Nine Jacksonville companies got to present to a representative from Techstars, the largest accelerator in the world, when he came to PS27 Ventures to recruit local companies for the next cohort.
Tyler Scriven is co-director of the Atlanta accelerator program and a Jacksonville native, and came to the First Coast to meet dozens of area startups, ultimately granting nine of them interviews.
Those companies will be able to apply for the intensive three-month accelerator in Atlanta, where Scriven will narrow down the hundreds of applications he’ll get internationally to just 10 that will participate in this year’s program.
Although Scriven wouldn’t share which nine companies he met with, he said he was impressed with the ones he met with and the dozens more he was introduced to throughout the day.
“They were surprisingly good,” Scriven told the Business Journal, after a question and answer session he held Tuesday night at PS27. “They were promising companies and have a real shot at joining the class.”
What is more, Scriven said it was nice to see the hard work Jacksonville companies are putting into growing startups, and what groups like Jim Stallingsand his PS27 program do to help support them.
“It’s great to see the work Jim is doing,” said Scriven. “He’s doing all the things that need to be done.”
For Stallings, having someone like Scriven come meet with local companies give them a chance to get in front of a big player and pitch their case.
“It gave great insight for our companies into how this process works,” said Stallings. “They can understand the accelerator process and now have insight into how a global company thinks.”
Scriven, who said he plans to return to Jacksonville to recruit for the 2018 class, said that Techstars operates under the belief that a great tech startup can be created anywhere, not just Silicon Valley.
“I came to Jacksonville to support what is happening here,” he said. “What I saw today reinforces that the community has a lot of intent and is working hard.”
