My Techstars Experience
My company, Losant, completed our Techstars IoT journey in New York City culminating on IoT Day on January 12th, 2017. Now that some time has passed since the end, I’m taking a moment to reflect on the experience. I have a bit of a unique look at the program because my co-founder, Brandon, and I have gone through a couple startup accelerators. We took our previous company, Modulus, through the Brandery in Cincinnati, OH in 2012.
So, why go through an accelerator with this company? Going in to the Techstars program, we had already launched our platform and secured paying customers. The company was in a pretty good spot from a product and early traction standpoint. As a team, we had a fairly good handle on startup basics — although I think every refresher is always beneficial. So, back to the question at hand.
There were three major reasons we joined Techstars IoT. The first and most important was to interact with the corporate partners of the program. The ability to work directly with the likes of Bosch, GE, Verizon, SAP, and PwC was fantastic. Second, we believed that being a part of the internal Techstars network would be immensely useful. Finally, our core team did not have any real business connections in the New York City area and this would give us a chance to branch out. Knowing our goals, in the end the program still had to bring enough business value to offset the equity given up.
Overall, we look at the program as a success for what we wanted to accomplish. However, the extent of the success will not be known for some time. We did secure deals with Verizon and Bosch coming out of the program. I believe both of these will be great long term partners for us. The connections and relationships forged while in Techstars have already shaped our company — this will continue into the future. Even one of our mentor relationships, with Rick Bullotta, is expanding to that of an official advisor of the company. Rick was the co-founder and former CTO of Thingworx and his advice and knowledge is invaluable for providing strategic guidance.
My Top Lessons
- Never stop working hard and moving fast. This wasn’t directly taught. We just felt the energy and drive from our cohort companies and consistent pressure to keep progressing.
- Techstars has the ability truly help big corporates move faster. Still not super fast but faster than they were before.
- The Techstars network is massive and extremely helpful. #givefirst
- Ask for help more often. There are a lot of people who want and are willing to help.
- Startup CEOs need to communicate better internally and externally.
- New York City’s tech scene is awesome. A lot of great stuff going on. Real momentum and a different culture from the valley.
- Midwest startups are the real deal.
Potential Improvements
- Mentor madness doesn’t seem like the most efficient way to get to know possible mentors. I don’t have a better suggestion at the moment.
- Twenty minutes is just too short to introduce a company and solve any real challenges.
- Guide startups on how to exhibit and prepare for events (conferences, expos, demo day).
- I think that there should be more CEO morning meetings. Maybe even twice a week.
- There is a weekly get together for CTOs and CEOs but not CPOs. This is becoming a common startup leadership position and it would be nice to have a weekly get together too.
- Come up with a better meeting notification method than blaring music just before a session. We had slack notifications connected to the event calendar which helped us.
Individual Learnings
Personnel
Jenny Fielding has figured out how to help create successful companies through her Techstars programs. Our IoT class will be no different. She’s extremely intelligent and tough as nails. Teams learned quickly that she is straight with her advice and it’s usually worth taking.
Surrounding Jenny was a world class team. Angie Mueller, program manager, kept the entire ship heading in the right direction. She was my go-to person for anything program related and she never failed me. Numerous associates capped off the team. They were all great at their respective jobs including design, development, program management, and more. I personally have to thank Geri Kirilova and George Kaminis.
Fellow Companies
The other companies are maybe the most important attribute of the program. The people in these companies not only define how successful the cohort will be long-term but how much you learn. Techstars is arguably the best out there at putting the brightest companies together in a single room. The other startups in our class not only taught me a ton, but will be friends for a lifetime. Never underestimate what we can learn from peers.
Kick-Off
The beginning of the program was fast paced and included a number of workshops. The key here was paying attention to the intense schedule and trying to get our normal work done in between sessions. It was clear from the start that Techstars has this down to an art and a science. It was very well orchestrated and managed — although very demanding of time — as it should be.
Programming
The IoT program had a great series of inspirational and informational workshops and seminars. Since our team had been through an accelerator before we have seen most of the topics of discussion before. However, the speakers for this class brought an interesting take on each subject. Even when it was subject we’d heard before we were inspired and challenged ourselves to improve.
FounderCon
The annual party, I mean conference, for Techstars this year was in Cincinnati — my hometown and company headquarters. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend but my team said that it was fantastic. This allowed our team to meet a vast number of other Techstars companies and interact with corporates as well. A must-not miss event (even though I did).
Demo Day
The Techstars IoT program took demo day to an entirely different level. An entire day full of events was created to showcase our cohort companies. This included three separate pitches to investors, corporate partners, and the larger community. On top of the pitches there was an expo area that lasted most of the day and programmed panels in the afternoon.
This all added up to one very long day. But I believe it’s one of the best demo day events I’ve ever seen. By spreading out the people and interactions, there was more time for meaningful conversations. These turned into deeper relationship building that didn’t feel rushed and forced.
Fundraising
Utilizing the Techstars network opens doors to almost any VC. This does not guarantee any pocket books will open. Just that the opportunity is there. This is one of the benefits that extends long past the end of the program.
In Closing
Building a startup is one of the most humbling and exhilarating experiences in the world. Going through Techstars amplifies these emotions on a daily basis. I’m honored to have been part of our class and now a part of the community.
Charlie is currently working as CEO and co-founder of Losant. Losant is an easy-to-use and powerful IoT application enablement platform designed to help you quickly and securely build complex connected solutions.
