Brad Feld Competes With Founders

Hot Startup Tip: Be Friends With Brad Feld If You Want to Succeed

Techstars reached out to me in 2020 or 2021 about helping them build a network of fractional executives for their portfolio companies.

I interviewed with Sabrina Kelly, shared my perspective, and so did other experienced operators from the community. Nothing ever came of it.

Meanwhile, I was already doing exactly that—providing hands-on support, strategy, and execution to Techstars companies. I tried multiple times to formalize a relationship, to create something that actually supported founders and leveraged the talent already within the alumni network.

Radio silence.

Then Bolster showed up.

Bolster was co-founded by Matt Blumberg. You know, the “Startup CEO” guy. His book is published by Techstars Press. He spoke to my Techstars cohort years ago. I used to drive past his company, Return Path on my way from Boulder to Denver. Surface-level helpful at best; like most folks orbiting Techstars, all they really offer are stories of their past successes, but we got to add him on LinkedIn.

Then suddenly, Techstars began actively discouraging companies from working directly with alumni like me.

Meanwhile, Brad Feld (also a Bolster investor) was out there promoting Bolster across “Techstars Universe.”

I’m sure there are more examples but personally, I’ve only seen Brad publicly engage once on what became a podcast to assuage fears on the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, saying it would “probably just be called a moral panic,” before launching into a story about couch shopping, while most of his portfolio companies were scrambling to make payroll.

By the way, Techstars and SVB have had a robust and mutually beneficial financial relationship for years.

So: if someone from the network offers services—crickets. But if it’s a partner Techstars gets a cut from? Full support.

Bolster even had a job board for a while. But once it became clear the model wasn’t working? That feature quietly disappeared.