This past week I accepted a short term role as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Techstars Minneapolis. “What exactly is an entrepreneur in residence?” is pretty much the first response I get when I tell people about the new opportunity. When thinking about an EIR there are 3 things to think about; responsibilities, VC benefits, EIR’s benefits.
Here is my take:
Responsibilities
- Every EIR position is different. Typically a VC firm offers the position to an entrepreneur they have invested in that is between companies.
- With Techstars, for the first part of the year, I will be helping find and vet companies for our summer 2016 class.
- Once we have our class I will help the companies anyway I can; advice, execution, really anything.
- While assisting with the program it is also expected that I will start another company.
VC Benefits
- Experienced entrepreneurs are hard to find. We tend to jump from 1 company to the next. The EIR position enables a VC to have a very scarce resource available to help advise their portfolio companies & give perspective on new deals. Often times an EIR will actually jump in full-time with one of the companies they advise.
- Almost every EIR is understood to be working on their next idea. While there is no formal agreement, if this idea becomes an investable company the firm tends to get first shot at the deal.
EIR Benefits
- Expanded network. As an EIR you get exposure to everything the VC firm is working on and all the people they are working with. For me I will have exposure to the Techstars network.
- Visibility into a lot of great companies. I will be working with a slew of talented and innovative companies. No doubt there will be a ton of learning opportunities.
- Runway to work on the next big idea.
This opportunity was a no-brainer for me. I will be a part of Techstars for the next 9 months and can’t wait to see what it brings.
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