Intros AI

How Techstars connects their 9,000 person

ecosystem

Get a demo
Start free trial

Intros AI at a glance

5,387
Intros Made
9.6/10
Net Promoter Score

The Challenge

Techstars, a global platform for innovation and entrepreneurship, has supported over 9,000 founders through its accelerator programs. These founders represent a diverse and dynamic alumni network spanning different industries and geographies.

As Techstars’ alumni network expanded, three primary challenges emerged:

  1. Scalability of Connections: With over 9,000 founders across different industries and time zones, creating personalized and relevant connections manually became impossible.
  2. Maintaining Engagement: Alumni engagement often tapered off after founders completed the program, leading to missed opportunities for collaboration and mentorship.
  3. Demonstrating Network Value: Techstars needed a structured way to ensure alumni experienced the full potential of their global network and realized its ongoing value.

‍

How Techstars connected their ever-growing alumni network.

Intros AI provided Techstars with a solution to foster meaningful connections among alumni, leveraging personalized 1:1 introductions to create lasting professional relationships and enhance collaboration opportunities for its alumni network:

‍Regular Matchmaking: Founders were paired based on shared goals, industries, and interests, with introductions occurring at regular intervals. Matches included conversation prompts to encourage meaningful discussions.

‍Seamless Integration: Intros AI’s white-labeled platform integrated with Techstars’ existing systems, ensuring a consistent experience that reflected the Techstars brand.

‍Actionable Insights: Techstars received detailed analytics on alumni engagement and the quality of matches, enabling them to continuously refine the networking experience.

The custom-built algorithm

Our AI algorithm matched alumni based on 7 key criteria from their matchmaking form, including location, industry, and company stage, according to various weights as illustrated in the pie chart on the right.

Creating Value Through “Give and Take”

A standout feature was our "give and take" custom questions, where alumni shared both the expertise they offer and the knowledge they seek. This built stronger connections by pairing individuals whose skills and learning goals complemented one another.

Try INtros AI

Tailored Matching by Location

Given the diverse industries and global reach of the alumni, we ensured matches were localized by geographical factors. Techstars enhanced this experience by organizing matches by cities, states, and countries to foster more meaningful connections.

The Outcome.

The partnership with Intros AI delivered significant outcomes for Techstars and its alumni network:

9,000+ Founders Engaged: Alumni across geographies and industries actively participated in the introduction process, creating a thriving and connected global network.

9.6 Average Match Rating: Alumni rated the quality of their matches highly, reflecting the precision and relevance of Intros AI’s pairing algorithm.

Enhanced Collaboration Opportunities: Founders reported leveraging introductions for partnerships, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing, increasing the tangible value of the network.

Improved Alumni Engagement: Consistent and high-quality introductions kept alumni actively engaged with Techstars, reinforcing their connection to the brand and broader community.

“There’s a lot about the algorithm what about the actual matches? 🤔”

Making a Match
Introducing Megan & Jonathan 👋🏼

Megan Giacobetti
CEO of V1 @ Michigan
Megan is the Chief Executive Officer of V1 @Michigan, the community for ambitious student builders at the University of Michigan. Megan joined On Deck in the hopes of finding a technical co-founder to help her build a business that spreads mental health awareness.
Jonathan Pierre
Growth @Envision Accelerator
Jonathan Pierre works in Growth @Envision Accelerator, a community-driven accelerator for young, underrepresented founders. Jonathan joined the On Deck Intros club to find someone with experience in fundraising and product management.
The Match

Megan and Jonathan met in 2021 through the On Deck Intros Club. After just the second week of opt-ing in, the perfect match was between the two was found.

Intros made the match for three main reasons:
1
They had complementary skills through Intros “Give & Take” question mentioned earlier
2
They both wanted to spend all of their time (40+ hours) to build something truly impactful as quickly as possible
3
They were both extremely passionate about mental health and wanted to solve problems they felt were affecting the next generation disproportionately.

“I would have never imagined I would find my lifelong co-founder through an Intros club. However, it did a perfect job at finding what we cared about the most and making a seamless introduction between us. And for that, we’re eternally grateful”

- Megan Giacobetti & Jonathan Pierre

Moving Forward

In 2022, Jonathan and Megan have made large strides in creating the company that will address the next generation’s mental health challenges called Headspace. They have raised many rounds of funding and are quickly growing to become a next-gen leader in the space.

Megan and Jonathan still meet using the On Deck Intros club to this day to find more talented co-founders to join them on their mission.

Fasten up flow by finding the perfect form for your

community

Browse dozens of free, professionally designed templates and kickstart your next presentation.

Explore other forms

Communities 🚀

VC Communities 🚀

“Intros.ai through Techstars has been a weekly staple in my life. I love the concept, and the angle and approach is truly impactful.”
Emile Sawaya
Founder and Techstars Alum

From 'Audience' to 'Community'

How one newsletter transformed their audience into a community with Intros.

Read Case Study

Overall Impact

When members within the OnDeck community were matched, they were given all of the information from these questions, and our matching algorithm was able to make ideal matches based on all the percentages of weigh you see above. It is really difficult to find other young, aspiring founders - much less screen them for availability and accountability you want in a co-founder. This Intros club proved to be incredibly powerful for the OnDeck community, and will be started up again when the new batch of aspiring founders comes through the OnDeck pipeline.