About the Book
Do you dream of taking your Indian startup to new heights? Turn that dream into a reality!
David Cohen, cofounder and Managing Partner of Techstars, and Brad Feld, cofounder of Techstars and Managing Partner of Foundry Group, team up to focus on the rapidly expanding Indian marketplace, bringing their years of shared experience to entrepreneurs, investors, and community ecosystem developers.
Do More Faster India educates readers on all the major areas of creating, developing, and supercharging a young startup with a focus on the nuances of the Indian market and how Techstars is fostering new business opportunities in India.
Each chapter is written by a different mentor or founder involved with the Techstars program and provides a unique perspective on the seven themes at the core of the Techstars mission:
Ideas and Vision
People
Working Effectively
Product
Fundraising
Legal and Structure
Work and Life Harmony
With a renewed focus on one of the most influential emerging markets in the world, Do More Faster India includes chapters written by Indian entrepreneurs and dedicated to India-specific topics and culture, as well as how Techstars fits into and serves the increasingly powerful Indian audience.
Table of Contents:
Foreword xiii
Preface xv
About Techstars xix
Foreword to Do More Faster India xxiii
Do More Faster India xxvii
Why Entrepreneurs in India Need Techstars xxix
Mentor-Backed Entrepreneurship in India xxxiii
Legal Tips for Indian Startups xxxvii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 Do More Faster 3
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 2 Do or Do Not; There is No Try 7
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Theme One: Idea and Vision 9
Chapter 3 Trust Me, Your Idea is Worthless 13
Tim Ferriss, 4-Hour Workweek
Chapter 4 Start with Your Passion 17
Kevin Mann, Graphic.ly
Chapter 5 Look for the Pain 21
Isaac Saldana, SendGrid
Chapter 6 Get Feedback Early 25
Nate Abbott and Natty Zola, Everlater
Chapter 7 Usage is Like Oxygen for Ideas 29
Matt Mullenweg, WordPress
Chapter 8 Forget the Kitchen Sink 33
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 9 Find That One Thing They Love 37
Darren Crystal, Photobucket
Chapter 10 Don’t Plan. Prototype! 39
Greg Reinacker, Newsgator
Chapter 11 You Never Need Another Original Idea 43
Niel Robertson, Trada
Chapter 12 Get It Out There 45
Sean Corbett, HaveMyShift
Chapter 13 Avoid Tunnel Vision 49
Bijan Sabet, Spark Capital
Chapter 14 Focus 51
Jared Polis, State of Colorado
Chapter 15 Iterate Again 55
Colin Angle, iRobot
Chapter 16 Fail Fast 59
Alex White, Next Big Sound
Chapter 17 Pull the Plug When You Know It’s Time 63
Paul Berberian, Zenie Bottle
Chapter 18 Love Doesn’t Scale, or Does it? 67
Nicole Glaros, Techstars
Chapter 19 Reconciling Vision and Focus 71
David Cohen, Techstars
Theme Two: People 73
Chapter 20 Be Open to Randomness 75
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 21 Entrepreneurship is a Group Sport 79
Mark O’Sullivan, Vanilla
Chapter 22 Avoid Cofounder Conflict 83
Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot
Chapter 23 Hire People Better than You 87
Will Herman
Chapter 24 How to Find and Engage Mentors 91
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 25 Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly 99
Matt Blumberg, Return Path
Chapter 26 If You Can Quit, You Should 103
Laura Fitton, Oneforty
Chapter 27 Build a Balanced Team 107
Alex White, Next Big Sound
Chapter 28 Startups Seek Friends 111
Micah Baldwin, Graphic.ly
Chapter 29 Engage Great Mentors 115
Emily Olson, Foodzie
Chapter 30 The Mentor Manifesto 119
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 31 Define Your Culture 123
Greg Gottesman, Pioneer Square Labs
Chapter 32 Two Strikes and You Are Out 129
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 33 Karma Matters 133
Warren Katz, MAK Technologies
Theme Three: Working Effectively 137
Chapter 34 Assume That You’re Wrong 139
Howard Diamond, Performance One Media
Chapter 35 Make Decisions Quickly 143
Ari Newman, Filtrbox
Chapter 36 It’s Just Data 145
Bill Warner, Avid Technologies
Chapter 37 Use Your Head, then Trust Your Gut 149
Ryan McIntyre, Excite.com
Chapter 38 Progress Equals Validated Learning 153
Eric Ries, Lean Startup Methodology
Chapter 39 The Plural of Anecdote is Not Data 157
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 40 Don’t Suck at Email 161
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 41 Use What’s Free 165
Jason Seats, Techstars
Chapter 42 Be Tiny Until You Shouldn’t Be 169
Jeffrey Powers, Occipital
Chapter 43 Don’t Celebrate the Wrong Things 173
Rob Johnson, EventVue
Chapter 44 Be Specific 179
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 45 Learn from Your Failures 181
Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures
Chapter 46 Quality over Quantity 183
Andy Smith, DailyBurn
Chapter 47 Have a Bias Toward Action 187
Ben Casnocha, Village Global
Theme Four: Product 191
Chapter 48 Don’t Wait Until You Are Proud of Your Product 193
Ajay Kulkarni and Andy Cheung, Sensobi
Chapter 49 Find Your Whitespace 197
Raj Aggarwal, Localytics
Chapter 50 Focus on What Matters 201
Dick Costolo, Twitter
Chapter 51 Obsess over Metrics 203
Dave McClure
Chapter 52 Avoid Distractions 205
Andy Sack, Founder’s Co-op
Chapter 53 Know Your Customer 209
Bill Flagg, RegOnline
Chapter 54 Beware the Big Companies 213
Michael Zeisser, XO Group
Chapter 55 Throw Things Away 215
Eric Marcoullier, OneTrueFan
Chapter 56 Pivot 219
Rob Hayes, First Round Capital
Theme Five: Fundraising 221
Chapter 57 There’s More than One Way to Raise Money 223
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 58 Beware of Angel Investors Who Aren’t 227
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 59 Don’t Forget about Bootstrapping 231
David Brown, Techstars
Chapter 60 You Don’t Have to Raise Money 235
Joe Aigboboh and Jesse Tevelow, PlayQ
Chapter 61 Seed Investors Care about Three Things 239
Jeff Clavier, Uncork Capital
Chapter 62 Practice Like You Play 243
Alex White, Next Big Sound
Chapter 63 If You Want Money, Ask for Advice 247
Nicole Glaros, Techstars
Chapter 64 Show, Don’t Tell 251
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 65 Turn the Knife after You Stick It In 253
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 66 Don’t Overoptimize on Valuations 257
Kirk Holland, Access Venture Partners
Chapter 67 Get Help with Your Term Sheet 261
Jason Mendelson, Foundry Group
Chapter 68 Focus on the First One-Third 265
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Theme Six: Legal and Structure 267
Chapter 69 Choose the Right Company Structure 269
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 70 Form the Company Early 273
Brad Bernthal, University of Colorado
Chapter 71 Default to Delaware 277
Jon Taylor, KO
Chapter 72 Lawyers Don’t Have to Be Expensive 279
Michael Platt, Cooley LLP
Chapter 73 Vesting is Good for You 283
Jon Fox, Intense Debate
Chapter 74 Your Brother-in-Law is Probably Not the Right Corporate Lawyer 287
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 75 To 83(b) or Not to 83(b), There is No Question 291
Matt Galligan, Socialthing
Theme Seven: Work–Life Harmony 295
Chapter 76 Discover Work–Life Harmony 297
Brad Feld, Foundry Group
Chapter 77 Practice Your Passion 301
Eran Egozy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Chapter 78 Follow Your Heart 305
Mark Solon, Techstars
Chapter 79 Turn Work into Play 309
Howard Lindzon, StockTwits
Chapter 80 Don’t Make Yourself Indispensable 313
David Cohen, Techstars
Chapter 81 Get Out from Behind Your Computer 315
Seth Levine, Foundry Group
Chapter 82 Stay Healthy 319
Andy Smith, DailyBurn
Chapter 83 Get Away from It All 323
Amy Batchelor, Anchor Point Foundation
Conclusion 327
Appendix 1: The Evolution of Techstars 331
What Motivated Us to Start Techstars? 331
Why Techstars Started in Boulder 334
How Techstars Came to Boston 336
How Techstars Came to Seattle 338
So You Want to Start a Techstars Accelerator in Your Community or Company? 340
Techstars in 2019 and Beyond 341
Techstars Foundation: Increasing Diversity in Entrepreneurship 342
Appendix 2: Original Edition’s Foreword 345
Appendix 3: Where are the Techstars Companies Now? 349
About the Authors 355
Acknowledgments 357
Index 359
About the Author :
DAVID COHEN is the cofounder and Managing Partner of Techstars. He has founded several software and web technology companies, including Pinpoint Technologies, which was acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation. He lives in Boulder, Colorado with the coolest girl he's ever met (his wife) and their children.
BRAD FELD is an early-stage investor, entrepreneur, author, and philanthropist. He is cofounder of Techstars and Foundry Group and is the author or co-author of eleven books including Venture Deals, Startup Communities, and The Startup Community Way. A tireless advocate of the Boulder Thesis, Brad mentors hundreds of entrepreneurs and community leaders in building vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems.
