Let’s build
Brandon Teller presenting ColdStart on stage after winning the Plug and Play Innovation Challenge
Plug and Play Innovation Challenge winnerPresenting ColdStart on stage in Europe

Founder. Builder. Investor.

I build
hard things.
Then I get
them noticed.

I’m Brandon Teller. Co-founder of Bindr and ColdStart. I turn stubborn ideas into products people use, then build the unfair advantage that puts them in Forbes, on the TechCrunch stage and in front of the right people.

Explore the workWhat I look for
CEO · ColdStartCTO · BindrAngel investor
PRODUCT ENGINEERING ✳ CONSUMER NETWORKS ✳ GROWTH HACKING ✳ AI DISCOVERY ✳ DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS
Brandon Teller on stage in a ColdStart shirt being applauded after winning the Plug and Play Innovation Challenge

01 / Growth infrastructure · Co-founder & CEO

Make distribution
a repeatable system.

Bindr had a cold-start problem: a great product and no repeatable way to get it found. The system we built to solve it became a company. ColdStart turns search, social and AI answers into infrastructure, so a product people want gets in front of the people who want it, on purpose.

  • Startupfest first place
  • Plug and Play Innovation Challenge winner
  • Covered by Technical.ly & BetaKit
The ColdStart thesisVisit ColdStart
Brandon Teller and Mary Richardson on stage at Startupfest as Bindr is announced LGBTQIA+ prize winner

02 / Consumer network · Co-founder & CTO

A personal idea.
A much bigger community.

A dating platform built around people, without forcing them into labels. It started as a personal need, now reaches millions of people, and taught me everything I know about the distance between a launch and real traction.

  • Reaching millions of people
  • Forbes pick
  • Startup Battlefield 200
  • Startupfest 2SLGBTQIA+ Entrepreneur Prize
The Bindr storyVisit Bindr

03 / The storyline · 17 to 34

Big wins
need a few losses.

I started building companies at 17. At 34 I have worked with hundreds of them as a founder, CTO and builder. These are mine: four operating today, and three that went to market, found thousands of users, and taught me what the wins never could. That is what makes a great founder.

  1. 01Chop DawgOperating todayCTO
    Built for other founders and watched what worked. Still running.
  2. 02SubtleQuit too earlyFounder
    Storage, email and apps in one place before Drive or Dropbox existed. Thousands of users. We doubted ourselves over bugs.
  3. 03
    Original Pixel logo
    Original PixelOperating todayFounder & CEO
    Owned the whole machine: clients, delivery, consequences.
  4. 04
    ModLinQ logo
    ModLinQBreak-even, still liveFounder
    Thousands of users on its own. Taught me success is not the same as people coming back.
  5. 05
    Sweet Ride logo
    Sweet RideWent to marketCTO
    A working rideshare and delivery ecosystem. Ran out of funding. Laid the groundwork for everything after.
  6. 06
    Bindr logo
    BindrOperating todayCo-founder & CTO
    Forbes. Startup Battlefield 200. Startupfest prize. Millions reached.
  7. Now
    ColdStart logo
    ColdStartOperating todayCo-founder & CEO
    Distribution as a system. Startupfest first place. Plug and Play Innovation Challenge winner.

04 / The record

I get companies
noticed.

Forbes. TechCrunch. FOX, ABC and CBS. Startupfest. Every one of these came from the same playbook: build something people want, then engineer the reason the right room pays attention.

Bindr on the TechCrunch Disrupt stage, with Bindr on both screens

Startup Battlefield 200

Bindr on the
TechCrunch stage.

Selected as a Startup Battlefield 200 company and pitched on the Disrupt stage. A personal idea, in front of the biggest room in tech.

Press & speaking

TechCrunch Disrupt · San FranciscoBindr · Startup Battlefield 200 company

05 / Between the headlines

Growth hacks have
a layer nobody
talks about.

The headline says one thing. The part that actually worked is usually left out. That layer is what I build, and it is what I look for when I invest.

  1. People don’t “just try” things.

    Nobody checks out your app because you asked nicely. Every great growth story starts with someone manufacturing the first signal of interest so the second one could be real.

  2. Make it easy. Then make it unavoidable.

    All great apps remove friction first. Traction follows the moment showing up is easier than staying away. Real engagement, engineered FOMO.

  3. The unfair advantage is the investment.

    When I look at a company, I am not looking at the pitch. I am looking for the move competitors will not copy and the founder willing to make it.

Growth examples I love

How founders
actually think.

Not my companies. Three moves I keep coming back to, and what each one tells me about the people who made them. This is what I look for.

  1. 01FacebookManufactured interestSeed the room before you open the door.
  2. 02TinderEngagement before signupDo not ask people to try it. Make the first session about them.
  3. 03HingeThe resetSometimes the growth move is deleting everything.

Read the case studies

06 / Investing & equity

A builder.
An investor.
A stake in the work.

My operating focus is Bindr and ColdStart. My portfolio includes active investments in ReadyPlanGo, Mangia Rewards and ModLinQ, plus an equity holding in Sweet Ride.

I love builders and growth hackers: people who make the product easy, then engineer the traction. I focus on local markets across Central Pennsylvania, LGBTQIA+ founders across the United States and Canada, and dating and consumer technology anywhere.

My portfolio & what I look forWhere I invest

The through line

I back the people
who find a way
to do it anyway.

The ones with a million reasons not to build something, who keep showing up. Long enough to make it work. Then long enough to make it unfair.

The story behind the work

Go a little deeper

More than
the launch.

01 / How I think

Customers first.
Then growth.

People need to want it. Then build the system that reaches more of them.

02 / What I look for

Builders.
Growth hackers.

The founders and the unfair advantages that get my attention.