Cyberport Slides - CEO success factors

©2014, Techstars | Proprietary and Confidential©2014, Techstars | Proprietary and Confidential

Technology Accelerator

©2014, Techstars | Proprietary and Confidential

Tak Lo

• Worked in a number of different industries

‣ United States Army, Booz Allen Hamilton, Nomura M&A

• Started two startups after London Business School

‣ Travelst and Frontlyst

• First joined Techstars in NYC in 2013

• Joined Techstars in London from the 1st program in 2013

‣4th program now

‣Director, responsible for all operations

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What is Techstars?

• Gold standard for accelerators providing entrepreneurs with capital and access to a massive network of mentors, corporate partners, and investors.

• 14 programs annually (and growing), in startup markets such as Boston, NYC, Boulder, Austin, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, London and others.

• We average over 1000 applicants for every 10 slots in a program - more selective than Harvard, Stanford or MIT.

• Companies accepted receive up to $120,000 and undergo an intensive three-month entrepreneur bootcamp.

• The Techstars network provides teams with capital, insight, talent recruitment, business development, customer introductions and M&A opportunities. 3


How it works

• Three month intensive “bootcamp” program

• Shared environment promotes collaboration

• 80-100 mentors per program

• Three phases:‣ Mentor dating & engagement: feedback, ideas and strategy from

experienced and successful mentors‣ Technical guidance on product development & product-market fit‣ Preparation for fundraising

• Upon graduation, teams participate in Demo Day with hundreds of investors in attendance

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By the numbers• 37 programs completed

‣ Over 400 companies to-date‣ Over $1B raised by Techstars companies

• Results oriented‣ 77% active (312)‣ 12% acquired (49) ‣ 11% failed (46)‣ Full transparency: All results available on our website

• Over 50 full-time employees

• The #1 accelerator as scored by entrepreneurs:

‣ Techstars NPS Score: 77

‣ Apple NPS: 67

‣ Amazon NPS: 64 5


Our startups

Digital Ocean Localytics Sendgrid

Everymove

Crowdtwist

Occipital Next Big Sound Kapost Orbotix Simple Energy

Mocavo GrabCAD Kinvey Placester

Full Contact

OnSwipe Distil Networks Pivotdesk Coachbase

Contently

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Over 1,000 Mentors

Jeff ClavierSoft Tech

Wendy LeaGetSatisfaction

Paul BerberianOrbotix

Tim EnwallRevolv

David MandellPivotDesk

Graham WestonRackspace

Marcelo CalbucciEveryMove

Ty DancoFX Aligned

Eric PaleyFounder Collective

Dharmesh ShahHubspot

Russell BuckleyAdMob

Lisa RutherfordColiloquy

Alex IskoldGet Glue

Jason CalacanisTWIST

Sam YaganMatch

Jerry ColonnaCEO Coach

Gary VaynerchukVayner Media

Seth GodinEntrepreneur/Author

Greg GottesmanMadrona

Marissa CampiseSoftbank

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Our VC relationshipsSampling of firms investing in Techstars companies

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How to be CEO

• It’s not all about the title• it’s lonely to be up on top• Have courage

• Do it yourself, delegate it, or ignore it• Three things you need to remember

• Sets strategy and communicates to all stakeholders• Build a team with the very best talent• Don’t run out of money

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How to set strategy and communicate

• Strategy = Story• At a startup• What is sexy about your story? What’s different?

• Master communications• Master emails: keep it short, keep it brief, keep it punchy• Tell a story with your communications• Sell a vision• Find ways to engage all stakeholders• Learn how to ask for help and advice• Find different channels: blog, twitter, facebook, instagram, etc.

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How to build a team

• Culture over Skills• Build a values-aligned team

• Look for ambition• Team over Me

• Don’t worry whether someone can scale• It’s whether they can do the job now

• Always Be Hiring

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How to lead a team

• You built the team - so believe in them• Keep momentum• Peacetime/War Time leadership• Peacetime

• Empower people• Communicate your intent, but be flexible with how things are done• Mentor and give feedback constantly

• War time• Command and control• One directive - one direction• Execution is paramount: don’t be flexible with how things are done• Urgency is number 1

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Don’t run out of money

• Investors invest in lines, not dots• Build long-term relationships• Communicate regularly

• It’s a numbers game• You may have to talk to hundreds of investors

• Monitor your run rate• How much time do you have?

• Be creative• Grants, government funding, etc.

• Always Be Fundraising

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How to be a better CEO

• Why?• Your employees deserve the best and will perform the best

• Talk to other CEOs• Read constantly

• Ben Horowitz: “The Hard thing about hard things”• Warren Bennis: “On Leadership”• Blogs: AVC, Fred Wilson, taklo.co

• Write constantly• It’s your chance to distil what you’ve learned and improve

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Application Key Points

• Team, Team, Team, Market, Idea• Why is your team the best? What makes you tick?

• Can you be a team that takes on the impossible?• What’s the market, and is it big?• Idea = how your team thinks about how to address the market at this current

moment• Don’t need a product, but it helps

• Have some thoughts around the business model• Do your due diligence! Talk to mentors and alumni

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Team

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Application Deadlines

• Qualcomm Accelerator (Robotics, San Diego) - March 8 deadline• Boston, Berlin, Boulder - March 15 deadline• Mobility (Detroit) - March 15 deadline• Disney Accelerator (Los Angeles) - April 19• Barclays NYC (NYC) - May 10

www.techstars.com/apply for more information

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http://www.techstars.com/apply

http://www.techstars.com/apply


Questions?

• [email protected]• taklo.co• @tak_lo

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


London’s Digital Industry• Between 2009 and 2012, the digital sector in London grew by 16.6%• Between 2009 and 2012 the number of digital companies in London increased

76% growing from 49,969 to 88,215• 27% of all job growth in London comes from the digital sector, with approximately

582,000 people now employed by the tech/digital sector in London• Between 2010 and 2013 over 340 London tech companies attracted investment of

over £1.47bn• Since 2010 London has experienced a 75% increase in the number of ICT

companies investing in London from overseas.• Our startup scene is the best in Europe, according to a Telefonica/European

Commission Report• London has 32 accelerators/incubators for startup companies.

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London’s Digital Industry• Recent research supported by Bloomberg suggests the tech and information sector

in London, Southeast and East England – including Oxford and Cambridge – is growing faster than that of California

• The same report also reveals that London is the world leader in financial technology, employing more workers in the sector than New York City and San Francisco Silicon Valley

• London has more Fintech startups than anywhere else in Europe. It hosts Level39, Europe’s largest accelerator space for financial technology, which contains some 68 companies. In addition, the Techstars / Barclays FinTech Accelerator launched in June 2014 in Mile End

• Major tech and digital companies have been brought into Tech City in the last three years from global markets including the US, Europe and Asia – including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, FourSquare and Pinterest.

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Cyberport Slides - CEO success factors

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