I did Techstars in London in 2013 (an early cohort there) after spending a decade in the Bay Area. Back then, it felt like the glue holding the entire program together were the founders themselves and one particularly good Techstars staff member.
I felt proud going through the program until I learned about the branded programs emerging "Techstars Disney" and "Techstars Barclays". It felt like the prestige was vanishing, and I rarely mentioned it on my CV afterwards.
Funny though, I raised about $1M through the Techstars program, and over $10M through other VCs. The Techstars VCs were the least helpful (but this could have been the London ecosystem at the time. London, these days, is quite good when it comes to early stage, especially some of the syndicates like Ventures Together. I digress).
I felt proud going through the program until I learned about the branded programs emerging "Techstars Disney" and "Techstars Barclays". It felt like the prestige was vanishing, and I rarely mentioned it on my CV afterwards.
Funny though, I raised about $1M through the Techstars program, and over $10M through other VCs. The Techstars VCs were the least helpful (but this could have been the London ecosystem at the time. London, these days, is quite good when it comes to early stage, especially some of the syndicates like Ventures Together. I digress).