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There is a reason why “entrepreneur” etymologically comes from antique French words that mean “to undertake.” When it comes to subjects such as entrepreneurship, people learn much more by doing, rather than from lessons in a classroom, and the idea of it becoming an undergraduate major is a funny prospect. In the last half decade, the world has teetered back and forth from financial ruin, and in these turbulent times, central bankers, heads of states, hedge fund managers and pundits alike talk ceaselessly about navigating “the new normal.” Increasingly they’re pinning their hopes of global economic recovery on real innovation driven by entrepreneurs—after all, venture-backed companies account for 20% of US GDP. I’m of the belief that teaching our youth to become entrepreneurs is essential, as entrepreneurship is one of the keys to our economic future. However, a formalized undergraduate major would be a silly way to foster the startup spirit.

In one of my computer science courses in college, I was struck by a quote from a celebrated computer scientist who was asked whether he would like his children to study something as pedestrian as computer science at a university. His response was “no” because he wanted them to get a “real” education first in something like physics or mathematics. In an era where computer science sits near the top of the intellectually egotistical undergraduate food chain, this sentiment seems vaguely quaint, but there’s something to this feeling as a whole. What, I wonder, would this person say about his children majoring in something as “lowly” as entrepreneurship?

Some observers praise the German model of education, with its panoply of trade schools and universities that allow people to train rigorously in their chosen fields from a relatively early age. Similarly, we should teach aspiring entrepreneurs by letting them do. Some argue that students have much to gain by going through the formative years of college, but I say if they’re intent on higher education, then let them study subjects such as theoretical physics or mathematics or history, which are better suited to these settings. Don’t waste their four years studying something that is better taught outside of a university.

In fact, there is already a better model that exists for teaching entrepreneurs — by allowing them to start their own businesses. In this sense, universities have a lot they could learn from entrepreneurs, rather than vice versa. There is endless debate on the bubble in higher education—the notorious Thiel Fellowship delights some and rankle others. But this debate is not peculiar to our era. Even the seminal libertarian Milton Friedman, writing in the 1950s, argued that one possible solution to the problem of stale competition among universities was this: instead of universities taking tuition, the government would partially subsidize and allow each university to take an equity stake in the human capital of the individual, thereby motivating the university to produce graduates with high earning potential. In essence, each student would become a startup. (For more, see this WSJ op-ed by Friedman, “The Promise of Vouchers.”)

While Friedman’s ideas are difficult to implement for many reasons (imagine what would happen if we let Wall Street trade derivatives on our children?), his ideas are essentially being enacted today as youth of various stripes decide to sell equity stakes in their ideas as they try to build their businesses, raising money from venture capital or the relatively new asset class of startup accelerators.

Ultimately, I believe that creating a formalized undergraduate major in entrepreneurship is a step in the wrong direction. I have nothing against higher education—some of my best memories, best friends and lasting lessons have come from my years in college and grad school. There is nothing wrong with people who want or need to develop and grow through their years sheltered in these institutions. But for those intrepid enough to know they’re entrepreneurs from an early age, allow them to learn from the best teacher of entrepreneurship that we have: real life.

This post recently appeared on The Accelerators at the Wall Street Journal, where startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

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See the full SendGrid story exclusively on The Next Web tomorrow morning.

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Forbes and Bloomberg have been calling Austin the No. 1 Boomtown and the best place for your startup for years now, and Google recently chose it as the second city to receive the fastest Internet on the planet. TechStars exists to put the best mentors and the best entrepreneurs together in the best startup communities so Austin is a natural next stop for us. We will run our first program starting this August and applications are open as of today!

Nominated by investors, rapidly growing startups like SpareFoot, Mass Relevance, MapMyFitness, and Spredfast are just a few of the city’s new promising companies recognized in the A-List, created twice a year since 2011 by The Austin Chamber of Commerce (now partnering for this effort with SXSW Interactive). You probably know all about great Austin area companies such as Indeed, HomeAway, Bazaarvoice, Spiceworks, and more. There is so much happening in Austin and we are grateful to be joining the ranks of an already strong community.

We have received enthusiastic support from the local tech groups in Austin and there are already many fantastic mentors and investors involved including Brett Hurt (Bazaarvoice), Tom Ball and Mike Dodd (Austin Ventures), Sam Decker (Mass Relevance), Jeff Dachis (Dachis Group), Kip McClanahan and Morgan Flager (Silverton), Josh Baer and Bill Boebel (Capital Factory), Ned Hill and Aziz Gilani (Mercury Fund), Rony Kahan (Indeed), Rob Taylor (Black Locus) Lori Knowlton (HomeAway), and many more.

The Managing Director of TechStars Austin is Jason Seats. Jason is a  “techie” and entrepreneur. Rackspace acquired his company Slicehost in 2008 and then made him VP of Engineering. Jason is an active angel investor and has been with TechStars since 2011 with two very successful programs under his belt as Managing Director. He brings amazing technical chops, founder experience and a strong network of his own. Jason is moving down the road from San Antonio to Austin and we’re confident that he will be a big part of growing both TechStars and the startup community in his new home.

TechStars will operate out of Capital Factory in downtown Austin. This beautiful space is “the most inspiring office space in Austin” for startups, and we’re happy that it’s our new home too. The amazing folks behind Capital Factory (Josh Baer and Bill Boebel) have played a critical role in bringing TechStars to Austin and we’re thankful for all of their support.

Whether you’re a born and raised Longhorn or simply think you can contribute to  keeping Austin weird, we’re ready to review your application. Find out for yourself what three months of intense mentorship, seed funding and a powerful network can do for your company. Start by seeing what it has done for our alumni.

Apply to TechStars Austin right now or see our full schedule for more details.

[VIDEO] - What is TechStars?

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Coincidentally, I’m off the grid this week, totally offline, spending some time in China with my 11-year-old son. We’re volunteering together at a school for children of migrant workers, helping with English classes and doing some painting and light construction. It’s an incredible opportunity to show my son the world as we travel, learn and help others together.

Work-life balance can be challenging for anyone, but maybe even more so when you really love what you do. It’s possible to throw yourself into your job to the point where it feels like your work and your life are the same thing. But work is not your entire life — at least I hope not.

Succeeding as an entrepreneur obviously takes a lot of time and hard work. But while you’re investing your time and energy into your startup, make sure you also invest in your family, in the people who matter most, and nurture those relationships. Because no amount of career success will matter if we lose sight of what’s really important.

This post recently appeared on The Accelerators at the Wall Street Journal, where startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

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At the other end of the spectrum, the skills needed to run a publicly traded company are very different — skills like setting a long term plan, executing against that plan and reliably meeting expectations. It is all about “delivery.” The best big company CEOs are consistent in delivering growing but even results every single quarter.

Sure, there is a murky middle ground when a company isn’t quite in startup mode, but is still not mature. It’s an “adolescent” of sorts and can be just as awkward as those teen age years. This is the most common time for companies to look at their leadership and decide if the passion of the founder is valuable enough of a driver to overcome whatever shortfalls in skills there are as delivery becomes increasingly more important than discovery.

So, which founders will be great CEOs? The answer is that very few people have the skill sets to be both great at discovery and great at delivery. The two require very different dispositions and attitudes, as well as different skills.

The best path for founders who want to stay with the company they built as it grows is to fill in the gaps with a great senior management team. But just having a great team is not enough — your people need to be empowered to put in place the infrastructure and processes required to shift from discovery to delivery mode. Many times, these new processes and procedures are diametrically opposed to the approach the founder took when operating in a lean manner and getting the company off the ground. As a founder, this is one of the most difficult lessons to learn. But the ones who understand this transition and embrace it will make the strongest leaders and best CEOs for their companies going forward.

This post recently appeared on The Accelerators at the Wall Street Journal, where startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

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Startup founders possess a distinct skill set, which includes getting product market fit and building a product or service that works. The CEO skill set is different. It involves scaling a business, hiring people and becoming more market driven. Some founders have both skill sets, but many do not.

As a busy entrepreneur, you may not necessarily realize when the time has come to hand over the CEO role. That’s why it’s helpful to surround yourself with great advisers. Your board might hint at — or even tell you directly — that maybe your optimum role would be as a contributor in another area, and that an outside CEO could really accelerate the company.

Some entrepreneurs, fully aware that they don’t possess those CEO skills, actually want to hand over the role before they really need to. The earliest point where you should consider bringing in a professional CEO is after your company achieves product market fit. Once you’re at that point, though, what are some signs that it’s time to start looking for a CEO?

SendGrid, a Boulder-based TechStars alumnus, is one example of a startup that successfully managed the handover to an outside CEO and went on to become a thriving company. I asked SendGrid Co-Founder Isaac Saldana, CEO Jim Franklin and Director Mark Solon for their thoughts on this question.

A lot of it has to do with scaling, Franklin said. There’s a transition point where someone has to become a manager versus a doer. One tell-tale sign that the company is at this point, he said, is when the founder — who is by default the acting CEO — “starts to do things they do not like to do.” This might include tasks like hiring and compensation, dealing with competitors, investors, board members, attorneys,  bankers and, as Franklin put it, “all the ‘stuff’ that gets in the way of the creative act of starting a company.”

Solon added that when a founder starts doing things they don’t like to do, they may not do those things well, which can end up affecting company performance. In other cases, it’s just that the time spent on all that “other stuff” is taking away from critical tasks the founder is really good at doing.

“One thing I learned from Jim is that in order to scale the company. you have to scale yourself by hiring a great executive team,” Saldana said. As acting CEO, he was still coding a lot rather than letting his team take over. That’s another sign to look out for, he said. If the CEO is the bottleneck for certain tasks, maybe there’s a reason they don’t want to give it up.

Saldana also realized early on that he wasn’t attracted to the idea of being a CEO long-term. As he pointed out, many founders will make a concerted effort to become a great CEO, asking for advice, meeting with peers and reading articles. An early sign for him was that he didn’t do any of that.

Even if you do want to become a great CEO, hiring a professional to take on the role can ultimately help you achieve that goal. Often you can learn a lot from working with that person, and later on you can use those skills for future startups.

This post recently appeared on The Accelerators at the Wall Street Journal, where startup mentors discuss strategies and challenges of creating a new business.

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If you have questions about applying, see our frequently asked questions and feel free to reach out to us. We look forward to reading your application.

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Today, TechStars London announced that it has found a permanent home at the newly established Warner Yard.  This will provide all the TechStars London participants at least 6 months office accommodation at the heart of TechCity London – being the initial 3 months of the TechStars programme followed by a further 3 months after the programme.

Alongside the total funding of €85k that each TechStars London company receives, it will ensure the companies maintain momentum following the TechStars London Demo Day.  The permanent location will also allow TechStars London to host events throughout the year for the wider community and provide hotdesking facilities for TechStars alumni from the wider network.

Warner Yard is a new co-workspace devised by Federico Pirzio-Biroli, the founder of Playfair Capital, which has invested in over 20 companies in the last 2 years – making them one of the most active seed investors in Europe today. What is unusual about the co-workspace is that it is targeted at funded companies and also early stage investors, including Angel Investors and Seed Funds based in London and from overseas.

Equally, in the same fashion, Pirzio-Biroli also noticed that many of the early stage investors in London operated from coffee shops – typically with bad wifi, loud music and no power sockets.  To address this problem, Warner Yard will have a dedicated space for such investors providing them with hot desking and meeting room facilities.

At launch, Warner Yard had signed amongst others signed up EC1 Capital, #1Seed, Hotspur Capital Partners, Ballpark Ventures, Doug Scott and Richard Fearn amongst. It is hoped that this concentration of investment capital will help to increase the amount of seed capital deployed whilst reducing the time to raise funding through sharing of information and deals.

Warner Yard is based only a few minutes from White Bear Yard, and close to Farringdon station which currently connects directly to London Gatwick and London Luton airports, and will connect via the Crossrail project to London Heathrow airport.  The recently refurbished 18th Century Stables has a total capacity across the four floors of the building of over 150 desks and is expected to house 30 funded companies.

Jon Bradford, Managing Director of TechStars London said, “Finding the right environment for TechStars London has been a priority since our launch.  Warner Yard provides both TechStars London teams a great central location being close to both TechCity and also the West End with an awesome environment alongside other seed funded companies for the duration of the programme and also immediate run out period.”

Federico Pirzio-Biroli, Founder at Playfair Capital said, “White Bear Yard taught me the value of a co-working environment. Warner Yard will bring together a collection of early stage capital with a globally respected accelerator alongside Playfair’s portfolio companies and benefit all parties concerned.  I believe being able to conveniently visit all three at once will be hugely attractive to external entrepreneurs and create a new hub for both local and foreign investors.”

Raj Ramanandi, Partner at #1Seed said, “The news that TechStars was coming to London was always going to shake up the early stage tech landscape. The first physical embodiment of which is the doors opening at Warner Yard. #1seed felt compelled to forge links with both entities; firstly, investing in TechStars London and secondly, making Warner Yard our new base.”

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