Comcast, Techstars are recruiting Philly companies for their joint accelerator

Starting July 16, Maya Baratz will be relocating with her husband from New York to Philly.

See, that’s when the Techstars Managing Director, formerly of Flickr and the Wall Street Journal will begin leading the Comcast NBCUniversal Accelerator Powered by Techstars, a 13-week Philly-based program that seeks to connect 10 companies in the media and connectivity space with resources and connections.

Ahead of the program’s kickoff, on March 7, alumni companies from the Colorado-based accelerator are coming to Philly for an open house of sorts. Happening at WeWork’s 1900 Market St. spot, “Techstars Roadshow: An Evening With Techstars and Friends in Philadelphia” hopes to give companies a primer on the accelerator, while helping Techstars and Comcast scout the field.

“The event is centered around giving the Philly entrepreneurial community a chance to hear what the program entails,” Baratz told Technical.ly. “Any company looking to apply can get a better sense of what the 13 weeks look like.”

The event will feature speakers from Techstars alumni companies like Latch, Storify and Switchboard Live.

Though initially it was said that the programming for the accelerator would take place at the new Comcast Technology Center, that is yet to be determined. The company’s still in the process of figuring out where in the Comcast campus the accelerator will take place, a Comcast spokesperson told Technical.ly, but the plan is for the programming to be based out of the new skyscraper.

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Baratz provided some insight into the broad “Media and Connectivity” verticals the accelerator, announced last March, will focus on.

“There are no hard and fast rules,” Baratz said. “The most important thing to us are the founders. At Techstars our criteria is: team, team, team, then market, then product. These companies at an early stage evolve quite a bit from the time they come into the program to when they leave. We’re open to new ideas.”

The managing director also said there were efforts being deployed to help gather a diverse swath of applicants to the program, including a presence at Black Tech Week in Miami and women-led panels happening at SXSW.

“We’re absolutely actively seeking applications from entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds,” said Baratz. “It’s very top of mind for us.”