Quotes from David Cohen

I had to quit a 'real job' to start my first company.

Because Techstars is an intensely productive three-month program in which product development and iteration are primary goals, we're constantly looking to streamline our program to help entrepreneurs avoid recurring obstacles.

I'm most proud of helping so many others achieve their dreams as founders.

If I'm an entrepreneur and I have an idea, and I don't have the development talent around me but I need to find a developer, I would do my selection just like I would with hiring an employee.

I think entrepreneurs really appreciate directness and honesty, coupled with empathy.

Techstars is truly global; you'll see us continue to expand all our programs worldwide, including accelerators, our venture capital, as well as the UP Global programs including Startup Weekend, Startup Next, Startup Digest, etc.

When we talk about Techstars, we think of it as this worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed.

You may have a small network, but growing that network has become easier with the use of social tools. LinkedIn, Conspire, even Facebook and Twitter allow you to grab branches that may have previously seemed out of reach.

People look up to Techstars because they get funded by Techstars; they go through the accelerator. What we do impacts what they do. What we care about we hope has a meta impact on those entrepreneurs and how they think about the world.

In innovation, you're trying to create something from nothing.

Entrepreneurship transparency, I think, is important because there are so many problems that you just have to be real about them. There are so many ways for a startup to die, so the transparency attitude is key.

We've been publishing the TechStars data fully since the beginning on TechStars.com. For every single company, you can see if it's a failure, success, how much they raised. Entrepreneurs deserve that sort of transparency from accelerators, and it's not hard to do.

I think entrepreneurs should demand transparency for startup accelerators.

I'm an investor in a lot of things that have to do with human-computer interaction.

Twilio is a great example of a company executing tremendously well on its vision and delivering a beautiful set of products that solves real problems.

People are starting companies at young ages. They fail fast, learn a lot, and keep going.

Meetings with no goal, also known as 'coffee shop' meetings, can be huge time wasters if you're not efficient with them. 'Always know why you're meeting, and make sure it's important - try to keep them to 30 minutes, max.

Ultimately, even if you follow the advice of a mentor or board member, it's still your fault if they were wrong!

I was lucky to have amazing mentors like Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson.

Consumers have zero time for products that are not simple, intuitive, and attractive to use. This is especially true with Internet products, where clean and useful design is a prerequisite to keeping anyone on your site for more than 30 seconds.

There's no law that says you have to do what your mentor suggests. And the sooner you learn how to say 'no' confidently, the easier it will be to manage these key relationships.

When fundraising, your network is critical. Leveraging it early and often is the key. Don't make the mistake of waiting until you need money to engage sources of capital.

The Internet is full of choices, and nobody is going to make the choice to use a product that is hard to use or unattractive.

I've done a bunch of consulting; I've actually spent time in Singapore, England, Denmark, all over.