Do What We Did: Apply to Techstars!

As most of you who read this blog know, madKast had the profound honor and privilege of being one of ten chosen (out of more than 300 who applied) to the TechStars program in Boulder, CO this past summer.

While we received $15,000 in seed funding from TechStars, this number only tells a tiny fraction of the story. From late May through mid August we, along with the nine other startups chosen, received first-rate, invaluable mentorship, advice, guidance and support from some of the brightest in the tech community.

We had workshops, discussions, and individual meetings with some of the top venture capitalists and investors in the area, from founders and directors of some of the most successful tech companies and startups (like NewsGator, MyBlogLog, Yahoo, PayPal, Microsoft, etc), to design firms as well as access to legal help.

Because of the priceless mentorship we received, and relationships we built during our time at TechStars, we were able to successfully raise a Series A venture capital round of $300,000 less than a month after the program ended. That is what is allowing us to continue to build and grow madKast into the bright vision we have.

Why am I writing about all of this now? Quite simple, really: TechStars applications have opened for the 2008 summer session, and we’d let people know that TechStars is a truly invaluable experience and that if you have a startup idea or company you’d benefit immensely from the same guidance and support we did. Plus, Boulder is a pretty amazing place to live, especially during the summer.

We are very grateful for the TechStars program which helped nurture and support our ideas into a successful tech startup company whose growth (number of active blogs) has increased by 40% over the past two months.

Check out the TechCrunch article on TechStars and consider applying today!

If you’d like to know more specifically about madKast’s experience at TechStars, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at josh AT madkast DOT com.