Techstars Startup Community
Bottom line
- Total investment $15K – $1.0M including a $600K franchise fee, 30.0% ongoing royalty.
- No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
- Rated AVOID with a risk score of 85/100.
- No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Techstars Startup Community unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
-13%
Negative
Overview
About
Franchisees establish local Techstars startup community hubs, managing entrepreneur networks, hosting pitch events, and facilitating startup connections within their territory. Revenue is primarily derived from sponsorships and partnerships, with 30% of sponsor fees sourced by Techstars flowing back as royalties. Day-to-day operations involve community programming, member engagement, and relationship management with local startups and corporate sponsors.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 14 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Severe structural and governance red flags including going concern status, active fraud litigation involving leadership, opaque economics, unproven unit model (1 unit), and questionable royalty mechanics make this an extremely high-risk, likely unviable franchise investment.
Score breakdown · what drove the 85 / 100 rating
- 01HIGHGoing Concern status is FALSE — indicates serious financial/operational viability issues at corporate level
- 02HIGHActive litigation involving CIO Andrew Cleland alleging breach of fiduciary duty and fraud in FanDuel transaction raises governance and integrity concerns
- 03MINORExtremely high royalty rate (30% of sponsorship revenue) with vague trigger conditions ('if sourced by Techstars') creates ambiguity and potential revenue leakage
- 04MEDNo disclosed average revenue or net income data prevents validation of unit economics and profitability
- 05MINOROnly 1 known franchise unit with unknown growth trajectory suggests failed expansion model or nascent/collapsing system
- 06MINORHigh franchise fee ($600,000) paired with unproven unit economics and no Item 19 creates significant downside risk
- 07MINORTerritory is unprotected — no geographic exclusivity despite capital-intensive sponsorship model
- 08MINORShort 4-year term limits opportunity to recoup investment and build sustainable business
- 09HIGHLitigation cloud around leadership (CIO) creates reputational and operational execution risk
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
14 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Techstars Startup Community · FDD (2025) PDF