So everyone's seen my my bed in Boulder, so I've upgraded now. I'm crashing at Adam's
Place and now I'm on a 100 year old hide of bed. It really is, it's from 1910. So I think
it's a bit of an upgrade from a mattress on the floor. I actually have sheets now which
is nice as well. The bed represents entrepreneurship because somebody had to invent that and you
know convince investors to think that a bed inside a cash made sense. The guys from retail
are now living out in San Francisco. Most of their investors are out there. Every year
we take the companies with the most progress out to Silicon Valley. We have a demo day
there.
I always enjoy going out to San Francisco. It's great to bring our startups there. Everyone
is into startups and it's what the whole city is about and I think you have to stand
out when you go there and I think you do. We went out to dig and hung out there, had
some food and left the whole company. Matt Van Horn has been one of the great mentors
in tech stars. David told me everyone was going to be in San Francisco for investor
day. I got really excited and said hey, you should come by. Jeffrey Kalmikoff of the Threadless
just moved out and joined dig. So they were there and it was a bunch of fun. Spending
the summer with the tech stars companies and you know being around all the energy and that
surrounds like a new idea just inspired me. San Francisco is a little bit of a reunion
and for some of them it's the first time meeting each other.
We're going to tech stars demo day in Silicon Valley. It's kind of crazy that after like
a year that we're like at this point now, pushing to about 200 investors here in Silicon
Valley. Definitely made it a long way.
All right, warmed up Natty. Let's do this, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this.
The companies that get invited to San Francisco have a big opportunity to get some exposure
there. Sort of the capital in the world of startups. There's a lot of media there and
it's an extra chance to show their stuff and fill out their round.
Hey dude, what's a good life? Yeah, you too man.
It's going to be awesome. It's been really fun and exciting actually to see the companies
kind of go through this process, to see the progress that they've made. A lot of these
companies have already hit revenue. It is shocking what you can do with a little bit
of support and a lot of effort. We've now been running tech stars for three years.
It's about the mentorship. These are all young companies. These guys and
gals are the future of the entrepreneurial ecosystem as it evolves.
True to the story, Nate and Natty are sticking around Boulder, but traveling a lot. They've
been traveling all over the country putting some really interesting business development
deals together. Retail looks like they'll close their round really soon. They have some
fantastic investors. Next Big Sound is really cranking along now. They've closed their funding.
They've decided to stand Boulder. Since Sobi and Langell Lab came out to San Francisco
and pitched an investor data. You can download this application today right to your Blackberry.
We're taking advantage of a fundamental shift to take this industry to the next level and
we're the team that's going to get this done. At the end of the day, if you're doing what
you love, this guy's the limit. Nobody would go through all this work and all this effort
unless they really love what they were doing. These guys have decided to start a company
and go out and change the world. You know, what we did in three months I think most companies
would have to do in two years. It was a transformational summer for us. The future is brighter
than ever. You know, what I'm really upset about is that we never prank David Cohen.
He's flying on a red-eye tonight to Boston. We could take his suitcase, which will definitely
be at food scene and take all of his stuff out and replace it with like used books.
Hey, so we're thinking of maybe trying to prank David. He's flying out on a red-eye
tonight, so we're going to distract him at the party and then put a 40 in his bag and
somebody goes through security. Do you think he would get pissed off at the though?
One of the companies that's in San Francisco from past classes at the TechStars was FoodZ.
They hosted a really great after-party. Panty hose and feminine anti-itch cream. Thank
you. I know I'm off to Boston a couple hours on the red-eye, so won't see a lot of you
for a little while. You know, keep on rocking.
I was jumping on the red-eye of course to go to Boston the next day. I got stopped at
the airport security. They found a giant can of PBR in my bag. I didn't know what it was
because I hadn't put it there. My heart was beating a million miles a minute. I thought
I might be detained for real. They held me for a couple of hours, looked into my background.
I'm already on the watch list because my name is David Cohen. So every time I check
in at the airport, I have to get clear on a watch list.
