7 Lessons from TechStars’ David Cohen on Building a Startup Culture

the greater good, and great stuff happens.” He contends that Boulder, which has a population of about 100,000, is now widely viewed as a hotbed for Internet startups, and ranks among the nation’s biggest entrepreneurial communities—at least on a per capita basis.

Another key factor in TechStars’ success, Cohen said, has been the strong turnout for “Demo Day” at the end of each three-month session. New York’s most recent Demo Day, for example, drew more than 500 investors, entrepreneurs, mentors, and journalists to the Cedar Lake Theatre, where TechStars showcased 12 startups. That kind of attendance reflects the star power of TechStars’ mentors, Cohen said, and as a result, “There is competition for those deals. That’s what really drives the value for those companies.”

Cohen then listed seven points that he views as essential ingredients to creating entrepreneurial communities:

—Place matters. Citing “The Rise of the Creative Class” and other work of The Atlantic magazine’s Richard Florida, Cohen said, “If you can attract creative people to your community, or it’s a place where they want to be, you have a huge advantage. I think it’s really important, and I really believe it. I think Boulder is one of those places, and guess what? I think San Diego is one of those places.”

—Entrepreneurs must lead. Entrepreneurial communities “can’t be led by non-profits,” Cohen said. “They can’t be led by universities. They can’t be led by venture capitalists.” He pointed to the way Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has moved to create an entrepreneurial community in Las Vegas, NV. “He’s building an entire complex for startups. He’s an entrepreneur who is leading with very visible things, and he’s very loud, and I think that’s going to really help a place like Las Vegas.” Cohen said. “Everybody else, who is not an entrepreneur, should think of themselves as supporting what the entrepreneurs are doing.”

—Create a “rally point” for early stage activity. “In the case of TechStars,” Cohen said, “it’s come in and help us mentor these companies.” It doesn’t have to be like TechStars, he added, but it should be

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Author: Bruce V. Bigelow

In Memoriam: Our dear friend Bruce V. Bigelow passed away on June 29, 2018. He was the editor of Xconomy San Diego from 2008 to 2018. Read more about his life and work here. Bruce Bigelow joined Xconomy from the business desk of the San Diego Union-Tribune. He was a member of the team of reporters who were awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for uncovering bribes paid to San Diego Republican Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham in exchange for special legislation earmarks. He also shared a 2006 award for enterprise reporting from the Society of Business Editors and Writers for “In Harm’s Way,” an article about the extraordinary casualty rate among employees working in Iraq for San Diego’s Titan Corp. He has written extensively about the 2002 corporate accounting scandal at software goliath Peregrine Systems. He also was a Gerald Loeb Award finalist and National Headline Award winner for “The Toymaker,” a 14-part chronicle of a San Diego start-up company. He takes special satisfaction, though, that the series was included in the library for nonfiction narrative journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. Bigelow graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1977 with a degree in English Literature and from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 1979. Before joining the Union-Tribune in 1990, he worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles and The Kansas City Times.