Elite athlete, investor and speaker, Christie Jenkins, has taken the reigns at Techstars as Managing Director. The appointment coincides with the accelerator welcoming purposes for its 2025 program.
Jenkins isn’t any stranger to excessive efficiency. She’s been ranked primary in Australia and high ten on the planet in three sports activities – trampolining, CrossFit and seaside volleyball – and has since gone on to develop into a enterprise capitalist at Blackbird, assist develop Athletic Ventures, a neighborhood of elite athletes who put money into and assist progressive non-public corporations, as nicely co-found a startup that acquired skilled soccer golf equipment across the globe.
Now, she’s bringing her high-performance mindset to Techstars.
Techstars helps founders construct globally aggressive corporations by mentoring them by means of their community of founders, traders and trade leaders.
Functions now open
Techstars Sydney is now accepting purposes for its 2025 program, which can run from 8 September – 5 December. Functions shut 11 June.
“In elite sport I learnt that if you wish to develop into world-class, three issues matter: nice coaches, coaching with individuals higher than you, and an insane work ethic.” says Jenkins.
“Accelerators present the primary two – the work ethic is as much as you.”
The 2025 program
The Techstars accelerator program offers startups the chance to attach with those that are the most effective at what they do.
However this isn’t restricted to the coaches.
“Each founder in Techstars is wildly bold, shifting at excessive velocity, and somebody we deeply respect and admire. Spending 13 weeks side-by-side with these people will do extra to speed up your progress than something you are able to do by yourself,” says Jenkins.
What Techstars is searching for
Techstars selects solely 12 startups per cohort, however Jenkins says they’re not searching for founders who’ve all the pieces found out – they’re searching for what she calls, “tremendous strengths”.
“We count on early stage corporations to have obvious gaps,” she says, explaining that not each startup wants all their geese in a row to be accepted into the accelerator.
“Lacking a cofounder, or a go-to-market plan or have by no means made a greenback in income? No downside, so long as you might be spiky elsewhere,” she enthuses.
“If individuals name you ‘loopy’ in your ambition or obsession, you’re in all probability our sort of individual,” she laughs.
The most effective startups don’t match a mould, in keeping with Jenkins.
“They’re bizarre. They’re spiky. They’re usually underestimated – and so they’re nearly by no means well-rounded.”
All startups welcome
Techstars is what Jenkins refers to as ‘trade agnostic’, with this system being open to all kinds of tech ventures.
“Whether or not you’re constructing Australia’s subsequent nice spacetech, fintech, shopper product, or AI firm – we wish to meet you,” she says.
It is usually backed by the NSW Authorities as a part of its broader ambition to place Sydney as a startup powerhouse.
Worldwide ambition
This 12 months’s program is all about serving to Australian startups go world.
Techstars has greater than 3,500 lively portfolio corporations around the globe together with 21 unicorns, and has a community of three,100+ mentors worldwide.
As Jenkins says, “We’ve bought all of them on velocity dial. If you wish to launch into the US, rent your first worldwide crew, or elevate from world VCs – we may also help.”
Why not you?
Jenkins welcomes all startups to use, however if you’re feeling a little bit timid, her message to candidates is easy:
“There are individuals on the market much less proficient, much less skilled, and with much less sources than you constructing startups. The distinction? That they had the bravery to start out.
“The most effective corporations on the planet – Apple, Stripe, Uber – all bought rejected early on. The distinction wasn’t expertise or connections. It was the braveness to start out. So why not you?”
Functions for Techstars 2025 (Sydney) are open now and shut 11 June. Apply right here.
