Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

PRAISE FOR STARTUP COMMUNITIES "Innovation and entrepreneurship are at the heart of America′s long–term economic growth story. As the nation′s first Chief Technology Officer, I heard a great deal of interest in strategies to foster local startup communities beyond Silicon Valley. In this book, Brad Feld captures the essence of what drives the creation and development of startup communities and provides a clear road map for everyone interested in expanding the entrepreneurial ecosystem wherever they live." —Aneesh Chopra, Senior Advisor, The Advisory Board Company, former U.S. CTO "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. "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; Senior Editor, The Atlantic "Brad Feld′s involvement in the Startup America Partnership since its inception has heavily influenced our thinking and approach to accelerating startup communities throughout the United States. We have shared many of the ideas in the book with community champions—successful serial entrepreneurs around the country—who are leveraging them to build vibrant growing startup economies." —Scott Case, CEO, Startup America Partnership "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, VP Innovation & Networks, Kauffman Foundation "This book beautifully captures the essence of what drives a startup community. Brad Feld highlights the importance of having continual activities that engage the entire entrepreneurial stack in order to create a long–term sustainable startup community. At Startup Weekend, we are doing our small part to help as many people around the world experience entrepreneurship, and we are proud to count Brad Feld as a board member in our efforts." —Marc Nager, CEO, Startup Weekend

FOREWORD ix PREFACE xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii CHAPTER ONE Introduction 1 CHAPTER TWO The Boulder Startup Community 5 CHAPTER THREE Principles of a Vibrant Startup Community 21 CHAPTER FOUR Participants in a Startup Community 31 CHAPTER FIVE Attributes of Leadership in a Startup Community 47 CHAPTER SIX Classical Problems 59 CHAPTER SEVEN Activities and Events 73 CHAPTER EIGHT The Power of Accelerators 109 CHAPTER NINE University Involvement 121 CHAPTER TEN Contrasts between Entrepreneurs and Government 141 CHAPTER ELEVEN The Power of the Community 147 CHAPTER TWELVE Broadening a Successful Startup Community 157 CHAPTER THIRTEEN Myths about Startup Communities 169 CHAPTER FOURTEEN Getting Started 179 ABOUT THE AUTHOR 189 INDEX 191 EXCERPT FROM STARTUP LIFE 199

Brad Feld has been an early–stage investor and entrepreneur for over twenty years. Prior to cofounding Foundry Group—a Boulder, Colorado–based early–stage venture capital fund that invests in information technology companies all over the United States—he cofounded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies. Feld is also a cofounder of TechStars and has been active with several nonprofit organizations. He is a nationally recognized speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship.