TechStars gets hand from White House

BOULDER – The TechStars startup incubator is going national and is getting a hand from the White House.

TechStars, which is based in Boulder, announced Monday that it has launched the TechStars Network, an association of 17 independently owned and operated business incubators.

Organizations in the network will copy the mentorship model developed by TechStars. The model includes providing seed funding and guidance from established entrepreneurs in return for a percent stake in each startup that is chosen from a pool of applicants.

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The network also will establish best practices, professional development, networking opportunities and ongoing support for member organizations, the press release announcing the network’s launch said.

The TechStars Network will be part of the Startup America initiative. The initiative has received the backing of the Obama Administration. Its goal is to find 5,000 experienced business leaders and investors to mentor and support 6,000 promising young entrepreneurs over the next four years. The aim is to increase the success rate and sustainability of each program, and to ultimately create 25,000 new jobs by 2015, the release said.

“Through our experiences with TechStars, we have seen what happens when an entire community comes together to support entrepreneurs. We’re more than flattered by the activity of other programs that have leveraged our mentorship-driven model and have improved or tweaked the design,” TechStars cofounder and chief executive David Cohen wrote on the organization’s blog. “Taking this up a level and building a global network of like-minded accelerator programs is what the TechStars Network is all about. To say the least, we’re full of excitement to see what we’re able to build together as a connected community of credible accelerator programs around the world.”