As you may have heard, TechStars—the mentor-heavy startup helper founded in Boulder, Colorado—recently opened up a Seattle branch. But what you may not have heard or realized is that they see it as very much a TechStars “Northwest.” As such, they’re interested in getting some Portland people up to Seattle to participate. And mentorship? That’s something any number of Portland types could use.
Now, this could be your chance to get that expert TechStars advice and the chance to pitch VCs to boot. How? Well, TechStars Seattle just opened applications for the class of 2010.
Whoa whoa whoa. What am I asking you to get yourself into? Well, I think it’s something pretty cool. And it could really help your startup make it to the next level.
TechStars is a mentorship-driven seed stage investment program. We run a three month long program in Boston (MA), Boulder (CO), and Seattle (WA) once each year. We’re very selective – hundreds of companies apply and we only take about ten companies per city. These companies get up to $18,000 in seed funding, three months of intensive top-notch mentorship, and the chance to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists at the end of the program.
And while Boulder or Boston may have been a little out of the way, Seattle is just up the road. So now you have absolutely no excuse to prevent you from throwing your application on the pile.
Just remember. When you’re accepted and mentored and successfully pitching VCs and funded and big time, you’ll get to come on back to Portland to hang out with us and share your success—and provide some mentoring for some Portland startups yourself.
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