As you may have heard, Techstars recently announced some changes to its accelerator model. While Techstars continues to operate in Chicago with other programs, the city program (a.k.a. Techstars Chicago) is shutting down. Others have written about the greater announcement from a high level (see here, here, here, or here), but I felt compelled to write something a little different about Techstars Chicago, its role in our community, and how I think about our ecosystem moving forward.
How it started
The story of Techstars Chicago starts with an organization called Excelerate Labs. Created in 2009, the program was led by a group of local founders and investors, and was designed to connect existing successful founders and operators with new companies to provide capital, mentorship, and support.
At the time, it was well known that Illinois and the Midwest had been (and still is) one of the most fertile grounds for new startup founders. Excellent universities and talent + midwestern work ethic = great new startup founders and visions. But many of those founders inevitably ended up leaving for the coasts to execute because there wasn't enough local risk capital, mentorship, and support. So the “Why” behind Excelerate was fairly simple: if we organize our community, we can help these founders locally.
The program ran its inaugural cohort in 2010, led by serial entrepreneur Sam Yagan, and was transformative for the early stage founders and investors community in Chicago. I know firsthand because I was the intern Sam hired the first year to help him run the program. We had an amazing cohort of founders in our inaugural group -- founders that now run companies worth billions and employ hundreds — and a world class group of mentors and investors from around the country attend.
The Excelerate program was modeled, in many ways, after Techstars, which at the time was just starting to grow beyond its Boulder HQ. It would have been very easy for Techstars to view a new accelerator as competitive to its plans for the future. But living their values, David Cohen and Brad Feld did the opposite of what you might expect: they provided advice and lessons learned, shared playbooks and support, and even invested in the fund. Techstars talks a lot about #GiveFirst, but it isn't lip service. Even at the very beginning they helped Excelerate.
The eventual validation and success of the Excelerate Labs cohorts came years later, but what was immediately obvious was the impact on the local startup community. Especially for pre-seed and seed founders. There was now a place for current & former founders, angel investors, venture funds, and community organizations to come together around the best up and coming startups in the region. If you were a new founder getting started in Chicago or the Midwest, and wanted to stay here, you knew you had to connect with Excelerate Labs.
In 2013, Excelerate Labs became Techstars Chicago, and has since gone on to fund hundreds of amazing companies through the leadership of Troy Henikoff, Sam Yagan, Steve Farsht, Logan LaHive, Neal Sales-Griffin, Brad Schnitzer, and Tricia Martínez-Saab. Founders from these programs have built amazing, world changing companies. Collectively, the funds have returned great profits to their investors. And, perhaps most importantly, the community created by Techstars Chicago has been transformative to hundreds of founders’ lives and companies.
How it’s going
The set of founders impacted by Techstars Chicago includes us, the founders of LongJump. We formed LongJump in 2019 with the mission to identify and elevate overlooked and underrepresented founders in Chicagoland. We've since rallied an enormous network of founders, investors, and partners to our cause and community.
It’s not an overstatement to say that LongJump, and our own community, would not exist without Techstars Chicago. In fact, every single one of the partners in LongJump had a transformative experience in their careers that involved Techstars Chicago. We came together in our mission at LongJump because we knew how valuable the network, support and capital provided by Techstars Chicago was to so many companies, and to us, as founders.
So obviously when we heard the news about Techstars’ plans to move away from the Techstars Chicago program, we were of course sad, worried, frustrated, and confused. The network here is vibrant and growing; the companies that came out of Techstars Chicago historically performed very well; and the Techstars Chicago funds have been historically profitable and successful. From that lens, it can be hard to understand.
But we’ve come around to a position of empathy and hope. Techstars is making changes it needs to continue to drive impact. And those changes aren't really about us, or our community. And like Techstars did for us, we want to support them however we can. We’ll continue to mentor and assist the programs remaining in Chicago, as well as any new ones that get created. We will continue to recommend our companies apply to Techstars programs, because we know how valuable they can be. And we’re prepared to support all Techstars Chicago founders, mentors, and community as part of LongJump, ideally in partnership with Techstars.
I wouldn't be much of an entrepreneur if I also didn't see great opportunity here — for our community — to take a look around and decide who we want to be moving forward and how we want to deliver for the future. Chicago has come a long way, but there is still more work to be done in helping founders in our backyard. So that's what we, as LongJump, are doing.
What's next
If you've been around Chicago's startup scene for the last few years, you know the pace at which things are moving here. There are more funds and organizations here designed to discover, enable, and elevate new founders than ever before. Chicago is leading the nation in support for underrepresented and overlooked founders from all walks of life. (We'll create a big post later on about all those organizations, funds, programs, and networks as a follow up).
For us, we started LongJump like any founder would -- with a proof of concept, an MVP to see if a bunch of part-time founders could raise a fund, find great companies, and help them grow. Since 2021, we’ve added more than 190 founders, investors, operators, and community leaders to our cause, and we’ve invested in 35 portfolio companies so far — and we’re just getting started. Looking ahead, here are some of the things we’re doing:
- We're doubling down on what worked in our first fund -- we'll continue to be the best pre-seed investor founders in Chicago and the midwest can work with -- because we're led by a crew of founders and operators who bring experience and empathy to every interaction.
- We'll continue to invest at the earliest stages, because that's where our founders and community need the most help. It’s still too hard to raise the first $500k, and we will continue to be a catalyst for other investors.
- We're expanding our footprint by investing in founders outside of Chicago and into the greater midwest, and expanding our existing network to more founders, operators, and investors.
- We're going deeper into our ability to help Founders by launching a new cohort-driven program designed to help pre-seed founders with the knowledge, skills, and access needed to thrive. This program is designed to be complimentary, and not competitive with, traditional accelerator programs and other pre-seed funds.
One of the foundational elements of LongJump is community. We emerged as a result of this community - and with Techstars leaving, we hope to play a role in continuing + evolving the community-building role they’ve held. We'll continue to do all of this in partnership with local and national funds, accelerators, and programs — just like we have been, including Techstars.
Our Ask
The next generation of founders is already building. And they're in our backyards. But I was reminded today that transformation doesn't happen in isolation - it takes a community.
So, if you're motivated by this vision and what we can build together, then my ask is for you to get involved with LongJump. Join our community or get in touch at hello@longjump.vc.