Startup Communities

PRAISE FOR STARTUP COMMUNITIES SECOND EDITION "Brad, a pioneer in encouraging the development of startup communities, seeded the momentum more than a decade ago that we're seeing now. . . . Because of this, Brad's thinking on the best practices for developing strong and sustainable startup communities is now more important than ever. This updated and expanded book, rich with case studies, will guide readers on what it takes to create a stronger entrepreneurial economy. It can help show us the way as we seek to build a startup economy that is more geographically diverse as well as more inclusive. Indeed, Startup Communities is a must-read for anybody who cares about the future of their community and their nation." —From the Foreword by Steve Case, Chairman and CEO, Revolution; Co-founder, America Online "Any city in the world can be the home of a vibrant startup community. Many of the principles in this book are similar to the ones we are applying at DowntownProject.com to help revitalize downtown Vegas and transform our city into one of the leading startup communities in the world. This book and its principles are applicable to any city that wants to reinvigorate itself through the power of entrepreneurship." —Tony Hsieh, New York Times bestselling author of Delivering Happiness and CEO, Zappos.com, Inc. "If you care about economic growth at any level this book will help you figure out how you can play a role in your own startup community. Brad Feld's book will become the Myth Buster of Startup Communities. Reality requires collaboration, inclusiveness, a network of leaders, and feeders operating without hierarchy. All hard work and a ton of fun." —Lesa Mitchell, Managing Director, Techstars "Entrepreneurship and innovation are the key drivers of the emerging creative economy. Startup Communities provides the playbook of how communities can harness the power of creative entrepreneurs that power long-run economic growth and development. Feld gives entrepreneurs and political and civic leaders a powerful framework filled with examples on how to build vibrant entrepreneurial communities." —Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class; Professor, University of Toronto, NYU; co-founder, CityLab

BRAD FELD has been an early-stage investor and entrepreneur for over 30 years. He is currently a partner at Foundry Group and is a co-founder of Techstars. In addition to his investing efforts, Brad runs the Anchor Point Foundation with his wife Amy Batchelor. Brad is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship.

Foreword xiii Introduction to the Second Edition xvii Preface xxi Chapter One Introduction 1 The Example of Boulder 2 How This Book Works 3 Chapter Two The Boulder Startup Community 5 Boulder as a Laboratory 6 Before the Internet (1970-1994) 7 Pre-Internet Bubble (1995-2000) 9 The Collapse of the Internet Bubble (2001-2002) 11 The Beginning of the Next Wave (2003-2011) 14 An Outsider's View of Boulder in 2012 16 The Next Wave (2012-2020) 19 Chapter Three Principles of a Vibrant Startup Community 21 Historical Frameworks 21 The Boulder Thesis 25 Led by Entrepreneurs 25 Long-Term Commitment 26 Foster a Philosophy of Inclusiveness 27 Engage the Entire Entrepreneurial Stack 28 Chapter Four Participants in a Startup Community 31 Entrepreneurs 34 Government 36 Universities 38 Investors 42 Mentors 43 Service Providers 45 Large Companies 46 The Importance of Leaders, Feeders, and Instigators 47 Chapter Five Attributes of Leadership in a Startup Community 49 Be Inclusive 49 Play a Non-Zero-Sum or Positive-Sum Game 51 Be Mentorship Driven 52 Have Porous Boundaries 55 Give People Assignments 56 Experiment and Fail Fast 58 Chapter Six Classical Problems 61 The Patriarch Problem 61 Complaining About Capital 63 Being Too Reliant on Government 66 Making Short-Term Commitments 67 Having a Bias Against Newcomers 68 Attempt by a Feeder to Control the Community 69 Creating Artificial Geographic Boundaries 71 Playing a Zero-Sum Game 72 Having a Culture of Risk Aversion 73 Avoiding People Because of Past Failures 74 Chapter Seven Activities and Events 77 Young Entrepreneurs Organization 78 Office Hours 80 Boulder Denver New Tech Meetup 82 Boulder Open Coffee Club 87 Startup Weekend 90 Ignite Boulder 92 Boulder Beta 95 Boulder Startup Digest 97 CU New Venture Challenge 100 Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado 103 Chapter Eight The Power of Accelerators 107 The Spread of Techstars to Boston and Seattle 109 Techstars Expands to New York 111 Techstars Today 113 Accelerators Are Different than Incubators 114 University Accelerators 115 Chapter Nine University Involvement 119 Silicon Flatirons' Networked Approach 120 Organizing the Components of University Entrepreneurship 124 Other Campus Initiatives That Affect Startup Communities 126 The Real Value-Fresh Blood into the System 129 Challenges and Responses for University Entrepreneurship Programs 137 The Power of Alumni 141 Chapter Ten Contrasts between Entrepreneurs and Government 143 Self-Aware versus Not Self-Aware 144 Bottom Up versus Top Down 145 Micro versus Macro 146 Action versus Policy 147 Impact versus Control 147 Chapter Eleven How Large Corporations Can Help 149 Start by Linking to Corporate Innovation Initiatives 150 Support, Convene, Consume, and Engage 151 Self-interest is Good 153 Think About Talent Appropriately 154 Reinvestment in Your Community 155 Chapter Twelve The Power of the Community 161 Give Before You Get (#GiveFirst) 161 Everyone is a Mentor 163 Embrace Weirdness 163 Be Open to Any Idea 164 Be Honest 164 Go for a Walk 166 The Value and Cost of an After-Party 168 Chapter Thirteen Broadening a Successful Startup Community 171 Parallel Universes 171 Integration with the Rest of Colorado 173 Lack of Diversity 175 Physical Space 179 Chapter Fourteen Rural Startup Communities 181 Definition of a Rural Startup Community 182 A Broader Definition of Entrepreneurship 183 Entrepreneurs Before Capital 184 Beyond Traditional Capital Models 186 Rural + Urban, Not Rural versus Urban 188 Chapter Fifteen Myths about Startup Communities 191 We Need to Be Like Silicon Valley 192 We Need More Local Venture Capital 193 Angel Investors Must Be Organized 195 Chapter Sixteen Getting Started 199 Getting Startup Iceland Started 199 Big Omaha 203 Startup America Partnership 204 Do or Do Not, There is No Try 209 About the author 211 Acknowledgments 213 Foreword-First edition (2012) 217 Index 219