Monday, January 31, 2011

TechStars Seattle, Founders Co-Op Tie Into White House Startup Effort

The White House is launching a new effort this morning to spur entrepreneurship and growth in U.S. firms, and has recruited a number of local business incubation efforts--including TechStars Seattle, the effort being run by Andy Sack, as well as the Founders Co-Op--as part of the initiative. The White House is announcing the Startup America Partnership, an effort to "dramatically increase the development, prevalence and success of innovative, high-growth U.S. firms." The effort includes $200M in investment capital committed by Intel Capital, $150M in funding for startup efforts by IBM, and a host of other supporters. Among those is efforts is the launch of The TechStars Network, which will launch the TechStars model to connect independently owned and operated startup accelerator program, including both Sack's TechStars Seattle as well as the Founder's Co-op. The Founder's Co-Op is Sack and Chris DeVore's seed stage investment fund.