David G. Cohen
davidgcohen.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2010
David G. Cohen, co-founder of Techstars, writes about accelerators, mentoring, startup founders and acquisitions.
What HN saysHN links it for his Mentor Manifesto and accelerator stories, and commenters use it to show his Uber angel investment.
30HN people shared it
10linked it in comments
29stories submitted
701story points
2 years agolast shared
2010people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1David Cohen: You Have Acquisition Interest, Now What?5 people · 45 points · first shared 2010 · 7 comments on HN
- 2The Mentor Manifesto3 people · 54 points · first shared 2011 · 10 comments on HN
- 3A horrifying startup accelerator story2 people · 330 points · first shared 2013 · 132 comments on HN
- 4The perfect email2 people · 176 points · first shared 2011 · 41 comments on HN
- 5An Open Letter to Startup Founders Everywhere in a Time of Crisis2 people · 5 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 6David Cohen: Hiring developer evangelists2 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 7Not Shaking Hands2 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 8The ponys lucky horseshoe2 people · first shared 2016
- 9Freemium is alive and kicking1 people · 37 points · first shared 2012 · 12 comments on HN
- 10Small asks first1 people · 30 points · first shared 2010 · 9 comments on HN
- 11Giving up the ghost early1 people · 3 points · first shared 2015 · 1 comments on HN
- 12David Cohen: Mentors, Startups, and Life1 people · 3 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 13The VC Push to Raise More Money1 people · 2 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 14David Cohen – Don't go dark1 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · 2 comments on HN
- 15Asking for Introductions1 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
WisNorCan · 2017-08-12
David Cohen wrote a check as part of the angel round for Uber [1]. The "$80 Billion in value created" seems to include companies which may not have directly been part of the Techstars Accelerator program like Uber [2]. I am not sure if all the others were part of Techstars.
"Join our network of amazing mentors and portfolio companies such as Sphero, Digital Ocean, Localytics, SendGrid, Occipital, Next Big Sound, ClassPass, Simply Measured, FullContact, Realty Mogul, GrabCAD, Placester, Scopely, DataRobot, Remitly, LeanPlum, Synack, Tap Influence, Bluecore, Outreach, Cloudability, Distil Networks, Pilot, Yesware, Bellhops, Twilio, Spothero, Bench, Uber, GoSpotCheck, Ginger.io, Threat Stack, Timehop, PillPack, Plated and GameTime."
Having said that, I love the transparency that Techstars provides on each batch of investments and status (acquired / failed / active) etc. I wish every investor provided this level of transparency on failure rates.
[1] http://davidgcohen.com/2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/
[2] http://www.techstars.com/companies/
lifeisstillgood · 2024-08-21
petrbela · 2022-09-05
Notably, SendGrid went through the Techstars accelerator instead. One of their mentors from the Techstars program [1], Jim Franklin, later became SendGrid's CEO and helped the technical founders grow the company towards the success they eventually achieved.
[1] https://davidgcohen.com/2020/09/19/a-review-of-the-first-eleven-techst…
jedc · 2016-01-21
Actually, David Cohen wrote a check in Uber's angel round - http://davidgcohen.com/2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/
And the list of Techstars companies shows only the stats of companies that went through a Techstars accelerator - http://www.techstars.com/companies/ Non-accelerator company investments (Uber, Twilio, etc) only appear on the Techstars fund page - http://www.techstars.com/venture-capital-fund/
Disclosure - I work for Techstars
arbuge · 2014-02-12
Speaking of bad accelerators: http://www.davidgcohen.com/2013/08/29/a-shocking-accelerator-story-tha…
AhtiK · 2013-05-15
Most of the time even a handshake can be too much.
Reminds me a post from David Cohen [1] who pointed to Brad Feld on the same topic [2].
Time to wake up that bro courage and start fist-bumping people ;)
With hugging there's always also the dilemma of whether to pat a few times or just a strong hug, so the CPU cycles just drive me mad.
[1] http://www.davidgcohen.com/2012/11/20/not-shaking-hands/
[2] http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/01/im-done-with-handshakes.html
HockeyPlayer · 2012-02-23
David Cohen (TechStars founder) has a good post on this subject: http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-no…
ksowocki · 2011-02-04
this basically explains it all (from TS founder, David Cohen):
http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-no…
thejo · 2010-12-09
David Cohen of TechStars has written a good post about this -
http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-no…
bigsassy · 2012-02-03
Here are some links I've collected over time:
http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/12/9-important-things-sell-startup/
http://jacquesmattheij.com/How+To+Sell+Your+Company
http://maplebutter.com/getting-your-startup-ready-for-an-acquisition/
http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-no…
http://www.slideshare.net/VentureArchetypes/startup-exit-strategy-thou…
http://blog.asmartbear.com/how-value-company-1.html
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2154106
http://startups.ryanjunee.com/acquisitions-pulling-back-the-covers
http://horizonpartners.com/article/things-fall-apart-part-i
http://horizonpartners.com/article/timing-ma-part-i-it%E2%80%99s-compl…
http://walkercorporatelaw.com/ma-issues/5-biggest-mistakes-entrepreneu…
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/02/ma-issues-breakup-fees.html
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2253869