This week Yanni welcomes Jordan Fliegel, managing director of Techstars NYC and Techstars Sports.
Over the course of the conversation, Jordan details how Techstars identifies promising startups, and the ways it works with successful applicants to help their businesses develop. The pair also cover the equity terms and ongoing support offered by the accelerator.
As well as Jordan's search for “the Topgolf of fishing”, the discussion touches on what qualities Techstars looks for in its founders, their teams, and products, plus the sectors and areas that are exciting Jordan in 2023. This leads to the unlikely story of how Jordan became an early investor in Lemon Perfect. Founded by former basketball coach Yanni Hufnagel, the hydration company has since raised more than $70m.
Jordan is a former managing partner at Founders First, an angel fund and syndicate. He was co-founder and CEO of CoachUp, a platform to connect athletes with coaches. Among other ventures, he was co-CEO of Draft.com – a fantasy sports site which sold to Paddy Power Betfair in 2017 for ~$48m.
Timestamps
04:30 – What does an accelerator like Techstars do?
09:30 – How does Techstars attract and vet companies?
14:00 – The decision process of admitting a company
23:00 – What the end goal for each company they bring in?
18:30 – What makes a company too mature for Techstars?
31:15 – Where Jordan expects to find the next big opportunity 38:15 – How the economic landscape has shifted
43:20 – What makes a good founder or team?
56:00 – Lemon Perfect
London Marathon Events: The tech behind the record-breaking event
Professional Triathletes Organisation: Using tech to take triathlon mainstream
MLS Innovation Lab: Nurturing tech to grow the league
The evolution of sports sponsorship
Monterosa: powering fan engagement for sports' leading rightsholders
Monarch Collective: going all in on women's sports
Levellr: building communities of superfans in sports
Reviewing our trend predictions and looking ahead to 2024
Ryan Sports Ventures: investing in people that change the game
BMW, Karta and marketing in the metaverse
RX3 Growth Partners: consumer investment alongside athletes
The role of machine learning in sports, and how to build an AI startup
WISE Ventures: supporting the evolution of next-gen businesses
How star signing drive fandom, and is short-form content king?
West River Group: investing in the global innovation economy
The new social media landscape, and the evolution of pre-season tours
The Women’s World Cup, and the ‘Netflixication’ of sport
Where Sapphire Sport will invest its second fund
Apex Capital: investing with the world’s best athletes
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Coach Carvalho Podcast
From Corner2Corner
Golf Podcast: next on the tee
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
The MeatEater Podcast