David Cohen on founding Techstars, patterns of successful founders, and the math behind large portfolios

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.

This week I’m happy to share my conversation with David Cohen, Co-Founder and Chairman of Techstars, which along with YC has paved the path early-stage capital formation through the accelerator model.  

Since its founding in 2006, TechStars has had 2600 companies graduate its programs and those companies have raised $16.5B in investments across all stages. In 2021 David stepped back from day-to-day operations to become Chairman.

About David Cohen:David has been an entrepreneur and investor for his entire life. He has founded several companies and has invested in hundreds of startups such as Uber, Twilio, SendGrid, DigitalOcean, Pillpack, Classpass, Zipline, Scopely, Outreach, Remitly, SalesLoft, and DataRobot. In total, these investments have gone on to create more than $210B in value.

Prior to Techstars, David was a co-founder of Pinpoint Technologies which was acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation in 1999. He was also the founder and CEO of earFeeder, a music service that sold to SonicSwap. 

David is the co-author (with Brad Feld) of Do More Faster; Techstars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup.

Our sponsors:

At Brex, we build financial software and services to help startups scale faster. We understand that founders need to focus on building, not banking. So we’ve reimagined traditional financial systems to enable greater speed and productivity — no matter where founders and their teams are working.

We offer a smart corporate card, business account, and mobile app that are easy to use from day one. No manuals needed here. Within minutes, you can deposit funds, send free wires and ACH worldwide, separate investor funds from operating expenses, earn great rewards, automate expenses, and more. 

Everything we do at Brex is to help founders spend less time managing expenses and reporting on your runway — and more time building your business.

Get started at brex.com/venture

Sydecar is on a mission to enable anyone to be a capital allocator by creating tools built specifically for today’s venture investor. Their powerful software removes the headache of organizing private investments — so that you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets.

Whether you’re syndicating your first or fiftieth deal, Sydecar acts as your silent operating partner, handling all back office functions in a single place. Sydecar always has your back, so that you never have to worry about chasing subscription docs, lost wires, or late K-1s.

Visit our website to learn more and join the waitlist for Sydecar’s limited beta. 

In this episode we discuss:

03:08 What led David to founding TechStars04:47 The 15-minute meeting that sparked TechStars and its initial vision06:05 The first cohort of TechStars and how it was funded07:57 How the first fundraise went and the journey of moving from high net-worth individuals to institutional LPs12:15 Portfolio construction advantages of larger portfolios 18:23 How TechStars was able to launch across geographies 21:48 Common characteristics of successful founders30:05 What type of people they key on for hires33:02 How TechStars has maintained its culture as it has scaled35:29 Advice for people looking to start their own fund39:34 How portfolio companies are emerging from the TechStars programs41:56 The view on VC today43:35 How startups should approach their raises today46:33 The advice David gives to the GPs he’s invested with49:54 The TechStars Foundation and who it serves

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with David. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.

Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com