Earlier this summer, I joined Techstars as an Associate to continue my passion for working with entrepreneurs and early-stage companies each day.
Over the past five years, I’ve worked with late-stage/distressed companies at UBS, in corporate strategy (and even some product management) at the National Football League as well as in capital raising and advisory for growth-stage companies, first at MESA and then later at Houlihan Lokey’s TMT group when MESA was acquired.
Through these years, I’ve loved working on the initiatives where I could actively ‘stick my hand in the dirt’ alongside the CEO or senior team members to help them work through their most critical business challenges.
While the operational experience I gained moved me ever closer to the earliest stage of venture-backed companies, I still felt I hadn’t gotten enough exposure to companies at the pre-seed stage.
I wanted to really understand how founders and teams got from concept to validation, to execution, to launch — all before ever taking in their first round of institutional capital.
When the opportunity to join Alex Iskold, KJ Singh and 15 amazing companies in New York presented itself, I jumped at it. While friends and mentors had always spoken very highly of the TSNYC program (and one had even gone through it as an Associate some years ago), I really didn’t have a sense of what to expect. But I needn’t have worried.
This was one of most exciting experiences of my career and a really welcome breath of fresh air from the corporate routine I’ve left behind.
And sadly, the last three months have just flown by. With the program wrapping up, I’ve had friends reach out to learn more about what it’s like to be an Associate and whether I’d recommend them to follow in my wake.
In the interest of helping future potential Associates, founders thinking about applying to upcoming Techstars programs or even companies looking to hire former Associates, I’d like to put a spotlight on the Techstars Associate program and share with you a little of what I learned this summer.
Overview of the Program
Techstars is a top technology accelerator program that emphasizes a mentorship driven approach to helping early stage companies as they launch, find product-market fit, expand to new markets and ultimately raise their first round of institutional capital over the course of three short months.
The program is very structured with programming for each of the three months divided into (1) mentorship, (2) growth and (3) fundraising.
Each week, there are three to five amazing speaker sessions, ranging from 1:1 fireside chats with legendary VCs to panel discussions from previous Techstars program alumni, all of whom are incredibly generous with their time.
Every step of the way, mentors avail themselves to founders at all hours for guidance on product, design, marketing, finance, hiring and general management challenges.
In addition, the founders themselves were always there for each other, leveraging their collective strong suits to enable each other to “Do More Faster” — as the famous Techstars mantra goes.
Meet the Associates
Techstars Associates come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from product management and design, to marketing and business development, to finance and corporate strategy and more.
Our collective experiences included roles at top investment banking, private equity, and consulting institutions as well as positions with venture-backed startups, successful corporations and major consumer brands (and even stints as founders of companies).
As I learned more about my new and accomplished colleagues, I began to see that each one of us brought an entrepreneurial approach to our past roles and we were all ready to leverage what we had learned to help the amazing entrepreneurs in Techstars NYC’s latest batch of companies.
While I can’t speak for any other batch of Techstars Associates, our group of lovable misfits became incredibly tight knit, seemingly overnight. Our daily discussions and debates ranged from topics of vertical commerce brands, to lemon laws for online dating, even to the precise way to brew a ‘tincture elixir’ for the common cold.
It was the exact kind of creative energy I missed in my last role and each day, I cherished the opportunity to collaborate on projects with these amazing, driven and talented people, sharing my own experience and expertise with my colleagues as actively as they did with me.
One of our associates organized weekly “knowledge sharing” sessions on the basics of venture financing while another took time out of her day to walk me through the (ardous) process of creating and tracking successful ad campaigns on Facebook.
My colleagues have now become cherished friends and many of us continue to work out of the Techstars office together, being there for each other as we work to road map our own next professional adventures.
What I Did
On a given day, I might start my morning with lead-gen and customer development to help Mindmate reach out to Alzhiemer’s care facilities across New York, then spend my afternoon with the EGF guys on structuring potential sponsorship packages for their inaugural tournament series and then settle in for the evening on a projection model for Purple as I helped them think about financing needs over the next 18 months. Time permitting, I’d even help Alex and KJ source interesting companies for the next Techstars NYC batch.
While I certainly leaned on experience from past roles in finance and business development, I relished the opportunity to pick up projects in product management, marketing cohort analysis and even video editing, in addition to those in my immediate wheelhouse.
When we began, Alex and KJ reminded us that the Associate program exists to “Give First” and that meant that not every task would be glamorous. In addition to working with the founders, Associates have daily/weekly operational tasks, including:
- Setting up the multi-purpose space for talks, gatherings and happy hours
- Designing and printing signage, shirts, schedules and more
- Shepherding mentors and founders through jam-packed days of meetings (affectionately labeled “Mentor Madness”)
- Filming/editing investor pitches ahead of TSNYC’s new demo-day format
Likewise, not every task I worked on for our founders was glamorous either, but I always found taking the time to do the “small things” right led to successively larger and more critical projects, as well as greater trust and responsibility from the founders I worked with.
What I Gained
Dirk Lehmann wrote a great post last year about about the Techstars Associate role being the better Startup MBA — and between you and me — had a big impact on me joining the program. I’ll echo a lot of his sentiments about the program being a great opportunity to expand your scope of experience and supercharge your startup and venture capital network, without the MBA debt.
For the last three months, I’ve sat in on as many fireside chats, alumni panels, KPI meetings, pitch practices and strategy sessions as time would allow.
As is my nature, I never hesitated to ask the stupid or obvious questions because while I was here to help our amazing founders, I was also here to learn, grow, and challenge my own misconceptions.
Looking back on the last three months, I think I’ve gained a immensely better understanding of what it takes to build a business than I ever had before. I could not be more grateful to the Techstars team for allowing me that opportunity.
I’ve also gained access to a truly expansive Techstars network of mentors, advisers, investors and founders.
Through our events and gatherings, I got to discuss challenges in scaling media startups with Ben Lerer, debate the (dubious) merits of daily fantasy sports with Danny Crichton and delve into the unforeseen challenges of 3D-printing shoes with Greg Schroy.
I got to speak to investors and operators whose work I had read and admired for many years — like Chris Fralic, Josh Elman, Chris Dixon and Fred Wilson — and hear them speak candidly about technologies they are excited about exploring and investing in.
The generosity of time, advice and resources from the individuals in this network to the founders really blew me away. These were incredibly accomplished (and frankly very in-demand) people willingly taking out hours to speak to and guide our latest batch of founders.
Very quickly, I learned that “Give First” didn’t stop with the Techstars staff — it permeates through every fiber of the Techstars network. I’m very proud to be part of that.
What I Learned (AKA Major Keys for Future Associates)
Put In The Time:
It’s not a 9 to 5 job. Honestly, you won’t be maximizing your learning or contribution by going home early. Some of the best things I learned came from conversations with founders at 10PM as we took breaks from our respective tasks and talked through challenges.
More practically, founders and associates alike were so busy during the day that the only time I could sit down, get feedback, and iterate on the work I did was at odd hours of the evening or early in the morning. Invest the hours and you’ll find it that it pays dividends many times over.
Have Patience:
The work you’re doing with the founders is certainly important but it’s not the only thing on their mind. In fact, being a part of the program creates even less time for the CEO to manage the day-to-day of their business as they ran from mentor calls to 1:1 sessions all while juggling sales calls and managing product decisions.
Have empathy and be ready to wait a little while for feedback as the founders work through their their to-do lists. All the while, don’t be afraid to check in often to minimize any wasted effort and prompt them for feedback proactively.
Have Faith:
This was perhaps the hardest part for me because I had come from working with entrepreneurs and companies at later stages — where business models were hammered out and execution was the name of the game.
At a much earlier stage, it is easy to be dismissive of a lack of traction or scattered focus. But have faith in the system and the founders. These companies were chosen because they have a revolutionary vision and ability to build that vision into a business.
Just because they don’t have all the answers on Day 1 doesn’t mean they aren’t worth consideration. In fact, as an Associate, you should help to be a part of the discovery journey, which in itself is a pretty rare thing to get to see.
It’s Not Your Company:
The best founders I worked with saw me as more than an extra pair of hands and actively used me as a sounding board for strategic planning.
If you are fortunate enough that an entrepreneur asks for and respects your counsel, offer it honestly. But fully respect and understand that this is their business and they may not choose to pursue the course of action you propose.
This should never discourage you from presenting new ideas, helping the founders weigh all the alternatives and if it comes to it, execute their chosen plan.
Parting Thoughts
My final word on this is one of caution — being an Associate is not for everyone. It’s a three month commitment that doesn’t pay enough to make rent in Manhattan and if you do it right, you’re going to work harder and on more important problems than you likely ever have before.
You’ll juggle tasks for several amazing founders who all need your help and all need it immediately, leaving you to manage expectations, deliver top-quality product and keep a positive attitude every step of the way.
Wins are always hard fought and losses are readily lurking around each corner and your job is to learn from them both. Then, at the end, no one is going to hold your hand to help you figure out what comes next.
If that environment or uncertainty doesn’t excite you — this is not for you.
Much like the mentorship-driven approach, the Associate program is pretty unique to Techstars. On a practical level, it is pairing people committed to working in the startup ‘ecosystem’ with companies that need the help today— allowing them try each other out at minimal risk or cost. On a deeper level, the program is a great filtering mechanism for people actually committed to working for and as entrepreneurs.
Being a great Techstars Associate is about taking initiative. Offer yourself readily to founders, introduce yourself actively to speakers and mentors, deepen your existing skill set but don’t be afraid to take on projects outside your comfort zone. Be humble, give first and invest in people.
You will be amazed and rewarded by how they invest back in you.
Interested in becoming a Techstars Associate? Check out all the open positions and apply today!
This post was originally published on Medium.