Kendra Dixon - Program Manager of Techstars Anywhere

Welcome to the Tacos and Tech Podcast where we discover cutting edge technology and the builders making it happen. I'm your host, Neal Bloom, San Diego's tech ambassador, and together we're going to uncover what technology San Diegans are creating with our own blend of local lifestyle. Thanks to our sponsors, Cox Business, longtime supporters of the San Diego startup community, and also partners in Quick Pitch San Diego, a pitch competition giving out over $75,000 worth of cash prizes to local startup entrepreneurs. On October 29, Connect San Diego Venture Group, Tech Coast Angels and Cox Business will present the next year's pitch competition. Join us and we'll see you there. Welcome back to another episode of the Tacos and Tech Podcast. I'm here at Block coworking in downtown Carlsbad with Kendra Dixon, program manage of techstars Anywhere. Thanks for being on the podcast.

Thanks for having me.

Tell us real quick, what's Techstars Anywhere?

So Techstars Anywhere is the one mostly virtual accelerator within Techstars. Techstars has, I think 50 accelerators now around the world. And we are the one program where the founders don't have to relocate, so they stay where they are and we run the program virtually. We like to say we use Slack, Zoom and airplanes.

Okay, that's cool.

I think hearing why techstars decided to do that will be interesting. So we'll get back to that. But tell us about you. Where'd you grow up?

So I grew up in San Jose, California. Okay, so yeah, in the mix of the tech boom, both of my parents actually were IBMers. So when IBM owned most of San Jose, but neither one of them were technical majors, but both worked in the technical space for most of their professional careers.

Oh, really?

Oh, okay.

So you come from a tech background or a tech family?

Yes, a tech family. I saw the explosion of Silicon Valley. That was when I was in college. I did some internships in and around San Jose and started in the big space. I went Cisco Systems, hp, but then later decided startups founders small and actually did a total shift and went small business for quite a few years.

So, okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Yeah.

So San Jose at the time, does it look anything like it does now or is it just completely different?

I mean, the downtown itself, because San Jose is very different than Silicon Valley. So I would say downtown San Jose hasn't changed all that much, just better places to eat.

They have that night market, right? That is, yeah.

I'm trying to think of what it's called now, but yeah, I Mean, so between when the Sharks came in and then the technology, like, there's better restaurants and nighttime stuff to do. But it's kind of similar here where it's very spread out, though, like Silicon Valley, all the way up Menlo park, all the way up into San Francisco. So there wasn't a hub that kind of really started in one spot.

Got it.

So are your family still up there?

They've slowly migrated out. Both of my parents are now retired, so Sacramento Valley. And so they cashed out and can now not have to deal with the traffic in the Bay Area.

Yeah, got it. And what about you? What did you do? How did you leave San Jose?

My husband is what took me out the way we actually both met in. Both were living in San Jose, but he played professional baseball.

Oh, wow.

So I started working remotely very early because he was traveling. I wanted to be able to kind of travel with him, kind of figure out how to do both.

Yeah.

And so we were all over the place in our early 20s, right after college. Traveled for quite a bit. Yeah. And then we just. This was. San Diego was kind of where we chose first place we picked just because where do we want to go next? It wasn't a job that kind of took us somewhere, but. Yeah. So we lived all over the place, really, for quite a few years.

So where'd you go to school?

San Jose State is where I finished.

Okay.

Yeah. I left for a while and then decided, okay, I'm paying money to live elsewhere when I can finish up at home. So went back and graduated from San Jose State.

Where did you study business?

So it was marketing and quantitative studies was my. My major.

Did you think you were going to go right into the Silicon Valley tech world?

I did. I mean, being surrounded by that, you just kind of think, I want to graduate as fast as I can and just start working.

Yeah.

And so I did, and then kind of realized I wasn't quite ready to be dedicated and give up my life. So it made a little bit easier when my husband was off travel. I'm like, maybe I'll go do that for a while and just kind of go and figure out what else was out there before.

Got it.

So what'd you do while you're doing remote? Like, what kind of work?

Early on? Let's see. Well, way early. It was like temp work, just finding where we happened to be at. And then I was tired of trying to move every time we moved, having to get something new. So I found before it was a virtual. Like before virtual assistant. Was a thing I knew my background was in marketing, so I just started reaching out online for people that were hiring. But I would mention what I could do from a project perspective, that I could do it virtually and kind of sold myself as being able to kind of help them and found work like contract work. And most of them were smaller businesses that they would benefit from having somebody kind of work on projects for them versus having to hire a full time employee. And so that's kind of how I finagled into remote work initially.

So you're the first gig worker and you're the first people assistant.

That was back in the. Oh, gosh.

That's okay.

We don't have to say. Yeah, exactly. Yes. It's a while ago.

Yeah.

You did it when gig working was still okay. Before AB5, apparently.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, I was able to get away with being an independent contractor.

Okay, so you're traveling around. Tell us any fun cities that you kind of. I don't know, things that you kind of looked forward to in the moving around.

Let's just say minor league ball. It's a whole lot of places that you don't necessarily need to go back to.

Okay.

But it was, it was a lot of fun. We kind of decided it's all about the people we met along the way. So there were places we loved and it was always because of who we were surrounded with. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, surprisingly was. Even though it was the capital, it didn't feel like the huge city. The ballpark was out on the middle of the river and it was just a quaint, fun little town to be a part of. But really it was a whole lot of places we didn't need to go back to. We never thought we'd come back to California because of the just so expensive. Once we left, we're like, there's so many more affordable places. Why would we ever come back? But San Diego drew us in, so.

Yeah, but you were in. Were you in Colorado right before?

Yeah. So the last two places was Illinois and Colorado. We spent quite a few years in each one of those because when my husband transitioned out of playing, he was coaching college baseball. So then it was the universities that we were moving around to. And by then I had found pretty consistent. I was actually working as a project manager for an SEO firm, completely distributed team. And so the few times we got together was around the kitchen table of the founder that was in Cleveland, Ohio. And so I had nice steady work. My husband was working at the university. We had kids and so we loved both of those and it was more so that he was wrapping up and we kind of decided what was next and what got us out to back to San Diego or back to California, which was San Diego.

Okay.

And as you're traveling around, were you already noticing like tech ecosystems at all? Was that on your radar to like look at, you know, where tech people coalescing or startup people?

I know, I don't know if it was on my radar. I think that was one of the disadvantages of working remotely, that so much of my community was online and so the people that I was connecting with and where I was finding opportunities was all virtual. So it didn't so much matter who was local to me from my career side of things. And so yeah, I didn't in hindsight, like it was not necessarily a good thing, but I wasn't really paying attention. I didn't have to pay attention to those things.

But.

But maybe that's why you're the perfect person for an all digitally remote startup program.

Yeah, it is very true. When that showed up, I was like, oh, okay, this is like I was meant for this position. It was very true. But yeah, I didn't. And I had small kid. I mean my life was family and I was able to still maintain a career completely virtually, I would say we were in Colorado Springs before coming out here and there. There wasn't as much going on in Colorado Springs, but Denver, you definitely saw a lot going on and would go up there for conferences or just finding people between there. Boulder was definitely, you know, quite a bit going on, not so much where we. So I was definitely being drawn up north while we were out there.

Got it.

Okay, so how long have you been in San Diego now?

So it has been five years? Yeah, May was five years.

Okay.

And what's that been like, seeing you grow up over the last five years?

I know, I love it. When I first moved here, I was still in that same situation where my network, I had actually started my own agency by that time and so but I had my head down with a virtual team distributed, my clients were distributed and so and then school age kids where it was like we got here and we loved the work life balance that it gave us the, you know, environment that San Diego provides. But I wasn't immediately plugging myself into the ecosystem that was here. And so that just probably happened within the last two to three years. So the first two years it was, my head was down and it was way too much going on trying to run a business.

But that must have been Though I think where we must have connected. Like your first Startup Week, maybe that you came out, I think pre techstars.

Right.

You were starting at some point.

I was hitting a point where I was burnt out. I was solo founder doing this myself, looked towards bringing in a co founder and that kind of fell apart. And so I was definitely in that I need to pick my head up and kind of figure out what's around me, what do I want to do next, how can I be making a bigger impact. And I used actually LinkedIn to kind of see who is here local to me especially because I'm north county and most of the stuff happens. So I could at least kind of figure out who's around me. And that's how I started to kind of see who's the players, what kind of conferences are going on, where can I find the people. I'm also an introvert, so it's a great way to kind of start the connection online. So then when I do go show up somewhere, I've already got somebody I'm planning on meeting or, you know, there's an easier way to kind of not just show up and try to meet people. If I knew I wasn't going to be like overly.

Yeah, it's a big gamble.

Yeah.

You just hope that you run into the person.

Yeah, the right person.

Yeah, exactly.

Yep.

Okay.

That must have been where we crossed path. I think that first time you came to start a week or something related.

To that, for sure.

Yeah.

So you ultimately walked away from your own business.

I did, yeah.

Must have been big decision.

It was hard. What I did was I knew I was done trying to figure out what I wanted to do. And one of my clients actually approached me and said, hey, you know, I had been with him since the start of his business and he said, I'm ready to kind of grow this. Do you want to help me? I said, sure. He was on the east coast and I was out here and I spent the first two years kind of transitioning and working with him full time. But ultimately it wasn't mine. It was, you know, growing his business. Got it to a, you know, a certain point. And then we kind of decided, you know, the next phase. Does it make sense for me to be here or not? And that's when I actually was looking for a job and found techstars.

Got it.

But yeah, that's what I had been doing just before.

Okay, so one, I want to give like our listeners, like an overview of techstars, if you're open to doing that, but also want to hear it because it kind of sounds like you got very quickly thrust into the startup world without having too much of it on your own, a network and just like your own, like even fundraise before for yourself.

So. Right.

But you're advising and helping companies do that. So why don't we do a few things like tell us about. To give us an overview of techstars, I guess, in general first.

Yeah. So techstars at a high level is a global network that is there to help entrepreneurs succeed. And the way in which we do that is the majority, as I mentioned, are accelerator programs that are around the world. And then we also have Startup Weekend, Startup Week. And then at the same time, on the other end, we've got like techstars talent, which was just launched, where we're helping our founders that we've invested in as they start to scale how we're making sure that they've got the talent. And so it's an ecosystem globally that is kind of figuring out and constantly looking at how do we help entrepreneurs succeed.

Okay.

So that's at a very high level. Techstars. And then as I mentioned, Techstars Anywhere is the 1 virtual program. And Ryan Cooter and I live here in Carlsbad and manage it out of Carlsbad, but it is virtual and the founders stay wherever they happen to be located.

Got it.

And he started it remotely as well. His team.

Yeah, we've run three programs.

Okay.

And so I was a part of this Last program in 2019.

Okay.

So at some point he also. He realized his team needed to be in person, but the program still runs virtually.

Yeah, I think it's more so you have to know your personality in terms of if you're like how well you work remotely. And I will say working together for the first time and running a program for the first time, it was great having somebody right there that you're working with.

Yeah.

But at the same time, everything we were doing, it definitely could have been done remotely. The person before me was based out of Boulder and Ryan was here. So it can be done both. I think some personalities, Ryan is just likes to have somebody right there to talk to. And I appreciated it the first year going through this as well as kind of having somebody right there.

Yeah.

Yeah, that makes sense. Take us through some of the aspects that you're looking for. So first of all, big promotion. Shout out applications for the next round. October 13th.

Yes, they're due October 13th.

This podcast will go out before then.

Okay, thank you. Yes, exactly.

And what are you. What are you looking for specific to? Because you can apply to any tech stars potentially.

Yes.

What's the right makeup for a company, what stage are they at, and what's the right makeup for a remote team?

Yeah, so we're stage agnostic, so it doesn't really matter what stage they're at. We always talk about the bell curve, where there's some that are really early, there's some that have already raised a million plus, but typically they're somewhere in the middle of that. And then the one unique thing about techstars anywhere is we don't have a vertical focus and we obviously don't have a geography focus. So what we've decided is to have the best founder experience, it needs to be us time zones. So that way, because, you know, we are all on zoom together at the same time and on a fairly regular basis during the program. So keeping it within that same, you know, reasonable time zone, it makes it easy and we know we're going to have a good experience for them.

And so what. Is there any other trend or theme you've seen from companies that work remote? Like they all are in person with themselves, or do they have digital remote teams, too?

Yeah. So a couple things that we're seeing, and we knew that we were going to attract those that wanted the accessibility of a virtual program. That's one of the reasons why Ryan and Karina, the original program manager, wanted to test this, was there's so many amazing founders out there that moving for 13 weeks was just not going to be a viable option. And so why do we have to say no to those opportunities to invest in the those founders just because they can't relocate? So we've proven that that works, that we're finding amazing founders and the process still works virtually. But what we're also finding is like, half of our class, I think, were parents. And so the reason why accessibility is appealing is very interesting to kind of see hardware is another reason why they might not want to pick up and physically move a lab or something that they're physically working on. So we're seeing some of that. And then from a team perspective, we're seeing both where their team might be fully distributed, so it works out perfect for them because it's already the environment in which they meet and work, and then some aren't, and they're just both, you know, in a conference room together when they're getting online with us. Okay, so we're seeing both.

Oh, that's really cool. It's still early days. You have three cohorts. But can you compare to an in person program at all kind of any trends like growth of companies? Is it quicker, slower or is that too hard to tell?

Yeah, I think it's probably too hard to tell that.

Yeah.

But what we are seeing is, and one of the things we didn't know would happen or not is the relationships that are created out of these are actually stronger or at least they're easier to maintain because you're already building the relationship in the way that they're going to stay even after program is done. So from a met, like the relationship with their mentors is virtual. It's gonna stay virtual after the program.

Yeah.

Same with the relationship with amongst the other founders. They're meeting virtually. They're still meeting once a month virtually over zoom. They've got their CEO meetings once, once a month.

Really?

Yeah. And so it makes it much easier for that to keep happening because it's in the same format that it was, you know, during program.

That's really cool.

Yeah.

This is interesting. Can you take us through what three months are like during what goes on?

Sure.

And kind of your role within that too.

Yeah. So Ryan and I kind of joke that I am the COO of techstars anywhere and he is like the added co founder to the individual companies. So he is really kind of helping them with the day to day of what they're working on and the strategy of what it. And then I'm kind of making sure that everyone knows what's going on, that we're focused on the right things and that everything is moving forward with what we said is the ultimate goal outcome for the founders at the end of the 13 weeks. And typically what we do is the start of it is introducing them to as many mentors as possible. We call it mentor madness. And we've got two weeks straight of just 10 meetings a day and they're just meeting as many people as we, you know, know, are relevant to them to be meeting and then from that.

One on one meetings.

So it's mentor to the. Yeah. Founder or co founders of that company. So each mentor will meet all 10 companies one on one. And from that they're then deciding, because it's a mentorship driven accelerator is who are the mentors that I want to take with me through the rest of the program. And they typically find three to five mentors. Three to four is probably ideal. Any more than that, managing schedules gets a little difficult. But yeah, they will then be meeting with them on A regular basis throughout the rest of the program, like weekly or even more often, typically weekly. And then everyone is on slack. We live on slack. So they've got quick questions and things like that.

Other mentors too?

Yep, Mentors are on there as well. Yeah. And then that turns into execution. We're meeting weekly. Was KPIs holding them, you know, each other accountable for what they're working on. And about halfway through, we switch to fundraising and getting ready for fundraising.

Okay.

Do they have, you know, all of the elements that they need to go out and think about and be ready for fundraising? We say that it doesn't mean that they're going to be ready or need to fundraise at the end. It's just kind of are you ready? And really the most important thing is are you good at telling your story story and becoming a great storyteller for your business by the time you're done with the program? One of the things I'll mention is because we're virtual, I mentioned airplanes in the very beginning, we do actually get together three times. So at the very beginning we meet in person, we bring everyone out. We're actually going to do it in San Diego this year for week zero, we call it. And that's the time just to kind of let everyone get to know each other, get to know us and kind of build the relationships, build some of the trust, which is really the only way we could be successful is to start that way. And then when everyone parts and goes back to where they are going to work from for the next several weeks, it makes it where you already, you're so familiar with them. When you get on Zoom, you're excited to see them. So it builds that initial relationship and then in the middle we come back together again and we all meet in Boulder. And it's great because that's where techstars with was founded. We've got a great network there that we can introduce them to and that's where we kind of make that shift to start talking about their story and what that looks like to fundraise. And then at the end we get back together again. And this last year we did it in Brooklyn, New York, which is also nice. And we kind of hit both coasts. And then we're in the middle and that's where they will actually record their pitch videos and kind of tell their story. And it's a good wrap up to the end of the 13 weeks. And that's different than every other program has demo day. And since we don't have A physical location to bring everyone to. And we also don't have. There's not many investors that are going to be interested in all 10 of our companies. So it's a lot of one on one relationships that we're helping them build. And so a big demo day doesn't necessarily make sense for our type of class. And so our focus really is in an online demo day or really just online video that they each have produced. And then investors can come in and just request. Request a meeting to schedule a call.

Yeah.

And so when's the program actually run?

January 20th. We'll kick off our week zero here in San Diego and then April 23rd will be our like when the videos are released and open.

All right, so that's when we know you guys are completely offline.

Yeah, exactly. You don't see much of us between. Yeah, January 20th and April 23rd.

Okay, cool.

But I think what's been interesting to see is while you guys are running a digital remote accelerator, you've been very much part of this newer movement of a North county startup ecosystem, which has been great.

Right.

I mean density just creates density. So even just you guys being in block creates people to wander around this area. So much so that you guys have kind of helped start the startup. Noco Coffee. It's been going for. How long has that been going for?

A year?

Yeah, just over a year.

Yeah.

Which is pretty cool.

Monthly coffee meetup still at Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee. Yeah, they didn't change their name yet. Surfy Surfy did.

I know. I was wondering if it just wasn't there or if they just changed their name.

Yeah, I think they changed the name unfortunately.

So Coffee Coffee is still there.

Give this a shot.

A Wednesday, second Thursday of every month.

Okay.

8Am and it's typically Coffee Coffee. Unless somebody sponsors it and they're hosting us somewhere. Then we kind of let everyone know.

Cool.

What have you been learning about this north county startup community?

For one, I'm very appreciative of it because I have school age kids and schedule is crazy. And living and working up here, it's just so hard to get down to events that are happening, especially in the middle of the week. It's one thing to do it on the weekends, but then you're giving up family time to do that. So I've appreciated how much is available up here once you kind of know it's there.

Yeah.

But then also seeing how much really is going on up here. And so that's been kind of fun to see and be a Part of. I mean, I don't know if it's necessarily different, but it extends to the fact that just San Diego county in general has just been a very kind of inviting and inclusive environment. And so you definitely see that up here as people are appreciative of the fact that we are trying to do something in north county and that there are people up here and wanting to kind of support the businesses that are up here.

Yep.

And so I've always just been impressed with that from a whole of San Diego County.

Yeah.

And you see it up here just as much.

Yeah, definitely.

Definitely. Inclusion, flexibility. I think that goes to the San Diego lifestyle, which is like, we're not hard grinding, only work.

Right.

We're also lifestyle.

Yeah.

We're gonna make room for that in our businesses too. And maybe we don't grow them as fast because of it, but that's the pace we want to go.

Yeah, that's true.

Yeah.

Take us through some other favorites around the area. Do you have a favorite taco spot?

I don't know if I have a favorite, but I will say our go to is El Puerto, because on a Friday, for a couple bucks, they literally have got the tent out front and they're, you know, making the tacos right outside.

Yeah.

And so both of my kids are at Carlsbad High School, and so we'll get done with the football game or something there and swing by. All the kids go to In N Out Burger, but we stop on the way home.

Yeah.

So that's a fairly regular go to spot for us.

Awesome.

Yeah.

What about coffee? Are you a big coffee drinker?

I am a big coffee and Steady State is definitely Elliot. He was in a little back alley here in the Village originally, and it's the first time I ever started, like, geeking out over coffee and, like, how it's made and what. Because he would literally. He was roasting it inside the place, and so he had his computer. And so it was the first time I ever went from living on lattes and cappuccinos to actually doing, like, pour overs and drip and being able to just have regular, straight black coffee.

Cool.

And now that's all I drink.

Yeah. Got it.

Yeah.

Once you go down the rabbit hole, it's hard to go away from that. I've recently gone down the rabbit hole in coffee. I'm now injecting nitrogen into my own cold brews.

Are you really? Yes.

So I understand.

That's funny. Yeah.

I never thought I'd get to that level.

Oh, no. My husband and I are both bad. Like he. We now have a scale where he measures it all out to make like the perfect pour over.

Yeah, totally get that.

Yes.

And then the craft beer scene, obviously a standout in San Diego. Do you have a favorite beer brewery place you'd like to get there?

I know I'm really bad at like picking a favorite because I'm all about just going and enjoying the atmosphere, the scenery. There's so many different places that you can go to. But I would say if I want a beer, I'm going to Park 101 upstairs and just kind of hanging out and having whatever they have on tap there.

Cool.

But yeah, there's, there's so many. And actually I'm really excited. I just met the co founder of Dog League Brewing. It's in Vista. They're supposed to be opening this next month. So I told her I would head over and try them out and she's. That's what I love. There's so many of these that are in these back alleys or in the industrial parks. Yeah. And all of a sudden there's this great like line of breweries out there. So I enjoy that. But I'm horrible like remembering those who.

And north county is littered with these industrial parks, which is where all the businesses are. And to have beer right next door is pretty awesome. To have them growing together.

I know. I'm embarrassed. I don't remember the name. But my son goes to Waits and another like inside an industrial park but literally around the corner is a brewery. So my husband and I will meet up there. Wait an hour while we're waiting for him to get. It's the perfect setup.

Yeah. That's awesome.

Yeah.

Well, Kendra, thanks so much. It's great getting to know you a bit more. Another shout out. If you're an early stage startup.

Get your application in October 13th techstars.com apply.

Okay.

And you can find us right there.

All right, great.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Thanks for joining us on the Tacos and Tech podcast with Neil Blum. Thanks again to Cox Business for helping make this possible by expanding the reach of the San Diego tech ecosystem. This has been a partnership with the San Diego Venture Group and the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation's SD Life changing campaign. You can find Neil Bloom on Twitter eealbloom and on LinkedIn.

SA.