Well, we’re wrapping our time here at TechStars up. I’ve met some great people, and had a lot of fun getting my company ready for launch. Now I have to say goodbye again to all these cool people, and start anew wherever we decide to locate the biz HQ. Here are some photos from my summer at TechStars, 2008.
“The Bunker”
The bunker was a gym, complete with yoga, weight, and cardio rooms that David and the rest of the TechStars founders converted into a high tech startup incubator. David said, “This place was a dump. I must have carried out 5,000 lbs worth of weights and old machines on a friggin dolly, and given them away on craigslist.” The space is truly awesome, and you feel like your part of some elite nerd club.
“LipDub Video”
TechStars LipDub from Andrew on Vimeo.
This video stars founders of the TechStars 2008 companies, and was made by Andrew Hyde, a talented web designer and start-up enthusiast who is part of the TechStars administration. These videos are the latest trend for startups and incubators to make, and you must have one to be part of the “cool” crowd. Honestly, I thought it was totally retarded, but I went along with it anyway. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I’m happy we did it. Somehow I like the song now, a total 180 from my first opinion.
“My Desk”
“Dave, Start-up Psychologist & Manipulator”
Dave is similar to a great Japanese friend, Osamu-San, who I met at Babson College, while getting my MBA. Osamu-San was great in our various team meetings, where we’d have three or four opinionated MBA’s, who didn’t even do the prep assignment, trying to all lead the team at once. Osamu-San, who had already solved the entire class exercise before the mba program even started it seemed, was so good at planting little seeds in his teamates heads. “The solution here looks promising, what do you think?” Normally, the manipulated MBA would never know he/she was being manipulated and would say, “I think this is the solution, I found it, and I’m glad I found it. What would you idiots do without me?” Sometimes they’d be stubborn though and choose an incorrect alternative, and when Osamu would ask “Oh, I don’t know, do you really think so?” They would always reverse course at this point. Dave meets with each of us regularly, and provides his own guidance in much the same way that Osamu led our teams at Babson. A manipulative bastard, but one of the most helpful person that I’ve had for my company to date.
“Poker Tourny”
Naturally, I should be winning all the poker tourny’s here at TechStars, since my company is dubbed BuyPlayWin. We played two tournaments this night, the first was sponsored by a VC bank, Square 1, and the prize was an iPod Nano. I came in 2nd out of 30 players and my partner, Peter, came in 4th, his first time ever playing. I lost to Austin, who I severly underestimated in what I thought was a bluff. You can see me in the background of the photo above, all grumpy with my arms crossed. However, we played a second tournament for cash, and having learned my lesson, I won an undisclosed amount…
“Rockies Game”
This was a lot of fun. Austin, from the company TravelFli here at TechStars, rented a sweet bus with a tv and tunes, and he filled the bus with TechStars and lots of alcohol. It was a hell of an experience. Oh, and the actual baseball game sucked. Who cares about the Rockies anyway….
“Rockies Stadium”
“Saturday Morning Basketball”
For those of you that know me, nothing has changed, I still suck at basketball, and have no clue how to use my height to my advantage. I’m 6′4″ and no, I can’t dunk. What I can do well is dribble the ball in between my legs and behind my back and hit every shot when we’re just shooting around, but start the game and I’m all bricks, airballs, and dribbles off of my feet. Weird. You can see the player, Vikas, that I should be guarding in the photo above, just before he nailed a shot while I run to catch up with his skinny ass.
“If you can’t catch them, hurt them!”
Yes, Kevin, you were right, of course I was fouling you. You fast and skinny bastard!
“Hiking With Jesus”
Do you know those weird items for sale on ebay that are widely shared and popularized? “Mexican lunch lady spots the virgin Mary in leftover ketchup stains on lunch tray. Lunch Tray selling on ebay, $500,000.” I often hike on the weekends, (I don’t know what motivates us to do this), around the mountains surrounding Boulder. I took the photo above on a hike with Kevin, from group dating startup Ignighter.com, and Vikas, memory organization through your photos over time and space (they are smarter than you). Kevin was bathed in the glow of angels that is reserved only for the holiest of saints, the baby jesus. I am selling my red, soiled, and sweaty t-shirt that was blessed by being present at the time the spirit was invoked, and I saved it as is and am selling it on ebay for $1,000,000.
“Interrogation Rooms”
A big part of TechStars is the meetings with mentors. Example mentors are Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Yahoo senior executives, some venture capitalists and angels, and numerous famous startup founders. Their purpose is to help you refine your business and increase your chances of success. I found this part of TechStars to be the greatest value.
“Catered Mentor Meetings (Free Food!)”
“Fred Wilson”
“Final D-Day”
My pitch went well I was told. Someone even said I looked like an actor that belonged on the stage, so I assume that is a good compliment. We’ve got a lot of attention form the press at this event.
“The Optimist”
“The Pessimist”
Peter and I balance each other out: I think we can do anything, and he doesn’t believe it until it happens. We’re competitive in everything. I learned to play ping-pong here at TechStars just to be able to beat him. He beats me 2 out of 3 game, but he’s played since birth and holds the paddle upside down, as all Chinese must do I guess, so its a big win for me every time. I drew an outline of the ping-pong paddle on a piece of white paper, signed it, and left it on his desk after the first time I beat him. Now its a war every time we step to the table.
“Peter Wins: TechStars Ping-Pong Tournament”
Honestly, I don’t think a better pair of business partners is possible, though you’d never be able to tell on first impression.
The Dream Team
