Most of my days are full of meetings, in 30 minute increments, sometimes in 15 minute increments, and occasionally a rare 60 min meeting. At one point in my career, I could have 30 meetings in a day (not lying, 15 min back to back meetings with maybe 2 breaks all day) for days, and …
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How to achieve and maintain Inbox Zero
Working at TechStars comes with voluminous montains of email a day. On an average day, I get north of 250 emails, most requiring some sort of response. On a high-volume day (like during applicaiton cycle), I can get as many as 500 emails in one day. It's daunting. And since I pride myself on responsiveness and follow-through, …
7 steps to startup success
Tomorrow is day 1 for TechStars Boulder 2012, and I'm sitting here this evening putting together the orientation presentation. My final slide is called the TechStars Survival Guide, and it consists of only a few bullet points. It strikes me as I finished the slide that they're not just bullet points to survive TechStars, but …
Tips on getting into Techstars
Last night, I spent 3 glorious hours at the Techstars Boulder Happy Hour talking with entrepreneurs about their business ideas. Most of them were applying to Techstars and just wanted to get on my radar. Some of them were still trying to figure out if Techstars was right for them. I spent a lot of …
The Value of the Zero (and why community matters)
I originally posted this for my friends over at BoulderStartup.org & Silicon Flatirons - they've been hugely supportive to the Boulder Startup Scene and I'm thrilled to be a resource to them. Check them out! ****************************************************** Getting my entrepreneurial start – I was still in college. I was riddled with student loan debt, I was eating …
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Tips for Applying to TechStars
Given that TechStars in Seattle application deadline is looming (June 1 - get 'em in!), I'm reminded of the challenge of reviewing so many great applications in such a short period of time. I thought I might throw out some tips to applicants from my perspective (in having to review nearly 700 applications for 10 …
Second best answer to yes is no
I've seen this theme come up recently a lot in talks with entrepreneurs trying to raise money, or trying to sell their product. A ton of time is spent working with the investor or possible client, and the discussion ends up going nowhere. Cycles are lost, people are rejected without knowing why, and everyone gets …
How to get into TechStars…
So I'm thrilled to announce that I've accepted the role of GM for TechStars Boulder this summer! I've been at it for 3 weeks now and I'm having a blast. The one question I keep getting is 'How do we beat all the competition and get into TechStars?'. While I'm truly new to the program, …
You’re most important investor is your….
...spouse. Investors invest cash and (hopefully) time into your company. Their decision to invest in your venture is usually a business decision (unless you're friends, family, and fools cash). However, your spouse invests cash (probably your savings), your house (2nd mortgage), your children's future education, his/her time with you, his/her sanity, and possibly the marriage... …
