Notes from Brad Feld’s Presentation in Toronto on Building Startup Communities

Last night, Brad Feld spoke to a packed room of people from Toronto’s tech, social media and entrepreneurial scene at the Toronto Reference Library about building startup communities. Here are my notes from his presentation:

• I moved to Boulder in 1995
• It turns out that when you’re constantly criss-crossing the US, living in the middle of the country works out well
• My wife and there came there because we liked it – we didn’t know anyone there
• I started to get engaged with Boulder entrepreneurial community
• For those of you who aren’t familiar with Boulder, it’s very much a hippie town, with the creative class and counterculture
• University makes for 25 – 30% of the population
• Lots of smarts engineers, no management or sales talent
• Started to reflect on his journey from 95 on
• By 2010, Boulder recognized as a great startup community
• Done without promotion
• Cofounded Techstars in 2006
• Founded Founders Group in 2007

• My book is based on four principles
• My publisher wanted these principles to be given a name, and they suggested “the Boulder Thesis”
• It’s their contribution to the content of the book

The Four Principles:

1. The startup community has to be led by entrepreneurs

• Separate the world into 2 categories: leaders and feeders
• Both are critically important; they’re just different
• Feeders can’t lead
• Leaders don’t have to be entrepreneurs; just a critical mass of them
• Feeders can have individuals who have leadership roles
• It’s the difference between a network and a hierarchy
• Startups are inherently networked
• Feeders tend to be hierarchical organizations
• “The intersection of hierarchies and networks is not very pleasant”
• They can have constructive relationships together, but they are different things

2. You have to make a long-term commitment

• It’s a generational thing: about 20 years
• The generational view continues far into the future
• Most other organizations don’t run on cycles this long
• 2 to 4 years is not long enough for an entrepreneurial company
• In 2008, the global economic crisis was a disaster to many people, but not to entrepreneurs in Boulder
• “Who here watches CNN? Turn that shit off!”
• To an entrepreneur, the US election is just entertainment

3. You have to be inclusive of anyone who wants to engage, at any level

• Yes, it means you’ll let in bad actors
• The startup organism rejects bad actors in the end
• It’s not a zero-sum game – we’re so far from saturating that there’s room for everyone; startups are such a small part of the business ecosystem

4. You have to have activities and events that engage the entire entrepreneurial stack across the board

• Accelerators, Startup Weekend, a regular cadence of activities, all together and continually
• Anyone who wants to participate should be able to
• You don’t have to get permission or a licence: you just start it!

• There’s a philosophy deeply rooted in the Boulder community: “Give before you get”
• It’s the difference between being an advisor and being a mentor
• Advisor: “I will help you in exchange for something”
• Mentor: “How can I help you?”
• Everyone has something to offer…everyone can be a mentor
• In Boulder, people give more than they get in the short run, but they end up getting more than they give
• If you want to build a long-term viable ecosystem, make sure that there’s a critical mass of entrepreneurs leading
• It’s not a zero-sum game; everyone benefits!