“Inspiring: We couldn’t help but apply”

Meet the visionary leaders from Climatize, Pivot Desk, and Availyst. In this video, Alba Forns, David Mandell, and Mandy Poston share a little about how Techstars equipped them with mentorship, resources, and a network to revolutionize their business model, craft an unbeatable go-to-market strategy, and skyrocket their success. 

Mandy Poston was on the fence. The founder and CEO of Availyst, a food discovery platform that helps consumers find and compare their local options for groceries, restaurants, and alcohol, wasn’t sure joining a Techstars accelerator was the right move. She’d already bootstrapped a business with her COO and wasn’t sure she would benefit from the program. 

But after attending an ‘ask me anything’ session with the Farm to Fork team, Poston changed her mind. 

“I was really drawn to the team,” said Poston who was excited about the opportunity to join an accelerator that was tied directly to her vertical. 

“It was an easy decision after that.” 

For Alba Forns, the co-founder and COO of Climatize, meeting and working alongside passionate founders and mentors helped she and her team deal with the loneliness that entrepreneurs often experience. 

“It’s inspiring,” said Forns. Climatize is a platform enabling individuals and organizations to easily and automatically invest in our marketplace of climate projects. Forns and her co-founder participated in a 2022 Techstars accelerator and have recently launched its first solar investment offering, BrightSun Low-Income Community Solar, which raised its full $505,000 target in just one month.

Big names 

Mentors and advisors shared vast industry knowledge, too, that Poston called impactful.

“They helped shape the vision of where we are taking the business and helped us uncover a revenue stream that we hadn’t even thought about,” said Poston. 

Longtime mentor David Mandell, the CEO and co-founder of PivotDesk, who also happens to be a Techstars 2012 alum, calls Techstars “a co-founder you don’t have who can do anything you need them to do.”

Mandell lauds the programming, content, resources, partners and people and other companies, all of whom are available to help founders throughout their entire journey. 

Indeed. “We couldn’t help but apply,” said Forns.

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