David Cohen
Co-Founder & CEO, Techstars. On 1 show, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderinvestorexecutiveauthor@davidcohen ↗LinkedIn ↗davidgcohen.com ↗Wikipedia ↗
In 2006, he co-founded Techstars, building it into an early-stage accelerator and investment network backing startups like Uber and Twilio. Prior to Techstars, he co-founded Pinpoint Technologies and co-authored books including Do More Faster.
1shows
2appearances
31statements
5resolved
4supported
0contradicted
80%fully supported
12said about them ↓ Everything David Cohen said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Cohen: Nearly 98% of startup bridge rounds are bridges to nowhere
“Yeah, my stats are only a 98%, so I'm not sure if I get it right, but it's somewhere in that zone. No, they often are bridges to nowhere”
David Cohen: Seed and angel investing are not venture capital
“I believe that angel investing, seed investing is a completely different thing than venture capital. I don't think it's part of venture capital. I think that it's a different type of asset, which has different needs and requirements and has a different perform…”
Cohen: Hot startup deals often turn out to fail
“But you know, it turns out that the hot deal, something I've learned is, is often the one that doesn't work. And when you see Uber for the first time, or you see, you know, a company that ultimately didn't do well, you're just as excited about both of them.”
Cohen: Techstars returns would be 5x lower if using uncapped notes
“Had all the investments we've done been uncapped notes, it's something like a five X, you know, lower return.”
David Cohen: Having too many optimists can kill entire companies
“And I've literally seen it kill entire companies by just being too many optimists, hanging out, spending each other up.”
Cohen: Startups should form a board of directors at the seed stage
“Yesterday. I think that companies need to put it in as soon as possible. And, you know, I think entrepreneurs have this tendency to think of the board as this Overlord controlling things and they can fire me and all that, but that's not necessarily the case, r…”
80% of Techstars accelerator companies raise follow-on funding
“80% of our accelerator companies are going to raise around from somewhere.”
Cohen: Consistency in investment strategy matters more than the strategy itself
“It's about having a consistent strategy and just sticking to it. You know, it almost doesn't matter so much what the strategy is as that you're consistent about it and stick to it.”
Cohen: First Bullet Time fund had an average pre-money valuation of $2.8M
“So the average pre-money valuation of an investment in my first fund is 2.8 million dollars, which is quite sane.”
Cohen: Concentrated angel portfolios statistically fail
“You have to have enough portfolio diversification to where, you know, if you're concentrated in just a few companies as an angel, I mean, the stats are pretty clear. You're going to lose.”
David Cohen: Best investments come from instantaneous 5-to-10-minute instincts
“Most of the best investments I've ever Had have been that five, 10 minute instantaneous, you know, like I'm in reaction, right?”
David Cohen vows to never invest via uncapped convertible notes again
“I've done one in my life, and I plan to do no more.”
Cohen: Traditional VCs frequently fail at seed-stage investing
“The VC is trying to do seed. You know, you see so much failure there, right? You see, it's just a different game.”
David Cohen: Tech industry rewards loudness over performance
“I'm very concerned about the health of the long-term dynamic where entrepreneurs and investors value fame and boisterousness over shut the hell up and do a great job and help the company, right? I think most industries evolve towards rewarding performance and,…”
Cohen: A founder's reaction when confronted reveals their true character
“What they say in that moment of integrity is how you can really tell how a person will behave and their value.”
Cohen: Trust between founders and investors is rebuildable if openly discussed
“So again, we all do things wrong, but if I can trust that we're going to be able to talk about that openly, especially in a board or investor context, or this works in personal life as well, Then I think it's easy to rebuild almost no matter what the transgres…”
Cohen: High Confidence with Low Accuracy Makes the Worst Board Member
“And so the worst form of board member is someone with confidently held misinformation, right? Where they believe this is the case and this is how this works, but actually it's high confidence, but low accuracy.”
Cohen: Structure investment terms to test and hedge founder predictions
“So when you're getting a story from the entrepreneurs about what's going to happen, try to find ways to make the terms match that story and the eventuality that that story may not happen.”
Cohen: Early-stage startups should raise 18 to 24 months of runway
“The company has, but I think at the seed stage, I would look for a minimum of 18 months. Today, I prefer two years, actually. So, sort of seed and series A investing.”
David Cohen: Twilio and Uber were Fund 1's first and fourth investments
“The first investment I made was in a company called Twilio. Fourth investment I made was in a company called Uber.”
Techstars requires approval from only one partner for seed investments
“We've maintained, even though we have four partners now working on the larger investments, we've maintained this idea that if somebody gets excited, that's all you need. Go make the seed investment.”
David Cohen invested $50k in Uber after asking for a $100k allocation
“And I said, I was in sitting on that bar stool. I think I asked for a 100,000 dollars. And, you know, cause at the time I think that was the sort of up leveling that we were trying to do in that fund. And I got 50. It's fine. I took 50.”
Techstars invests in roughly 500 startups per year
“We're investing in about 500 companies a year at this point across these 50 accelerators that you mentioned.”
Techstars maintains a 1:1 reserve ratio for larger follow-on investments
“When we do make a larger investment, we actually reserve one-to-one. So for every dollar we put in, we keep a dollar in reserve, and then we, you know, over time sort of reallocate that as needed and think about our reserves as a strategic part of what we do.”
The other half of the tape: David Cohen's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 10 times in 5 episodes across the shows. 2 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 6John Fein 3David Tisch 1
Statements about David Cohen, by other people (2)
Stebbings: David Cohen's portfolio companies have created over $80B in value
“To date, David has backed hundreds of startups, including the likes of, check this out, Uber, SendGrid, Twilio, ClassPass, PillPack, and many more. In total, these investments have gone on to create more than eighty billion dollars in value”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 10
2021 1 mention in 1 episode
2019 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: The Ultimate Episode For Emerging Managers: How To Determine How Big A Fund To Raise, What Is The Right Closing Strategy With LPs & Why We Will Not See The Eradication of Pre-Seed with John Fein, Founder & Managing Partner @ Firebrand Ventures
- 20VC: BoxGroup's David Tisch on Whether Concentrated Investing At Seed Works, Do Founders Really Want Direct Feedback and Is It Good For Them & Why Consumer Social Is Interesting Again
- every mention in 2019, scene by scene →
2016 5 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode
- 20VC: How You Can Learn To Be A Great Business Leader & Why All Successful Business Must Be Loved or Needed with Moisey Uretsky, Founder @ Digital Ocean
- 20VC: How Entrepreneurs Should Manage Their Board & Why Time Constraints Are Always The Key To Progress with Paul Berberian @ Sphero
- every mention in 2016, scene by scene →
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens David's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | Co-Founder & CEO, Techstars | 2 | 31 | 80% 4/5 | full record on 20VC → |