TechStars is the Justice Society!
A couple of days ago I reread the first trade of Justice Society of America Volume 3 and it dawned on me that during the summer I was part of the start-up world’s own Justice Society. In comics the Justice Society of America have become the mentors of the DC universe, volume 3 starts with Jay Garrick (Flash), Alan Scott (Green Lantern) and Ted Grant (Wildcat) choosing members of the new generation of superheroes to train. Through the next 25 issues, this new generation grow as heroes and people.
It is easy to imagine the TechStars selection process to be like the first issue but just like the heroes in the book each selected TechStar team learns new skills that help them develop as both business and people. The similarity goes beyond this, outside the action and the main story arc the JSA is really about the inspiration the new generation of heroes find through the mentorship their get from the veterans on the team, the inspiration from the growth and actions of their peers.
Inspiration from Mentorship
The main reason I applied for TechStars was it was mentor driven. I was excited by the stories I had read and the videos I had seen that talked about the impact the mentorship from TechStars had on past companies but I didn’t realise how much they would inspire me.
The meetings with David and Nicole from TechStars, along with those with Brad Feld and the time spent talking with Andrew Hyde, inspired you to do more faster, believe you are the best at what you do and follow your passion. The talks from the mentors TechStar had visit were great. After each one I had fifty new things I wanted to do to make my start-up better. The one-one meetings I had with mentors inspired me due to the interest shown, the ideas and advice shared but I was equally inspired to improve areas of weakness, the mentors pointed out.
During the summer the companies involved develop relationships with a handful of mentors who get hands on and spend a lot of time with them, the time I spent with Ryan Hunter, Michael Zeisser, Jeffrey Kalmikoff, Jim Pollock, Dave Drach and Micah was truly amazing and challenging.
But the part of it all that was most inspiring was that all the mentors at Techstars were genuinely interested in helping start-up companies, these people were giving up their time, to pass on their knowledge and experience, just like the veteran heroes in JSA.
Inspiration from Peers
In JSA the new heroes are around each other all the time, their get to witness the growth and the actions of their new friends, the same was true in TechStars, you share an environment (photo) with 9 other companies each one inspiring in their own way, who you get to witness grow as businesses and transform as people. Seeing the changes in new friends over such a short time was massively inspiring.
You may think 10 hungry start-up in one place would be a competitive environment but it was the opposite, the teams would help each other out, drawing on the lesson they have learnt both before and during TechStars. They would provide feedback and guidance along with a fresh set of eyes and an open ear when needed. The group on a whole was amazing to be around, the amount of hard work that went into each of the business over the summer was incredible, at 2am in the morning the bunker would still be full of people working hard on the their product, you didn’t want to leave, the energy and excitement was addictive.
(Plus the beer / movie and coding nights were fun as were the rock band sessions!)
Techstars is the Justice Society!
[Note: You can apply for the Boulder Techstars now here - http://www.techstars.org/apply/ ]
