Top all-time · #2534
David G. Cohen
Personal blog · davidgcohen.comstartupsbusiness
David G. Cohen's personal blog at davidgcohen.com covers startups and business. Since 2010, 30 different Hacker News readers have linked it 39 times, most often “David Cohen: You Have Acquisition Interest, Now What?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-21, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (10) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link David G. Cohen's blog, a Techstars co-founder's, mostly as sources on startup acquisition offers, with some links on mentoring, accelerators and handshakes. Most links are citations rather than endorsements.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 10 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Thoughts from a geeky ex-hacker turned investor and founder of Techstars.
Most-linked posts?
- David Cohen: You Have Acquisition Interest, Now What?5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2010-06-18
- An Open Letter to Startup Founders Everywhere in a Time of Crisis2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-03-31
- /2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-01-21
- A horrifying startup accelerator story2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-08-29
- Not Shaking Hands2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-11-21
- The Mentor Manifesto2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-08-28
- David Cohen: Hiring developer evangelists2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-03-08
What Hacker News says?
FYI: https://davidgcohen.com/2011/08/28/the-mentor-manifesto/
Comment linking /2011/08/28/the-mentor-manifesto/
on “Calling All Hackers”Submitted A horrifying startup accelerator story as a story · 330 points
HN discussionSpeaking of bad accelerators: http://www.davidgcohen.com/2013/08/29/a-shocking-accelerator...
Comment linking /2013/08/29/a-shocking-accelerator-story-that-youll-need-to-read-twice/
on “The Book of Graham”Submitted The perfect email as a story · 170 points
HN discussionActually, David Cohen wrote a check in Uber's angel round - http://davidgcohen.com/2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/ And the list of Techstars companies shows only the stats of companies that went through a Techstars accelerator - http://www.techstars.com/companies/ Non-accelerator company investments (Uber, Twilio, etc) only appear on the Techstars fund page - http://www.techstars.com/venture-capital-fund/ Disc…
Comment linking /2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/
on “It's harder to get into YC if you’ve been through another accelerator”Submitted The Mentor Manifesto as a story · 51 points
HN discussionDavid Cohen wrote a check as part of the angel round for Uber [1]. The "$80 Billion in value created" seems to include companies which may not have directly been part of the Techstars Accelerator program like Uber [2]. I am not sure if all the others were part of Techstars. "Join our network of amazing mentors and portfolio companies such as Sphero, Digital Ocean, Localytics, SendGrid, Occipital, Next Big Sound, Cla…
Comment linking /2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/
on ““With $80B in Value Created, Techstars Is the #1 Global Accelerator””Submitted David Cohen: You Have Acquisition Interest, Now What? as a story · 45 points
HN discussionMost of the time even a handshake can be too much. Reminds me a post from David Cohen [1] who pointed to Brad Feld on the same topic [2]. Time to wake up that bro courage and start fist-bumping people ;) With hugging there's always also the dilemma of whether to pat a few times or just a strong hug, so the CPU cycles just drive me mad. [1] http://www.davidgcohen.com/2012/11/20/not-shaking-hands/ [2] http://www.feld.…
Comment linking /2012/11/20/not-shaking-hands/
on “Hug vs. Handshake”Submitted Freemium is alive and kicking as a story · 37 points
HN discussionDavid Cohen (TechStars founder) has a good post on this subject: http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-i...
Comment linking /2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-now-what/
on “Ask HN: How to handle acquisition offer from a competitor?”Submitted Small asks first as a story · 30 points
HN discussionNotably, SendGrid went through the Techstars accelerator instead. One of their mentors from the Techstars program [1], Jim Franklin, later became SendGrid's CEO and helped the technical founders grow the company towards the success they eventually achieved. [1] https://davidgcohen.com/2020/09/19/a-review-of-the-first-ele...
Comment linking /2020/09/19/a-review-of-the-first-eleven-techstars-unicorns/
on “Ask HN: YC misses that went on to do well (like veed.io)”Submitted The perfect email as a story · 6 points
HN discussionDavid Cohen of TechStars has written a good post about this - http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-i...
Comment linking /2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-now-what/
on “Ask HN: Big company looking to acquire us, I'm terrified”Submitted An Open Letter to Startup Founders Everywhere in a Time of Crisis as a story · 3 points
HN discussionthis basically explains it all (from TS founder, David Cohen): http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-i...
Comment linking /2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-now-what/
on “Ask HN: my startup got acquisition interest, what's next?”Submitted Giving up the ghost early as a story · 3 points
HN discussionHere are some links I've collected over time: http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/12/9-important-things-sell-sta... http://jacquesmattheij.com/How+To+Sell+Your+Company http://maplebutter.com/getting-your-startup-ready-for-an-acq... http://www.davidgcohen.com/2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-i... http://www.slideshare.net/VentureArchetypes/startup-exit-str... http://blog.asmartbear.com/how-value-company-1.html http://news.y…
Comment linking /2010/06/18/you-have-acquisition-interest-now-what/
on “Ask HN: How to sell a startup?”Submitted David Cohen: Mentors, Startups, and Life as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Mentor Manifesto – Hi, I'm David G. Cohen as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted An Open Letter to Startup Founders Everywhere in a Time of Crisis as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted David Cohen – Don't go dark as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The VC Push to Raise More Money as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted David Cohen – Techstars is evolving and growing as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Trouble with Titles – David Cohen as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted David Cohen: The pessimist in the room as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The “lead investor” dance as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Hiring developer evangelists as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted David Cohen: Hiring developer evangelists as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
