Do More Faster: Techstars Lessons To Accelerate Your Startup, Second Edition

Each vignette in this book is an exploration of advice often heard during the TechStars program. Rather than trying to capture it all ourselves, the authors have asked the mentors and the founders who have been through the program to help with the task of putting it down on paper (or virtual paper, depending on your medium of choice for reading.) Some parts of this book will almost certainly be in conflict. At TechStars, one of the favorite sayings is "it's just data," so everything the authors present here should be viewed as input and nothing more (to learn more about this, take a look at Bill Warner's essay titled "It's Just Data.") Recognize that one will have to make his or her own judgments and decisions about what's right for their own business. This book has seven sections - each focusing on a major theme within the TechStars program and within early stage entrepreneurship. The sections are: Idea and Vision, People, Working Efficiently, Product, Fundraising, Legal and Structure, and Work / Life Balance. Within each section are a number of individual essays. While a few of them were written by one of the authors, TechStars mentors or entrepreneurs who participated in the program wrote most of the essays. Essays written by a founder of a company that went through TechStars include a small icon showing the year that they were in the program. When you don't see that icon, it was written by one of the mentors.

David G. Cohen is recognized globally as a thought leader on entrepreneurship. As co-founder and co-CEO of?Techstars he has worked with thousands of companies and individuals. His Techstars accelerators have produced companies like SendGrid, Pillpack, DigitalOcean, FullContact and countless others, helping to create billions in value.

Brad Feld is a best-selling author on entrepreneurship, community building, and finance. His books include Venture Deals, Startup Boards, Startup Communities, and Startup Life. He is the co-founder of Techstars and Foundry Group and writes regularly on the blog, Feld Thoughts.