Episode 315: Jordan Fliegel - Managing Director, Techstars

Episode 315 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Jordan Fliegel, Managing Director of Techstars’ NYC and Sports accelerators. Athlete, entrepreneur, investor, mentor, are just some of the words to describe Jordan’s career. Originally a fixture of the Boston tech scene with his first company, CoachUp, and now a major part of the NYC tech scene as the leader of the Techstars program, it is shocking that Jordan hasn’t been a guest on The VentureFizz Podcast, since that is the two markets that we are focused on. Well, the wait is finally over and it was worth the wait! If you are not familiar with Techstars, it is the world’s most active pre-seed investor and one of the top accelerators in the world. Since 2006, Techstars has worked with over 9,000 founders from companies like DigitalOcean, Zipline, DataRobot, and more that have gone on to raise over $26B in funding. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The similarities between coaching athletes and mentoring entrepreneurs. * Jordan’s background story and his experience playing professional basketball in Israel. * The inspiration behind CoachUp, a venture backed marketplace that connects athletes with personal coaches, and how he landed Steph Curry as an investor. * Working closely with his childhood friend, Jeremy Levine, on Draft, a fantasy sports company, which was acquired by Paddy Power Betfair. * Launching the Techstars Sports Accelerator in Indianapolis and portfolio company examples, plus the details on the NYC program. * The inside look at how companies are selected for Techstars. * And so much more.