Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator

Trey Bowles is the Managing Director of Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth. Trey has been an entrepreneur for more than two decades and is currently located in Dallas Texas. Trey was the founder of multiple companies in the verticals of media, e-commerce, consumer based technology and experienced two exits that provided good and bad lessons he continues to share with early stage founders. He has been a board member and advisor to hundreds of companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth area over the last ten years.

During the 2011 economic downturn, Trey founded Startup Texas as a branch of the Obama administration's Startup America. Since that time Trey has founded and scaled multiple not for profit organizations focused on empowering entrepreneurs to start, build and grow their businesses in North Texas and across the country. Trey has dedicated time to supporting student entrepreneurs and founded the entrepreneurship program at Southern Methodist University (SMU) where he continues to serve as an Adjunct Professor. Bowles lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife and three children where he serves on the board of several entrepreneurial organizations and as co-chair of the North Texas Angel Network.

Operating in partnership with Goff Capital and The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth (HSC), the Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator will support and fund early-stage startups building new technologies, treatments, and therapies in the physical health space in areas such as rehabilitation, physical therapy, performance, and exercise.

Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth will support and invest in 10 high-growth, early-stage startups on an annual basis over three years. The companies will participate in an intensive, 13-week program, receive hands-on mentorship, curated entrepreneurial content and programming, up to $120K in funding, and access to Techstars’ vast network of mentors, investors, alumni and corporates.

Inside a Techstars Accelerator

Techstars accelerators have one goal: to help entrepreneurs succeed. During each three-month program, we surround companies with the best mentors and an unrivaled network of corporate partners, investors, and alumni. We provide funding and fundraising opportunities, workshops and curated resources, not to mention countless moments where you can learn from your peers. It’s a proven model that’s helped build thousands of successful companies, all over the world. 

But how does that play out in real time? Here’s a breakdown of what happens in each of the three months, what a typical week looks like, and the kinds of activities you can expect in program. 

Month by Month: The 3 Months Of a Techstars Accelerator

Month One: Grow Your Network

During month one, the 10 companies in each program typically meet around 100 mentors from the Techstars network, each of whom are super connected and experienced in their respective fields. After these initial meetings, fondly known as “Mentor Madness,” some programs match founders with three to five who will act as their lead mentors, and a pseudo Board of Advisors, throughout the program. When there’s a particularly good fit, mentors will often continue to work with the companies after the program ends.

Mentors help with many areas of the business that may need support, including — but not limited to:

• Product development
• Market-fit
• Marketing
• Technology
• Hiring and firing
• Fundraising
• Company culture
• Unit economics
• Business development
• Customer discovery
• Go to market strategy
• Legal

Month Two: Execute

Month two is time to take all those learnings from month one and put them into practice. Working with the managing director and program manager, founders go deeper with their lead mentors, gain traction, and hit milestones — whether that’s a prototype, building out the next phase of a product, getting a first customer, etc.

During this month, founders focus on identifying their most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and achieving them. If there’s a corporate partner for the program, this month may even be the time to prepare for a proof of concept.

Month Three: Fundraising Strategy & Demo Day

In month three, founders go deep on telling their story. This is crucial to fundraising and Demo Day preparation. 

Founders work with their mentors, managing directors, and program managers to refine their pitch, develop and design their pitch deck for Demo Day, and prepare investor collateral. 

Storytelling isn’t just about fundraising: it’s also about communicating your vision to customers and future team members.

A Typical Week in a Techstars Accelerator

Actually, there’s no such thing as a typical week in a Techstars accelerator. 

Other than weekly one-on-ones with your managing director, all-hands KPI meetings, no two weeks are the same during the program. Instead, you’ll constantly be moving your startup forward at a pace you never thought was possible.

You’ll go from testing key assumptions about your business one week to professional stage training the next. You’ll constantly be challenged in what you do and how you do it.

Can you remember the last time you spent one full day investing in your own professional development? What if you had the opportunity to do this — with the full support of professionals — for three months?

During the program, you’ll be presented with ideas, opinions, and opportunities that you might never otherwise consider — and certainly couldn’t get all at once anywhere else. These opinions and ideas can help you become a better founder, and navigate tricky situations and tough decisions with more ease. We want to give you the tools to be able to turn these challenging opportunities into positive experiences.

While this may sound like a lot, it’s important to point out that more than half of your time could still be spent on working on your own company. We get it, you may already have customers, team stand ups and other recurring meetings — so that doesn’t just pause for three months.

In-Program Activities

What kind of activities can you expect? While each program is different, here are a few that pretty much everyone gets:

• Office hours with guest mentors and investors
• Workshops and masterclasses delivered by industry experts on specific topics like hiring, marketing, tech, product, etc.
• Founder stories: serial entrepreneurs come in and share how they built their company. The best part is that it’s more than what you read online – in this context, founders speak honestly about what really went down.
• Intensive pitch practice, in preparation for Demo Day and fundraising
• Plus anything else the program team thinks would benefit your experience and help you #DoMoreFaster — many activities are curated to the needs of the founders and companies in each program, meaning that no program is exactly the same twice.