eonBusiness has invested in five TechStars companies from the last three graduating classes:
- Socialthing (2007, acquired by AOL)
- MadKast (2007, acquired by ShareThis)
- DailyBurn (2008)
- Vanilla Forums (2009)
- Retel Technologies (2009)
As a TechStars sponsor, early stage investor and mentor, eonBusiness has had the pleasure to see the evolution of TechStars over the years. I still remember having lunch with David Cohen in the spring of 2007 and listening to his vision for TechStars. I must say it has exceeded many people’s expectations – including mine.
That leads me to the TechStars Class of 2010. ”Look out!” is all I can say. I had the privilege to meet the companies at the ‘Meet the Mentors’ night on Tuesday and then to hear their pitches yesterday afternoon. Taking nothing away from previous Techstar classes, the 2010 class is really something.
They are further along in their business plans than any class to date. Numerous companies already have raised money and have real revenue. These are not just ideas or concepts but in most cases companies with real software already in production or close to being live.
I tip my hat to David Cohen and the entire TechStars team in Boulder (Nicole and Andrew too!). Keep up the good work. This will probably be the hardest class to decide who to invest in, but that’s a good problem to have!
