“Week 2 for @techstars means new adventures and fun for all,” tweeted Nexosis, one of the 10 companies selected to participate in the first-ever Target + Techstars accelerator program.
The 14-week program got underway June 20, and the entrepreneurs who’ve just relocated to Minneapolis for the summer didn’t waste any time getting to work. Their first item of business? Spending three weeks working alongside mentors in an intensive session known as “Mentor Madness,” a kind of speed dating for business where the startups spend 20 minutes each with a dozen mentors, for four-hour stretches at a time asking questions and gathering insights. At the end, each startup gets matched with one lead mentor in the program. Whew!
The mentors, who bring expertise from a variety of areas, include Target leaders, like chairman and CEO Brian Cornell, chief strategy and innovation officer Casey Carl and senior vice president of product design and development Julie Guggemos, the Techstars network and the startup community. Mentors are available to answer questions and share words of wisdom about anything from elevator pitches to productivity practices and more. Take a look at the photos in the gallery below for a peek into who the startups are and some of their work that’s already underway.
Check out the video below to see both the mentors and startups talk about what excites them most about the start of this Target + Techstars experience:
Stay tuned for more Target + Techstars accelerator coverage coming soon to A Bullseye View.
