September 2008
1 post
WatchCurrent TV Video Featuring Techstar Teams Ignighter & Foodzie
Great job Megan!
August 2008
4 posts
The Clever Devver Dudes
David and Jill Cohen hosted a “End of Techstars” party at their beautiful Victorian home on Friday night to properly bid farewell to an amazing summer. It was definitely a bittersweet night because many of the Techstars are leaving to go back to their homes and families. We’ve got another Demo Day in San Francisco next month that some companies will be presenting at, but Friday...
WatchTechstars LibDub Video
Sadly, I missed the recording because I was at an investor meeting. Thanks to Andrew Hyde’s bad ass planning and filming, this was made in little over an hour and in one take!
“So, here’s to the crazy ones… Because the people who are crazy enough to think...”
– Apple / Think Different (complements of Ben Casnocha)
Moving Mayhem....and Goodbye Turts
I have been horribly bad at keeping up with my personal blog, mostly due to the fact that I’ve been pretty good with the company blog and feverishly planning for Investor day—-which is just over a WEEK AWAY! I’ve had great intentions to post a bunch of different blogs, so I’m just going to play catch up. I moved. Again. One would think that moving gets easier with time but...
July 2008
15 posts
Up For The Gyminee Challenge?
Gyminee just announced it’s first Techstars CHALLENGE that ‘runs’ from yesterday to August 15th. The winner is the person who runs the greatest accumulative distance during the period of the challenge.
This couldn’t be better timing for me because I am in the midst of training for a half marathon from Georgetown to Idaho Springs that takes place on August 9th. I ran one...
Fling it Girl Launches Today!
Fling it Girl announced their public beta lunch today at BlogHer. I met Kary Rivera, the co-founder, through Boulder Women Engaging Technology and got to play with the site before it launched. I am so excited it’s now available for all to enjoy!
Fling it Girl is the best place on the web for you to stay in the know regarding the latest trends and products. The platform is similar to Digg,...
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life...”
– William James
BHARD in Boulder
It appears as though there is a new kid on the block in the Boulder tech scene. David Cohen posted a nice write up on the BWET (Boulder Women Engaging Tech) group, of which I am a member. Then he introduced a new organization named BHARD (Boulder Hunks Achieving Righteous Dividends). At first glance, it remains unclear as to whether or not the word ‘hunks’ is an appropriate descriptor...
iPhone Afterthoughts
I was initially eager to blog about my horrendous experience in the Apple store on Friday. My team made the unwise decision to stand in the iLine for the new 3G phone, and I think we learned our lessons. Other people, such as Julie Penner, made a more thorough evaluation of the situation at hand and decided it was a waste of time. We did not.
Three days later the pain has lessoned while the love...
Techstars In The Flesh
After much internal debate, the Techstars 2008 group has decided that transparency is the best policy. So without further adieu, I present to you David’s birthday video as well as the new company video.
P.S. We are looking to raise a series A (5 million common stock at 5 pre and 10 post)….and all of the frontal flesh you can handle. Seeking serious inquiries from professional...
David's 40th Bday Bash
David Cohen turns 40 on Saturday (remember to wish him a happy bday) and the Techstars teams couldn’t think of a better gift for him other than another Startup…naturally.
Unfortunately, in order to protect the intellectual property of this mind blowing new collaborative effort, I cannot release the full business plan. But I can confirm that it integrates Flux Capacity’s photo...
The Product Guy
TravelFli had our second meeting with Niel Robertson today. He’s been a great mentor since we first met him and has provided us with tons of industry information as well as some pretty awesome introductions into major loyalty programs. Today we focused predominately on Product Management. Although Niel is a tech guy at heart, he also has this innate ability to help people solve real problems with...
Warning: Segway in Bunker
We had an entertaining afternoon visit from Paul Berbarian. While Paul is an extremely interesting guy on any day of the week, he added a new layer today by bringing The Segway. Yes, that’s right. The Segway.
After a brief demo from Paul (who has become a professional Segway-rider in a matter of a day), he let us all have a quick turn on it to zoom around the Founders Room.
I’ve...
No 3G in Boulder?
The countdown to the 3G iPhone continues as people wait in line (already) in eager anticipation for the release on Friday, July 11th at 8:00 AM. I hate to (partially) burst your bubble if you are a fellow Boulderite like me, but it appears that the 3G network only works in two cities in Colorado: Denver and Colorado Springs. This obviously doesn’t dissuade me too much, because I am sure...
Twitter Trouble
I just read Andrew Hyde’s post about Twitter spammers and felt compelled to post as well in hopes that somebody from the twitterdome will read this (ATTN: Biz Stone & Evan Williams) and do something about it.
Here are the spammers who have started following me in the LAST 24 HOURS:
Angelina 1986: post deleted (this is a good sign)
Maggie1986: following 4,000, 3 updates
Angelina 1987:...
Colorado Biz Techstars Video
Check out the Colorado Biz Interview with David and Brad about Techstars.
Dreading the Domain Name
One of the most frustrating aspects of starting any new business is going through the hassle of figuring out what to name it, based entirely on the availability of domain names. I have experienced this firsthand with the advent of myplacemat > the tripdoor > travelfli and probably own about 100 domains just because we thought they might be a good idea. Domains are a dime a dozen so every...
New Tech Meetup...and Horse Porn
Another first Tuesday, another New Tech Meetup. Each month I am inspired by the talent that seems to take root in the Boulder community, and I love how we have a common place to share it with each other. Thanks to Robert and Julie for all of their hard work on this event.
Five awesome companies presented their ideas to the community this month, amidst a bit of good-natured heckling from the...
Yummy Yosemite
I made my way out west for the first time in over a year a couple of weeks ago for several business meetings, including a very productive meeting with the chief architect of Sidestep (which was recently acquired by Kayak for $200M).
Despite the business focus, I was able to dedicate a little bit of time to hanging out with all of my old buddies from San Francisco. Having lived there for over six...
The Elusive Andrew Hyde
Andrew Hyde is in charge of all things community at Techstars, and you will often see him with a device in hand—recording all of the memories being created this summer. But don’t be fooled into thinking that Andrew is just the ‘camera dude…’ because I am finding out day after day that there is so much more to this guy. For instance, I was showing Brett Jackson the t-shirts my team created...
June 2008
14 posts
WatchAndrew Hyde did an incredible job of capturing the first month of Techstars in this video. We’ve worked our asses off and I think it was very clear that all of the teams are making incredible progress from the demos last night. This is a sneak peek into what life is like in the Bunker (our collective offices at TechStars)…..enjoy!
Take Me Out To The Ballgame
A summer at Techstars is all about work. Ten companies are trying to get a shit ton done in a very little amount of time. So it’s important to have some fun. Play a nice round of ping pong. Get out and have a happy hour drink at the Rio. Charter a party bus with a keg to the Rockies and institute a Tequila-only shot policy. It’s all relative.
Techstars ‘07, ‘08, mentors...
A Soul Patch Revival
The Redfish Brewery rocked out on Saturday night with the “Sooner or Later” album release party for Soul Patch, a talented band that features local talent from two part-time venture capitalists, part-time rock stars, Ryan McIntyre and Jason Mendelson of the Foundry Group. Having only seen these two guys in a strictly professional setting, it was awesome to see them jamming out on stage and I was...
Finding Howard Diamond in the Rough
Our team had an invigorating meeting on Friday with Howard Diamond, and I use invigorating in the purest sense of the term. Howard is a bundle of energy and a fountain of ideas & information - and he immediately engaged our team. In fact, I quickly surveyed the room mid-meeting and found us all in similar postures: leaning over the table in rapt attention. Howard is also a money guy. He...
Ignighter in their Natural Habitat
It is an incredible experience being in a program like Techstars where all of the founders are driven, passionate, and completely committed to their businesses. Since we spend so much time together, we are also seeing each other display natural tendencies toward our businesses in public settings. For instance, Foodzie does weird things on the weekends like going to bbq competitions/pig races, the...
Hiking, Margs, and More Margs with SVB
Silicon Valley Bank hosted a hike up Mt. Sanitas followed by happy hour at The Rio yesterday evening. The turnout for happy hour far exceeded the hike (not a big surprise) but both events afforded me the opportunity not only to connect with some of the SVB folks, but also with fellow Techstars.
The hike was attended by me, Andrew Hyde, Peter Zhang of BuyPlayWin, and Andy Smith of Gyminee. Frank...
Crap Caaaaaanon!!!!
Since Techstars started, I admit I’ve been a little behind on the news, but I catch up each week by reading my subscription to The Week from cover to cover. Yes, for those of you who are asking, it’s actually a bound magazine that I physically receive via snail mail each Saturday {gasp}. Anyway, it gives a fantastic overview of everything that happened the previous week and does a...
Smart Women in Boulder
Forbes named Boulder the smartest city in the nation for the second year in a row. The editors found that nearly 53% of the Boulder population (age 25 and older) had at least a bachelor’s degree. The magazine qualified ‘Boulder’ as the Metropolitan area surrounding the city, including Longmont, Lafayete, etc. If they were to have surveyed Boulder proper, the percentage of college...
Paul Berbarian's Five Questions for Biz Ideas
Our team had the first official meeting last week with Paul Berbarian, our lead mentor. Paul has a great reputation in Boulder for being a brilliant entrepreneur and has founded at least 4 companies, the most well-known being Raindance (now Intercall), which he took public in 2000. Paul liked our idea (phew) as it specifically addresses some of the personal frustrations he experiences when trying...
Turtle Trouble
Some of you may know I am the proud owner of two turtles: a red-eared slider named Rudy and a Mississippi map named Rambo. Most 20-somethings yearn for dogs, cats, or maybe even fish when they go on a pet crusade. I wanted turtles. I think my issues started as a child when I owned some type of a water turtle. At that age, pets weren’t cool unless you could physically play with them so I always...
So back to the name of this blog....
In the second week of Techstars, Dick Costolo and Rick Klau from Feedburner were scheduled to meet with the companies to talk about how Feedburner went from being a teensy weensy startup to a killer acquisition target for Google. This is clearly a skill we’d all like to pick up for our individual businesses.
Dick was an incredible presenter and I loved his honest, no bullshit, oftentimes...
The rebirth of my blog
I started a blog when I lived in San Francisco and deserted it upon my return to Colorado to launch a business [insert: sigh of regret] because I thought the business blog would suffice. Now with the advent of the TechStars program and the start of the ‘new’ business, I am finding that my thoughts, revelations, and general commentary far surpass the constrains of our business blog....