Jordan Fliegel

Jordan Fliegel is a two-time venture-backed tech CEO and experienced startup investor with more than 300 active portfolio companies, and advisor to CEOs of high-growth companies.  Fliegel is passionate about nurturing and promoting American new and small businesses, and is proud to serve on the Entrepreneurs Council of the Center for American Entrepreneurship.

Fliegel is currently Managing Director of the Techstars Sports Accelerator, which he launched in 2019, and the Techstars NYC Accelerator (a top performing accelerator over the last decade), which he took on from previous leadership in 2022.  Between the two accelerators, Fliegel leads investments in 25 startups per year, and has driven high IRR via stakes in successful portfolio companies like Ergatta, which raised $30 million at a $200 million valuation in 2021.

Fliegel has invested in over 250 startups since 2013 as Managing Partner of Founders First, a vertical-agnostic early-stage angel fund and leading syndicate on AngelList, which he co-founded with business partner Jeremy Levine.  Portfolio companies include seed investments in now unicorn startups like Carta ($8.5 billion valuation) and Ramp ($5.8 billion valuation).

Fliegel was previously co-CEO of Draft.com, a venture-backed fantasy sports company headquartered in New York.  In 2017, he sold DRAFT to Paddy Power Betfair for $48 million.  Draft.com won every Fantasy Sports Trade Association award, including “Fantasy Sports Business of The Year,” “Best Games App,” “Best Draft Room,” and “Best Daily Fantasy Sports Game.”

Before Draft, Fliegel was founder and CEO (now Chairman) of CoachUp.com, America’s leader in sports coaching, with more than 3,000 active coaches conducting lessons every month across the country.  Headquartered in Boston and backed by $14 million in venture capital from firms like General Catalyst and Founder Collective, CoachUp was named to the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies four times and Andreesen Horowitz Top 100 Marketplaces three times.  NBA MVP Stephen Curry is Fliegel’s partner and lead spokesman at CoachUp.

Before CoachUp, Fliegel played professional basketball in the Israeli Premier League, Israeli National League and EuroCup league, and followed his passion for basketball in 2018 by leading a group that bought a double-digit minority stake in the ANBL four-time champion New Zealand Breakers.

Fliegel writes and lecturers on entrepreneurship, investing, and leadership and is the author of “Coaching Up!” (Wiley, 2016, with a foreword by NBA Champion Shane Battier).  Fliegel and his co-founders have been named Sports Business Journal “Power Player,” Inc “30 under 30,” Forbes “30 under 30,”  BBJ “40 under 40” and a finalist for Ernst & Young “New England Entrepreneur of the Year.”

Fliegel grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Government from Bowdoin College and an M.B.A. from Tel Aviv University.