Get your apps in to be considered for TechStars for a Day

One of my favorite days of the year is TechStars for a Day.  It’s an invitation-only day where we invite our best and brightest TechStars applicants to come spend a full day in the Bunker.  It’s where they can get a feeling for what spending the summer with us will be like;  and it usually does not disappoint. Founders arrive fresh, ready to impress and rock, full of excitement and nervousness and curiosity.  They meet a handful of our select mentors, they meet past founders, they listen to words of wisdom.  They usually leave tired and drained, but overwhelmed at the amount of talent that surrounds them, and at the generosity and openness and experience of the mentors and past founders willing to dive in and help their companies succeed beyond wildest imaginations.  The full program is exactly like this.  Its exhausting and rewarding and exciting and eye-opening all at the same time.

TechStars for a Day (TS4AD) is March 5th this year but to be considered for it, your applications need to be in by March 2nd.  Yet we always end up turning away companies that should be invited because many fantastic companies applied before them.  Don’t be that company.  Don’t wait until the last minute.  Get us excited now about your capabilities and what you’re doing – your chances of being invited and getting into TechStars rise dramatically.  You have only 3 weeks remaining to be considered for TS4AD!

Applicant Geography

Now that the selection process for TechStars’ spring Boston program is behind us, I was curious to do some digging through the applicant data to understand a bit more about their demographics, specifically re: geography.

My a priori expectations were that the number of MA-based companies had increased 2009 to 2010, but clearly I was incorrect. I did not expect the big change in international applicants. 14% in 2009 to 24% in 2010 is a huge bump.

NB: Don’t try to add up the percentages. A company based in MA with co-founders in Zagreb is counted in all 3 columns. The goal of my math was to understand how much local (MA) and international reach we’re experiencing.