Shay Har-Noy will welcome the first cohort to the Techstars Boulder accelerator in about a year. (Courtesy Shay Har-Noy)
Shay Har-Noy is ready to help the next generation of Colorado startups.
The local founder will lead the Techstars reboot in Boulder, which was announced nearly a year ago after the accelerator program said it was leaving Colorado.
“When Techstars left Boulder, it left a hole in the community,” Har-Noy said. “It’s the OG, the original program.”
Techstars operates as both an investment firm and a startup bootcamp, called an accelerator. Through its three-month programs, it coaches startups on everything from product-market fit to personnel. Techstars also invests $220,000 in each company – there are around 10 per cohort – in exchange for about 6% equity.
Techstars was started in Boulder in 2006 by current corporate CEO David Cohen, now-governor Jared Polis and local venture capitalist Brad Feld. Since then, its program has expanded across the globe, investing in thousands of startups that Techstars says are collectively valued at $125 billion.
But Techstars moved its headquarters to New York City and ended its Boulder accelerator in 2024, saying it wanted to be in a larger city with deeper venture capital and talent pools.
Now, Har-Noy, whose official title is managing partner of Techstars Boulder, is tasked with planting a Techstars accelerator in Boulder once again.
The California native moved to Colorado in 2013 after his first company, a satellite analysis firm called TomNod, was acquired by Westminster-based DigitalGlobe, now known as Maxar Technologies. From 2019 through 2020, he worked for Uber, leading a team in Louisville that was focused on autonomous driving and maps. Since then, he’s been CEO of a satellite imagery firm called EdgyBees.
Har-Noy initially got involved with Techstars as a mentor in 2013 and has since been involved in 20 or so programs throughout the country.
“I want this thing to exist really badly here in Colorado. It had such an impact on me, an impact on founders and the larger tech ecosystem here,” he said. “So instead of complaining that it’s not here, I’m being the change I want to see.”
Har-Noy said the accelerator plans to invest in 32 to 40 companies over the next four years, about half of which will be Colorado-based. With the other half, he hopes to entice promising fledgling companies to relocate to the Centennial State full time after they finish the three-month program.
Har-Noy said applications will open in 2026 and the first cohort of eight to 10 businesses will start around a year from now.
He said it will be very similar to how Techstars corporate runs its startup bootcamps. The Techstars Boulder program will essentially be an affiliate of its corporation, using a common application and the same screening process.
Har-Noy said he’s in the process of finding office space and taking his pitch deck to the investor circuit, where he hopes to persuade local tech leaders to contribute to Techstars Boulder’s pot. That, he said, will help keep the impacts and growth of the reboot local.
“It’s like a flywheel where the economic interests are with the local community, the mentorship is with the community and the customers are aligned with the community,” he said. “We’re all going to be leaning in to make these companies special.”
That type of local cohesion is something both Har-Noy and corporate Techstars CEO Cohen said the firm got away from during its “awkward teenage years.”
“Now, (Techstars) is an adult. … We drank a little too much, partied a little too much. But we’re still alive and grown up,” Cohen told a panel at Colorado Startup Week last Thursday. “And it’s pretty clear that we should … start with where we started before. Start with Colorado. Start with Boulder, where you have a lot of natural advantages and a lot of history and a lot of portfolio companies. And involve the community, because it works better.”
Shay Har-Noy will welcome the first cohort to the Techstars Boulder accelerator in about a year. (Courtesy Shay Har-Noy)
Shay Har-Noy is ready to help the next generation of Colorado startups.
The local founder will lead the Techstars reboot in Boulder, which was announced nearly a year ago after the accelerator program said it was leaving Colorado.
“When Techstars left Boulder, it left a hole in the community,” Har-Noy said. “It’s the OG, the original program.”
Techstars operates as both an investment firm and a startup bootcamp, called an accelerator. Through its three-month programs, it coaches startups on everything from product-market fit to personnel. Techstars also invests $220,000 in each company – there are around 10 per cohort – in exchange for about 6% equity.
Techstars was started in Boulder in 2006 by current corporate CEO David Cohen, now-governor Jared Polis and local venture capitalist Brad Feld. Since then, its program has expanded across the globe, investing in thousands of startups that Techstars says are collectively valued at $125 billion.
But Techstars moved its headquarters to New York City and ended its Boulder accelerator in 2024, saying it wanted to be in a larger city with deeper venture capital and talent pools.
Now, Har-Noy, whose official title is managing partner of Techstars Boulder, is tasked with planting a Techstars accelerator in Boulder once again.
The California native moved to Colorado in 2013 after his first company, a satellite analysis firm called TomNod, was acquired by Westminster-based DigitalGlobe, now known as Maxar Technologies. From 2019 through 2020, he worked for Uber, leading a team in Louisville that was focused on autonomous driving and maps. Since then, he’s been CEO of a satellite imagery firm called EdgyBees.
Har-Noy initially got involved with Techstars as a mentor in 2013 and has since been involved in 20 or so programs throughout the country.
“I want this thing to exist really badly here in Colorado. It had such an impact on me, an impact on founders and the larger tech ecosystem here,” he said. “So instead of complaining that it’s not here, I’m being the change I want to see.”
Har-Noy said the accelerator plans to invest in 32 to 40 companies over the next four years, about half of which will be Colorado-based. With the other half, he hopes to entice promising fledgling companies to relocate to the Centennial State full time after they finish the three-month program.
Har-Noy said applications will open in 2026 and the first cohort of eight to 10 businesses will start around a year from now.
He said it will be very similar to how Techstars corporate runs its startup bootcamps. The Techstars Boulder program will essentially be an affiliate of its corporation, using a common application and the same screening process.
Har-Noy said he’s in the process of finding office space and taking his pitch deck to the investor circuit, where he hopes to persuade local tech leaders to contribute to Techstars Boulder’s pot. That, he said, will help keep the impacts and growth of the reboot local.
“It’s like a flywheel where the economic interests are with the local community, the mentorship is with the community and the customers are aligned with the community,” he said. “We’re all going to be leaning in to make these companies special.”
That type of local cohesion is something both Har-Noy and corporate Techstars CEO Cohen said the firm got away from during its “awkward teenage years.”
“Now, (Techstars) is an adult. … We drank a little too much, partied a little too much. But we’re still alive and grown up,” Cohen told a panel at Colorado Startup Week last Thursday. “And it’s pretty clear that we should … start with where we started before. Start with Colorado. Start with Boulder, where you have a lot of natural advantages and a lot of history and a lot of portfolio companies. And involve the community, because it works better.”
