Table of Contents

Foreword ix


Preface xiii


About TechStars xv


Theme 1: Idea and Vision 1


Trust Me, Your Idea Is Worthless 3


Start With Your Passion 7


Look for the Pain 11


Get Feedback Early 15


Usage Is Like Oxygen for Ideas 19


Forget the Kitchen Sink 23


Find That One Thing They Love 27


Don’t Plan. Prototype! 29


You Never Need Another Original Idea 35


Get It Out There 37


Avoid Tunnel Vision 41


Focus 45


Iterate Again 49


Fail Fast 53


Pull the Plug When You KnowIt’s Time 57


Theme 2: People 61


Don’t Go It Alone 63


Avoid Co-Founder Conflict 67


Hire People Better than You 71


Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly 75


If You Can Quit, You Should 79


Build a Balanced Team 83


Startups Seek Friends 87


Engage Great Mentors 91


Define Your Culture 95


Two Strikes and You Are Out 101


Karma Matters 105


Be Open to Randomness 109


Theme 3: Execution 113


Do More Faster 115


Assume that You’re Wrong 119


Make Decisions Quickly 123


It’s Just Data 127


Use Your Head, then Trust Your Gut 129


Progress Equals Validated Learning 133


The Plural of Anecdote Is Not Data 137


Don’t Suck at E-Mail 141


Use What’s Free 145


Be Tiny Until You Shouldn’t Be 147


Don’t Celebrate the Wrong Things 151


Be Specific 157


Learn from Your Failures 159


Quality over Quantity 161


Have a Bias Toward Action 165


Do or Do Not, There Is No Try 169


Theme 4: Product 171


Don’t Wait Until You Are Proud of Your Product 173


Find Your Whitespace 177


Focus on What Matters 181


Obsess over Metrics 183


Avoid Distractions 185


Know Your Customer 189


Beware the Big Companies 193


Throw Things Away 197


Pivot 201


Theme 5: Fundraising 203


You Don’t Have to Raise Money 205


There’s More than One Way to Raise Money 209


Don’t Forget about Bootstrapping 213


Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren’t 215


Seed Investors Care about Three Things 219


Practice Like You Play 223


If You Want Money, Ask for Advice 227


Show, Don’t Tell 231


Turn the Knife after You Stick It in 233


Don’t Overoptimize on Valuations 235


Get Help with Your Term Sheet 237


Focus on the First One-Third 241


Theme 6: Legal and Structure 243


Form the Company Early 245


Choose the Right Company Structure 249


Default to Delaware 253


Lawyers Don’t Have to Be Expensive 257


Vesting Is Good for You 261


Your Brother-in-Law Is Probably Not the Right


Corporate Lawyer 265


To 83(b) or Not to 83(b), There Is No Question 269


Theme 7: Work–Life Balance 273


Discover Work–Life Balance 275


Practice Your Passion 279


Follow Your Heart 283


Turn Work into Play 287


Get Out from behind Your Computer 291


Stay Healthy 295


Get Away from It All 299


The Evolution of TechStars 303


What Motivated Me to Start TechStars? 305


Why TechStars Started in Boulder 309


How TechStars Came to Boston 313


How TechStars Came to Seattle 317


So You Want to Start TechStars in Your City? 321


Appendix: The TechStars Companies 323


About the Authors 329


Acknowledgments 331


Index 333

About the Author

David Cohen is the founder and CEO of TechStars. He previouslyfounded and successfully exited several companies and is now anangel investor in over 100 Internet startups. BRAD FELD is a managing director of Foundry Group, an earlystage venture capital firm. He has been an early stage investor andentrepreneur for over twenty-five years.