David Cohen

“The two big startup killers are when there's just no market for what you are doing, and team problems.”

“We're pretty broad as investors. Our thesis is work with great entrepreneurs that believe they can change the world. But there are specific areas that we get excited about - areas like hard tech, deep tech, companies that deal with really difficult technology, etc.”

“I wish I had had more mentorship and more access, not only for capital, but the critical thinking.”

“To have a diverse set of perspectives and backgrounds enables you to understand the market at large much more effectively.”

“In the rare cases where I've had to cut a company loose, I just tell them why and wish them luck and hope they learn something from it. I don't spend more mental energy on it than I have to, and I try very hard not to hold a grudge or try to negatively affect them either. It's just done for me.”

“I'm most proud of helping so many others achieve their dreams as founders.”

“We've been publishing the TechStars data fully since the beginning on TechStars.com. For every single company, you can see if it's a failure, success, how much they raised. Entrepreneurs deserve that sort of transparency from accelerators, and it's not hard to do.”

“The future is going to happen in Toronto or Berlin or Bengaluru and not necessarily in the Valley.”

“Techstars has done a great job accelerating and providing venture capital to the most promising companies to make the biggest long-term economic impact.”

“Strong community and mentorship are the lifeblood of any successful entrepreneurial ecosystem, and it's exciting the Boulder is showing the world just what sort of impact these things can actually have.”

“You may have a small network, but growing that network has become easier with the use of social tools. LinkedIn, Conspire, even Facebook and Twitter allow you to grab branches that may have previously seemed out of reach.”

“Consumers have zero time for products that are not simple, intuitive, and attractive to use. This is especially true with Internet products, where clean and useful design is a prerequisite to keeping anyone on your site for more than 30 seconds.”

“The Internet is full of choices, and nobody is going to make the choice to use a product that is hard to use or unattractive.”

“For most people, their home is their most valuable asset. Yet most of us don't take care of it.”

“Part of the thing that's magic about TechStars is it's about a community that wants to make itself better.”

“People look up to Techstars because they get funded by Techstars; they go through the accelerator. What we do impacts what they do. What we care about we hope has a meta impact on those entrepreneurs and how they think about the world.”

“San Francisco is a great startup community that you shouldn't even try to model yourself after because it's just special.”

“The hot deal is often the one that does not work.”

“Clearly, there is a gender imbalance when it comes to venture capital and entrepreneurship.”

“I think there are ways that perhaps organic partnerships can occur in local geographies with groups that are extremely focused on their communities. That's really how Techstars began, as a grassroots movement in Boulder, Colo., that happened to catch fire and expand around the world.”