Techstars Atlanta: A New Era for Local Startups Begins!

Editor’s Note:

As Hypepotamus readers know, Techstars has long played a key role in Atlanta’s startup ecosystem. Last October, the program announced it was gearing up for some pretty significant changes after its Demo Day on the Venture Atlanta stage. We now have insight into what those changes will look like. As the program enters its new, locally-focused chapter, former Managing Director, Tim Dorr, shared his perspective on what’s next for Techstars Atlanta, a startup community partnership, and how Atlanta’s tech community can get involved (spoiler alert: They’re hiring!).

Back in October, I was onstage for the Techstars Atlanta Demo Day and shared that we’d be making some big changes to the program. Now, after a lot of hard work, I’m thrilled to announce the continuation of Techstars in Atlanta, now as a community-backed initiative. We’re calling it Techstars Atlanta, a startup community partnership.

For nine amazing years, the Techstars Atlanta program, powered by Cox Enterprises, played a huge role in shaping our city’s startup scene. It boosted innovation, launched some amazing companies, and really made a difference in our community. Now, we’re building on that momentum by making the program driven by and for the Atlanta startup community.

What does this mean for you? It means Atlanta’s startup community is now at the helm! We’re talking about a true community partnership where Atlanta’s own will steer the program, ensuring it’s perfectly tailored to our local founders’ needs. To that end, we’ve assembled a board of Atlanta startup leaders – myself, Justin Dawkins, Landon Howell, Chris Moreno, and Jen Singh – all deeply invested in our city’s success. Together, we’ll build an Atlanta-based program team, leveraging the incredible mentors, speakers, sponsors, and resources right here in our community.

While this new program will be driven locally, we’ll use Techstars’ massive global network and resources to give our founders incredible opportunities to grow and connect. This mix of local focus and global reach puts us in a great spot to find and support Atlanta’s next generation of game-changing startups. Our goal is ambitious but clear: to help Atlanta become a top 5 tech hub by selecting and supporting the most promising startups in the region. Techstars Atlanta will be the unfair advantage of Atlanta’s best startups.

We’re still in the early stages of this exciting journey, and we need your input and support. Right now, we’re focused on building out the new organization, and we want to make sure it reflects what you want for our vibrant startup community.

Here’s how you can get involved:

• Get Involved: If you’re passionate about supporting Atlanta’s startup ecosystem, please fill out our interest form. We want to hear from you!
• Nominate a Managing Partner: We’re looking for a dynamic leader to guide Techstars Atlanta into its next phase. If you know someone with the vision, experience, and passion to lead this initiative, please nominate them here.

We’re super excited to kick off this new chapter, and we can’t wait to build the future of Atlanta startups together!