To apply or not to apply? That is the question...

Written May 10, 2011

These past couple days have been mentally exhausting. Sure, I'm sleep deprived and feeling the physical side effects of increased caffeine intake, but it's my brain that's hurting.

My team and I have been debating whether or not to submit our application to TechStars. It's been a healthy debate with sound reasoning from all angles, but it has added another layer on top of the stress of actually applying. We all have mixed feelings, but we've boiled it down to one primary question: is the unknown value of mentorship worth 6% of our company?

Yes, we need mentors. We know that. But is the TechStars fire hose model of mentorship what we need at this stage? (Let's suspend reality and assume that the TechStars selection committee thinks we're as awesome as we fancy ourselves to be.) My hunch is yes, but the truth is that we won't know the answer to this unless we actually go through it.

Making a decision with imperfect information means that we're going to have to take a leap of faith - in one direction or the other. The good thing about this debate is that it has really surfaced our ability to communicate with one another and make decisions as a team. It's clear that we trust one another and regardless of the decision, there will be no contempt and no looking back. One way or another, we're moving forward and building a company that we believe in, which leaves little room for disappointment.