Etosha Cave built a deep tech company by asking a question most hardware founders skip: not just who will buy this, but how do we make it at scale? On the Give First podcast, the Twelve co-founder tells David Cohen why process discovery matters as much as customer discovery, and who you need in your corner to figure it out. 🎧 tsta.rs/5Fn750ZIWCi

Can you describe your startup in one word? Comment down below. 👇

We’re headed to SF Tech Week! 🌉 Join Techstars, @Zendesk & @digitalocean for a conversation on how AI is transforming products, businesses, CX & the developer landscape. ⏩ Shaping What’s Next 🗓️ Oct. 5 | 10 AM–2 PM PT 🔗 RSVP: tsta.rs/2iLl50ZQNRb

Investors don't fund confusion. A founder recently came to Techstars Mentor-in-Residence Steve Walsh for fundraising help. Strong product. Big market. Real passion. Nothing that should have stalled a raise. But a few minutes in, Steve kept asking himself the same question: which version of this company am I supposed to believe? The problem wasn't the business. It was that the story didn't hold together, and that alone was enough to make an investor hesitate. Steve breaks down what went wrong, and the simple exercise every founder should run before their next investor meeting. Read it here: tsta.rs/obtm50ZLF52

Building is noisy, especially when you're a founder carrying every decision in your head. Piotr Godzinski's take: what you need is a partner who challenges you and clears that noise, so you can focus on building something sustainable. His advice for founders starting the program: celebrate, but focus back fast.

Featuring the Techstars London Accelerator. 🇬🇧 One of the world's great startup cities, London brings together a global community of founders, technologists, and investors. This program welcomes early stage founders from all over the world, across every vertical, drawing on the city's strengths in diversity, global outlook, and talent. Led by Managing Director Georgie Smithwick, Techstars London backs founders with bold vision, helping them navigate the city's unique mix of capital, talent, and markets to scale faster and smarter. 🔗 tsta.rs/kNlR50ZIvV2

In the world of AI, the busy work of building has been massively compressed. So what actually sets a company apart? For Charlotte Bruce, it's the network: access to customers, to capital, to the people you want to hire. That, she says, is what ends up being the real moat.

Some founders spend years searching for their "why." Tefari Bailey grew up inside his. A first-generation Canadian, he watched his mother and grandmother work 18-hour days after moving from Jamaica. Later, years at TD Bank rising from teller to financial advisor showed him the gap up close: hardworking people denied small loans, then pushed toward payday lenders charging 300% interest. Hutsy (Techstars 2025) is his answer. It connects borrowers to pre-approved offers in seconds and gives those not yet eligible an AI guide to build their credit, a GPS to a prime score. Learn more about Tefari's story here: tsta.rs/bFGZ50ZLEYh

⭐️ That's a wrap on Techstars Global Fall Kick-Off 2026! From September 8 to 11, we brought our entire Fall 2026 class to Boston, the city that has been part of the Techstars story for nearly two decades. Four days of first introductions, late-night conversations, and the kind of high-density collaboration that defines what comes next. The room was filled with: ✔️ 100+ founders from across our global programs ✔️ 10 Managing Directors ✔️ 57+ companies solving problems across fintech, digital health, climate tech, space, and more To the Fall 2026 founders: the work starts now. We can't wait to see what you build. 📸

🚩 Seed rounds move on momentum. Legal red flags are what slow it down. Hunter Haines of SR NEXT explains that the problem is rarely one big issue. It's usually small gaps: a cap table that doesn't match the docs, founder stock that was never properly issued, missing IP assignments, or financing paperwork scattered across inboxes. To investors, those gaps create uncertainty. And uncertainty stalls deals. He breaks down the six legal red flags that most often create friction during a seed financing, and how to clear them before diligence begins. The takeaway: you don't need a perfect legal house before you raise. You need to be organized, accurate, and ready for the questions investors and their counsel will ask. The best time to find your legal red flags is before an investor finds them. 🔗 tsta.rs/IVTb50ZIlJj

Meet the Techstars AI Health Baltimore Accelerator. 🧬 Techstars' flagship healthcare program backs founders building AI health solutions that improve healthcare economics and patient outcomes, investing $220,000 per company. Founders gain access to real clinical environments, payer and reimbursement insight, and regulatory expertise through anchor collaborators including Johns Hopkins, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, MedStar Health, the University of Maryland Baltimore, and the University of Maryland Medical System. Led by Managing Director Smitha Gopal, the program focuses relentlessly on measurable commercial traction, because in healthcare, ROI drives adoption. 🔗 Learn more and apply by November 18th: tsta.rs/Fii550ZIvtu

Global Kickoff is officially underway. 💡 Yesterday we welcomed our Fall 2026 accelerator class into the Techstars network, and the energy in the room said it all. This class spans 7+ accelerator programs, 57+ companies, and 11+ countries, with founders tackling everything from fintech and digital health to climate tech and space. Over the next three months, they'll work alongside experienced mentors, receive capital investment, and tap into a global network built by founders who have been exactly where they are now. To every founder starting this journey with us: welcome. We can't wait to see what you build. Meet the full class 👇  tsta.rs/nU5f50ZLAWx

Two sessions from Give First Week that founders keep coming back to. Learn more about Day 1: Misti Cain talked about bootstrapping and how not every company needs to raise on day one. Knowing which path fits yours is its own advantage. She walked through six ways to build without diluting your ownership, from turning a bespoke service into SaaS to buying an under-marketed product with existing traction. Practical tools for stretching runway while you find your footing. Learn more about Day 2: Chris Heivly and Katie Smith discussed why your startup community is a shortcut to the right mentors, knowledge, and investors that you can't replicate alone. Their advice on fundraising landed hard: treat it like dating. Show investors progress over several quarters before you ask for anything, and eventually they call you. Both worth a full read if you're building right now. Learn more about Week 1: tsta.rs/MCfG50ZIW4f Learn more about Week 2: tsta.rs/EIQI50ZIW4b

Founders don't just come to Techstars for the capital. They come for a network of people who have been there, done that, and Give First.

💡 Registration is open for Techstars Startup Weekend University of Kansas, November 13th-15th. Over 54 hours, you'll turn an idea into something real: build a team, get feedback from mentors, and ship a first version of a product. No business idea or team required. Come with curiosity and leave with something you made. Register by November 4th: tsta.rs/qOb750ZIVk0

A quick look at the Northwestern Medicine & Techstars Healthcare Accelerator. 🩺 This program backs founders solving healthcare's most urgent problems, from access to care and AI to digital therapeutics and precision medicine. Startups work directly with Northwestern Medicine teams inside the Mansueto Innovation Institute, tapping into one of the country's leading healthcare systems. Led by Managing Director Brad Schnitzer, Northwestern Medicine & Techstars invests in companies improving patient experience, making physicians and nurses more efficient, and advancing the frontier in precision medicine, robotics, and cybersecurity. 🔗 Learn more and apply by November 18th here: tsta.rs/gMSh50ZHlQn

A look at what Techstars accomplished this past month. 🔹 1 new partnership 🔹 8 accelerator programs accepting applications 🔹 11 upcoming Techstars Startup Weekend events 🔹 8 portfolio companies secured funding 🔹 11+ portfolio company were acquired 🔗 tsta.rs/G2Bm50ZHMGC

⏰ The countdown is on.  Next week, the Techstars Fall 2026 class arrives in Boston for Global Kickoff.  The next generation of founders is here.

We are proud to announce a strategic partnership with Justworks to help our portfolio founders spend less time on back-office operations and more time growing their companies. At Techstars, we do everything we can to help our founders succeed. That means giving them access to the tools, support, and infrastructure they need to focus on what matters most: building great companies. This collaboration gives Techstars portfolio founders discounted access to Justworks' platform, with dedicated onboarding and 24/7 customer support at every stage of business. Justworks handles the complexity of payroll, benefits, compliance, tax administration, HR consulting, and global hiring, so founders can put their energy into product, GTM, and scaling. "We do everything we can to help our portfolio companies grow. With Justworks handling the operational infrastructure that can steal critical building hours from our founders every week, they can focus on product, GTM, and scaling their companies." - David Cohen, Techstars Founder and CEO Techstars founders and alumni can get started today through their Techstars Universe dashboard. 🔗 tsta.rs/1HMJ50ZGBZj

Not every billion-dollar company starts with a yes from VCs. Etosha Cave co-founded Twelve, the deep tech company turning carbon dioxide and water into jet fuel. In June, Twelve opened its first commercial plant, producing fuel from air with Alaska Airlines and Microsoft as launch partners. But early on, the first investors passed. They were chasing apps. So Etosha built the company a different way. On the Give First podcast, she sits down with David Cohen to talk through the funding playbook for hard science, the calls that shaped Twelve, and what it really takes to build a deep tech unicorn. Etosha is one of 13 founders featured in David Cohen and Amir Hegazi's new book, Chasing Unicorns. 🎧 tsta.rs/wvi050ZFQZs