Welcoming Techstars to Campus
Some famous streets have a walk of fame, where stars emblazoned with the names of famous celebrities are embedded in the sidewalks. Until the day that we can convince the Berlin government to line Torstrasse’s Burgersteig with the names of Oliver Samwer or Edward Snowden we will have to settle for our own group of stars on Silicon Allee. That being said, I think we’ve got a much better deal than a cheap tourist attraction.
We are thrilled to have world-renowned startup accelerator, Techstars, join us here in our campus. From the moment we first started talking to the team from Techstars about potentially taking some space here we knew we had a ton in common. Our organizations are both based on similar values.
Techstars has the core philosophy of “Give First.” According to them:
“Give First means simply trying to help anyone — especially entrepreneurs — with no expectation of getting anything back. It’s the pay-it-forward principle that builds strong startup networks.”
This is exactly how we started Silicon Allee; we started our original meetup and blog with the sole intention of helping the fledgling Berlin startup scene. We knew value would come from that network someday. We just weren’t quite as good at articulating our philosophy as Techstars was.
Over the years we like to think that we have carried this idea forward and have tried our best to spread it to anyone who comes to visit us, whether that be new entrepreneurs or established corporate businesses. This is why it’s very exciting to partner with someone who’s been on the same path.
Jag Singh, the Managing Director of Techstars is just as excited as we are.
“We’re thrilled at the prospect of not just being able to host companies for our three month acceleration program — but also leverage the space and community at Silicon Allee with year-round activities, including providing ongoing office space to our portfolio companies, as well as mentorship and resources to the wider Berlin network of entrepreneurs.”
The Silicon Allee partnership with Techstars Berlin will include helping to produce public events and connecting our mutual networks of startups, mentors and supporting organizations around the world.
Techstars moved in last month but are just ramping up their presence in time for the next acceleration program starting in January (Apply by October 13th if you’re looking to accelerate your startup!). Come join us on September 12th at R/D in the ground floor of our campus for a housewarming party to welcome the newest stars to our campus (RSVP here). Of course, in the spirit of #givefirst there will be free drinks. See you there!
