proposing products that solve real problems or create meaningful innovations. For us, it’s about the team. For this reason, we’re less likely to accept single founder companies (you’re less likely to have all the skills your company needs to succeed). The best things you can do to strengthen your application are:

• Round out your team with business, technical, and other necessary skills;

• Make progress on your prototype or product and reference it in the application;

• Show us you’ve really thought about your business and have gotten out there to do something about it;

• Demonstrate early traction or provide data points to validate your core assumptions.

You should be able to view and access all your applications on F6S. If you run into any issues accessing your applications or account, please contact support@F6S.com.

If you have submitted an application and would like to change or update any information please email F6S (support@f6s.com). Let them know what you would like to change along with the name of your startup on your application.

No. We receive thousands of applications per year, which is why we have an application process. Systematically emailing some or all of our mentors in order to try to influence them before being accepted into the program will hurt you more than it will help you. The mentors are dedicated to helping the companies that we select, but they are not a part of the selection process.

You can apply to any program, and we’ve funded companies from many different countries. You do have to be legally in the program country during the program, of course. Once you are accepted into a program, we can help with legal/immigration issues by leveraging our contacts and network to help. However, we cannot help with them in advance of acceptance to Techstars.

While we don’t screen applications just because they have a single founder, it does make things more difficult. The question we ask is: do you have all the skills your company needs to succeed?

We look for great, balanced teams who have a full range of skills. We strongly advise you to seek co-founders who balance your skillset. For example, if you’re a strong developer, you might consider adding someone with business and/or marketing experience. If you’re a great business evangelist with no developer, it’s very unlikely we’ll accept you into the program, so go find a rock star developer to join you.

Check out options like CoFoundersLab. We also suggest your local tech meetups, and a healthy dose of networking.

No.

After applications close, we’ll review applications for about seven weeks, and spend time getting to know even more about your team, market, progress and idea. Our goal is to notify the final group of companies being accepted within eight weeks from the application closing date.

All applications close at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time on the date indicated on their program page.

Nope. Just fill out the online application.

We’re not in the business of stealing ideas, and we treat application data as confidential information. Each year, we see thousands of applications, and many of them include similar ideas. For this and other practical reasons, please don’t ask us to sign an NDA. Our application does not ask for your “secret sauce” and there is no reason you have to disclose this to us if you’re not comfortable doing so. We hope that our reputation speaks for itself on this topic

Yes. We’re happy to consider any application. Just remember that the biggest thing we look at is team, team, team.

Yes, you can get kicked out. Just adhere to our Code of Conduct and all should be well.

Didn’t find the answer you were looking for? Send us an email at help@techstars.com and we’ll get back to you shortly!