Techstars, a global startup accelerator and network of founders, mentors and investors, has named greater Omaha a member of its inaugural cohort of the Techstars Startup Community Partnerships program. This new four-year initiative seeks to foster growth in startup ecosystems worldwide by providing communities direct access to coaching for ecosystem building, and a catalog of programs, tools and expert connections developed by Techstars. 

According to the announcement by Techstars, the greater Omaha ecosystem will join the cities of Istanbul, Turkey, and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the first cohort. Cities in the Techstars Startup Community Partnerships program will have the opportunity for global recognition, insight exchanges with industry leaders around the globe and the licensing of Techstars products and events for local use, including Techstars Startup Digest and Techstars Startup Week. 

Techstars Head of Startup Community Katie Smith said the new program is an evolution of Techstars’ cumulative efforts over the years to support founders and the communities where these entrepreneurs operate. Smith said Techstars considers accelerator programming as “a piece of a much larger pie” in developing ecosystem-wide infrastructure for growing all startups in a region.

“We believe that a founder or startup’s success is correlated to the strength of the startup community that surrounds them,” Smith said. “You may have different activities or different accelerators out there, but if you’re not a united startup community that is having frequent activities — consistent and inclusive support for your founders — there’s no amount of opportunity that’s going to replace that.”

Why Omaha?

Smith said each of the three selected regions demonstrated a readiness for further development due to their significant number of aspiring founders and the presence of motivated stakeholders from both the private and public sectors. The primary factors for Techstars’ decisions, she said, were the leadership in these communities and the leaders’ demonstrated commitment to be inclusive in the voices they serve. 

“The people that join these cohorts have to be ready to build out their startup communities for decades and build out the infrastructure to sustain it long term,” Smith said.

The push to bring Techstars to Nebraska was led by the newly established nonprofit Open Range. The organization formed in response to the Silicon Prairie Rising report with the mission to help organize and improve entrepreneurial and community-building efforts in the greater Omaha and Lincoln startup ecosystems. 

During the initial stages of forming the nonprofit, Open Range CEO Joe Petsick said his team saw a meaningful opportunity in working with Techstars and its new program. The team wanted to collaborate with well-known experts like Techstars co-founders Brad Feld and David Cohen, so Petsick said they began having conversations with the global accelerator around late February. 

Smith said the greater Omaha region already had ties to the Techstars’ network, including several portfolio companies based here. Additionally, Open Range provided a necessary foundation of leadership and resources for the program.

Smith said greater Omaha was an apparent “clear match” for the inaugural cohort. The programming and meetups for the inaugural group began in April with activities including one-on-one coaching and discussions with other cohort members. 

“There’s a lot of attention given when you are the first cohort in a program,” said Open Range Vice President of Operations Laurel Oetken. “I think this will really help put Omaha on the map in a lot of ways.”

Oetken said the region of focus for the Techstars Startup Community Partnerships program includes both Omaha and Lincoln. She is currently acting as interim community director for greater Omaha in the Techstars programming — the primary leadership role. 

“It’s really a full-time job, mapping out an entire year, let alone four years and beyond worth of engagement,” Smith said. “And [it’s] not just running events but actually creating a cohesive story for your startup community.”

Beyond the community director role, Smith said Techstars recommends each city form a small, representative steering committee to help make sure efforts remain “agile” and decisions are not skewed by who will benefit. 

Affiliates with Open Range are filling leadership and committee roles for the greater Omaha ecosystem. Petsick said the nonprofit plans to move away from its direct involvement in the Techstars program once things become more operational. 

“The goal is to always cast it out to be its own thing,” Petsick said. “To have someone that we believe is best suited to help drive it and then help them gather the resources they might need to make it likely a success.”

Opportunities for Nebraska founders

Oteken said Open Range is still in the exploratory phase, determining what tools and events provided by Techstars they will employ. She said they want to prioritize finding ways to add to existing initiatives in Omaha and Lincoln, not duplicate or compete with ongoing efforts. 

“I think the beautiful thing about the partnership is we’re not telling them what to do, but rather offering them tools and guidance to achieve their goals,” Smith said. “We are their sounding board because they know their startup community better than anyone.”

For example, members of the inaugural cohort get access to the Techstars Founder Catalyst, a 10-week pre-accelerator program for early-stage entrepreneurs. It includes workshops, courses and mentoring from Techstars and industry experts. 

While each cohort committee gets 40 slots to fill with interested startups throughout the four years for the Techstars Founder Catalyst resource, Smith said ecosystem leaders can determine the number they designate each year. She said leaders could potentially allow a startup from outside the state to participate if it intends to move its operations to Nebraska. 

With Techstars’ intention of starting a new cohort every quarter, Smith said she hopes the initiative will drive the formation of cohesive cultures putting founders first — as both Techstars and participating regions will be learning and growing at the same time. 

“I’m just genuinely enthusiastic about what’s on the horizon for Omaha,” Smith said. “It’s been such a pleasure getting to know the team and seeing how passionate they are about their city.”
Applications for the Fall 2025 cohort for the Techstars Founder Catalyst open June 28.

Applications close Aug. 28, with the program beginning on Sept. 24. Interested candidates can apply on Techstars’ website.