Earlier today, Techstars CEO David Cohen sent the following note to Techstars employees.

Today we are taking the difficult step of reducing our global team by 17%. I co-founded Techstars in 2006 and since becoming CEO again in May, it has become clear to me that we overbuilt and over hired to support our ambition to scale. We built a business with the capacity to support thousands of new investments annually but the reality is that we have been investing in around 700 startups a year. We are going to stop focusing on scaling and shift all of our focus to being better for founders each and every day.

The team reductions come predominantly from engineering, portfolio services, and sales/partnerships. Our accelerator teams will be largely unaffected by these actions; however, when the Advancing Cities fund is fully deployed at the end of this year, the Techstars powered by J.P. Morgan branded accelerator programs will come to an end. None of this changes any of our other accelerator programs and schedules.

If you are impacted, you have already received a calendar invitation for a meeting today to discuss what will happen next. I know that this is sudden and upsetting and that hearing about this via email is not ideal. Your work has fundamentally put Techstars in a position to help founders succeed. The company will benefit for years to come from the invaluable work you have done on our infrastructure, systems and processes. We would not be the company we are today without you and I appreciate the commitment, energy and expertise you have dedicated to Techstars. I can’t thank you enough, but I can - and do - pledge my personal support as you look towards what is next. In addition to the resource guide and other information that you will receive shortly, starting next week you are invited to join me for calls on Wednesdays where we will discuss opportunities with various employers from our network.

While this is a necessary business decision, it doesn’t make it any less painful. Before the week is over, I’ll talk to the rest of the team about how we plan to move forward as a company.

All Techstars employees, past and present, remain connected by a shared passion for helping founders succeed. I hope that passion for supporting founders never leaves you.

David

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