AdHawk on Techstars: All You Need to Know
by Todd Saunders & Dan Pratt, Co-founders of AdHawk (Techstars Class 56)
Sometimes you have an idea you wholeheartedly believe in. Sometimes that idea is just a spreadsheet.
And sometimes you find people who are just crazy enough to buy into that idea.
And sometimes you get mentors, peers, and friends who help make that idea a reality.
Truth is — we wouldn’t be where we are today without Techstars. For those unfamiliar with the program, Techstars is a mentorship-driven startup accelerator program that helped get companies like Uber, ClassPass, and SendGrid off the ground.
Although luck plays a huge role in the entrepreneurial journey, it’s not a complete toss up, especially when you have a resource like Techstars available.
In this article, we’re going to cover everything you’ll need to know about applying to Techstars and equip you with the tools to succeed in the program. To hear our story, enjoy our video below!
What is Techstars?
Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. It is a 90-day startup accelerator program, where teams of entrepreneurs are led by successful mentors in the tech space.
Upon acceptance, startups are offered a $100,000 convertible note and $20,000 stipend for housing and living expenses in return for 6% common stock from your company. Unlike other accelerator programs, Techstars offers an equity-back guarantee if you are dissatisfied with your experience in the program.
Why Techstars?
There are a ton of excellent startup accelerators out there with varying degrees of selectiveness, culture, and programming. We encourage entrepreneurs to explore each program out there and weigh the benefits of each of them.
So why did we choose the Techstars Boulder Accelerator over 500 Startups, Y-Combinator, and Angel Pad?
Todd and Dan had already built a vast network in California and New York during their time at Google, so it made sense to branch out to another booming tech-city, Boulder, Colorado.
As first time founders, Dan and Todd valued small class sizes and hands-on training that built deeper, albeit fewer, relationships that played a huge role in shaping our business. Even so, Techstars is a worldwide network that includes thousands of founders, investors, mentors, and industry leaders in their network.
Dan and Todd also knew that the community was a network they could leverage for time to come. Even today, they reach out to Techstars mentors and founders to ask them about questions small and large — all things from hiring to scaling the business.
What is the Techstars program like?
I had the pleasure of joining AdHawk as an intern just before the Techstars program began. On paper, Techstars is an accelerated crash course in how to be a lean, mean, tech machine. But it is so much more than “how to be a business.” The guided exercises, mentor conversations, and open feedback sessions showed us HOW to function from founders to interns. The day-to-day grind towards Demo Day with our nine classmates showed us WHO we were. Three years later, this foundation for HOW we work, and WHO we are has allowed us to triple our headcount in the last 12 months to 45.
Techstars prides itself on the mentor community it assembles for the company. However, what’s often overlooked is the impact of Techstars’ on-staff associates and their managing directors.
Julie Penner led by example to ingrain organization, transparency, and diversity into our business. As an all-male founding team, we valued Julie’s constant reminders to seek out diverse perspectives as we grew the company. In 2018 so far, eight of our 13 new hires are women, with even representation of genders added to our leadership team, and a lot more work to do.
Natty Zola is still about as accessible as when his desk was right next to ours. He’s always looking to make connections, support our latest launch, and pay the occasional visit for a game of Catan 2,000 miles away in NYC.
Zach Nies’ mastery of organizational structure, process, and roadmapping forced us to establish efficiencies a five-person company probably didn’t need, but were forever grateful for once we hit double digits.
The Techstars associates were SO engaged and willing to help that we hired one onto the team before the program ended.
In those short three months, we became a company who put customers first and valued their input as much as our own. We became a company who values people, attitude, and hustle, not position descriptions. We became a company who doesn’t think work should feel like work, but a contribution to become better people personally and professionally.
Today, we focus on how to eternalize that core now that only a small percentage of the company was with us during Techstars. A nice problem to have.
What did AdHawk look like when you applied to Techstars?
AdHawk was the textbook definition of an early stage company. Dan and Todd incorporated the business on the drive to Boulder. And the business? It was only a spreadsheet at the time.
Although the idea was a good one, driven by Dan and Todd’s frustrations during their time at Google, ideas are a dime a dozen. When you’re applying to Techstars, you have to understand that you need not only an idea, but an MVP, a strong vision, market-fit, and a solid team.
Who does Techstars accept?
Techstars has probably heard every business idea out there, so it’s not always about the idea. If we were to boil it down to 6 criteria, it’d be:
- Team
- Team
- Team
- Market
- Idea
- Traction
Techstars invests in the talent and character of the team, and not just the idea. You can come into the interview with one idea and confidently pivot in an entirely different direction by the end of week one. The interview process is intentionally difficult — as entrepreneurs you need to conquer every obstacle to get that funding, hit that launch date, and achieve product-market fit.
They’re looking for founders with strong character, complementary personalities, and a track-record of executing on ideas.
We supplemented our application with referrals from our existing network, which we highly encourage you to do. You can only be SO good at selling yourself.
How do you apply to Techstars?
Techstars is one of the most popular accelerators in the world, which also means they’re expanding their program offerings every day. Today, they have startup accelerator programs in sustainability, IoT, farm to fork, music, manufacturing, and much much more.
You can find out more about their deadlines and programs on the Techstars homepage.
What is Demo Day?
Ahh, yes. The highly-anticipated Demo Day.
Demo Day is the final day of the program, where you pitch your company in front of all your friends, family, investors, and fellow entrepreneurs. It’s an opportunity to flex your muscles and show the world how you’ve progressed.
Here’s our Demo Day presentation:
All of Techstars’ training programs are centered around maximizing your chances for success on Demo Day. A successful Demo Day paves the way for fruitful conversations with potential investors about your company, and plays a huge role in jumpstarting your fundraising. It took us roughly five weeks after our Demo Day pitch to receive our seed round.
One philosophy we followed is Mark Suster’s famed line of “showing lines, not dots.” Present your potential investors what metrics you’re using to define the success of your company, and stay in contact with them to show the progress you are making.
https://bothsidesofthetable.com/invest-in-lines-not-dots-611f36491d73
Our story of starting with just a spreadsheet to managing $3.1 million in ad spend in three months painted a picture of our aggressive growth-driven mentality as a team. The hard numbers are far more convincing than spouting stats about market size and marketing jargon. Investors can undoubtedly see straight through that.
What was the most surprising thing about Techstars?
Demo Day is the last day of the program, and after all the celebrations died down, it was time to get back to work. The AdHawk team took a leap of faith and decided to move to Silicon Alley, to make this business work.
For Dan and Todd, that’s when everything became real. There was no set agenda, no classes, and no hand-holding.
However, this opportunity allowed the team to reflect on the skills, knowledge, advice, and exercises that they gathered during our three months in the program. It was at this uncomfortable moment where they truly understood how much they learned in those three months and how quickly it flew by!
Ask us questions. We want to help you out!
We only have the highest praise for Techstars, and are very grateful for partaking in the program. AdHawk wouldn’t be what it is today without our mentors and the relationships we’ve grown during our time in the program.
If you’re interested in applying to the program and have any questions, please feel free to drop any comments below or tweet at us at @AdHawk. We’d be more than happy to tell you a little bit more about the program. We’ll be waiting!
But until then, keep up the great work and hustle on!
