Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City Hardcover – October 9, 2012

I was lucky to get a personal preview of the book during a dinner & talk Brad did in Montana this summer & was incredibly excited to dig in despite the fact that the release was still a couple of months away. In the aftermath of that event & the rapid spin-up of energy and action around startups around the state I had subsequently sent him an email letting him know that I felt like Columbus without a map and he was kind enough to send me an advance copy of the book.He nails it on the first page with, "Today, we are in the midst of a massive shift from the hierarchical society that has dominated the industrial era to a networked society that has been emergent throughout the information era." This incredible change (think disruptive innovation on a macro scale) is very cathartic as we're seeing reflected in the job and financial markets. Having spent the last 30 years in the corporate world watching it slow down and devolve due to the waste inherent in the hierarchical model and then seeing how much more could be accomplished in so little time once freed from the shackles of inefficiency I wholly subscribe to this line of thinking.The book is a rich and detailed map for anyone participating in the startup ecosystem & is filled with practical, executable information to get things moving and grow the community. In his usual style, Brad is direct & doesn't pull any punches about who is driving the bus and who is taking the ride, a concept he calls "leaders and feeders". This is an important distinction for the leaders (as I've seen over the last few months) as everyone who is standing on the sidelines wants to get in the game. As he points out, the community needs to be inclusive (everyone gets a voice) but also cognizant of the fact that there are those who do stuff and those whose efforts support the doing.My three biggest takeaways were: 1) Just do some stuff 2) Give before you get and 3) Don't get caught up (as I was) in worrying about funding for the nascent companies that make up the startup ecosystem. The first one seems obvious but it has been my experience that those who have lived in the hierarchical world are inculcated with the need to seek approval before acting, forget that! I've been practicing the second one with astounding results over the last few months, as far as the third one goes I believe that falls into the bucket of, "there is always money available for good ideas and teams."There is a wealth of information in the book's 14 chapters, key points from a few chapters that resonated with me:Chapter 3 - Principles of a Vibrant Startup CommunityLed by EntrepreneursHas a Long Term CommitmentFosters a Philosophy of InclusivenessEngages the Entire Entrepreneurial StackChapter 5 - Attributes of Leadership in a Startup CommunitBe InclusivePlay a Non Zero-Sum GameBe Mentorship DrivenHave Porous BoundariesGive People AssignmentsExperiment and Fail FastChapter 6 - Classical ProblemsThe Patriarch ProblemComplaining About CapitalBeing Too Reliant on GovernmentMaking Short Term CommitmensHaving a Bias Against NewcomersAttempt by a Feeder to Control the CommunityCreating Artificial Geographic BoundariesPlaying a Zero Sum GameHaving a Culture of Risk AversionAvoiding People Because of Past FailuresChapter 13 - Myths about Startup CommunitiesWe Need to be Like Silicon ValleyWe Need More Local Venture CapitalAngel Investors Must Be OrganizedEvery other chapter in the book is filled with valuable information, I just picked the above given the stage we are at in growing the Bozeman community.The close of the book is as good as the start - Do or Do Not, There is No Try."My favorite thing about startups is that they do not require anyone's permission. Great entrepreneurs just start doing things. These are the same entrepreneurs who can be leaders of their startup community."Amen to that, now go get started!Postscript: The above review is an edited version of a post from a month or so ago on my site StartupBozeman.com. To help you fully understand the power of this book, here's what three of us have been able to do in our community here in Bozeman over the last five months by following the map and "just doing stuff":1) Create a cadence of well attended monthly brown bag lunch events on topcis of interest to entrepreneurs.2) Kick off a weekly "open coffee club" that people from the entire stack attend.3) Engage the "feeders" at the local, state and Federal government level as well as two of our universities in constructive dialog about the part they can play in helping build the ecosystem.4) Attract a small network of angel investors ready to write checks.5) Tie into the statewide Montana Programmers group (full disclosure, I'm a core member) to connect businesses with coding talent.Thanks, Brad, for your constant inspiration!

How to build regional entrepreneurial communities has just gotten it's first "here's how to do it" book. Brad Feld's new book Startup Communities joins the two other "must reads," (Regional Advantage and Startup Nation) and one "must view" (The Secret History of Silicon Valley) for anyone trying to understand the components of a regional cluster.There's probably no one more qualified to write this book then Brad Feld (startup founder, co founder of two VC firms - Mobius and Foundry, and founder of TechStars.)Leaders and FeedersFeld's thesis is that unlike the common wisdom, it is entrepreneurs that lead a startup community while everyone else feeds the community.Feld describes the characteristics of those who want to be regional Entrepreneurial Leaders; they need to be committed to their region for the long term (20+ years), the community and its leaders must be inclusive, play a non-zero sum game, be mentorship-driven and be comfortable experimenting and failing fast.Feeders include the government, universities, investors, mentors, service providers and large companies. He points out that some of these, government, universities and investors think of themselves as the leaders and Feld's thesis is that we've gotten it wrong for decades.This is a huge insight, a big idea and a fresh way to view and build a regional ecosystem in the 21st century. It may even be right.Activities and EventsOne of the most surprising (to me) was the observation that a regional community must have continual activities and events to engage all participants. Using Boulder Colorado as an example, (Feld's home town) this small entrepreneurial community runs office hours, Boulder Denver Tech Meetup, Boulder Open Coffee Club, Ignite Boulder, Boulder Beta, Boulder Startup Digest, Startup Weekend events, CU New Venture Challenge, Boulder Startup Week, Young Entrepreneurs Organization and the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado. For a city of 100,000 (in a metro area of just 300,000 people) the list of activities/events in Boulder takes your breath away. They are not run by the government or any single organization. These are all grassroots efforts by entrepreneurial leaders. These events are a good proxy for the health and depth of a startup community.Incubators and AcceleratorsOne of the best definitions in the book is when Feld articulates the difference between an incubator and an accelerator. An incubator provides year-round physical space, infrastructure and advice in exchange for a fee (often in equity.) They are typically non-profit, attached to a university (or in some locations a local government.) For some incubators, entrepreneurs can stay as long as they want. There is no guaranteed funding. In contrast, an accelerator has cohorts going through a program of a set length, with funding typically provided at the end.Feld describes TechStars (founded in 2006 with David Cohen) as an example of how to build a regional accelerator. In contrast to other accelerators TechStars is mentor-driven, with a profound belief that entrepreneurs learn best from other entrepreneurs. It's a 90-day program with a clear beginning and end for each cohort. TechStars selection criteria is to first focus on picking the right team then the market. They invest $118,000 ($18k seed funding + $100K convertible note) in 10 teams per region.Role of UniversitiesTo the entrepreneurial community Stanford and MIT are held up as models for "outward-facing" research universities. They act as community catalysts, as a magnet for great entrepreneurial talent for the region, and as teachers and then a pipeline for talent back into the region. In addition their research offers a continual stream of new technologies to be commercialized.Feld's observation is that that these schools are exceptions that are hard to duplicate. In most universities entrepreneurial engagement is not rewarded, there's a lack of resources for entrepreneurial programs and cross-campus collaboration is not in the DNA of most universities.Rather than thinking of the local university as the leader, Feld posits a more effective approach is to use the local college or university as a resource and a feeder of entrepreneurial students to the local entrepreneurial community. He uses Colorado University' Boulder as an example of of a regional university being as inclusive as possible with courses, programs and activities.Finally, he suggests engaging alumni for something other than fundraising - bringing back to the campus, having them mentor top students and celebrating their successes.Role of GovernmentFeld is not a big fan of top-down government driven clusters. He contrasts the disconnect between entrepreneurs and government. Entrepreneurs are painfully self-aware but governments are chronically not self-aware. This makes government leaders out of touch on how the dynamics of startups really work. Governments have a top-down command and control hierarchy, while entrepreneurs work in a bottoms-up networked world. Governments tend to focus on macro metrics of economic development policy while entrepreneurs talk about lean, startups, people and product. Entrepreneurs talk about immediate action while government conversations about policy do not have urgency. Startups aim for immediate impact, while governments want to control. Startup communities are networked and don't lend themselves to a command and control system.Community CultureFeld believes that the Community Culture, how individuals interact and behave to each other, is a key part of defining and entrepreneurial community. His list of cultural attributes is an integral part of Silicon Valley. Give before you get, (in the valley we call this the "pay it forward" culture.) Everyone is a mentor, so share your knowledge and give back. Embrace weirdness, describes a community culture that accepts differences. (Starting post World War II the San Francisco bay area became a magnet for those wanting to embrace alternate lifestyles. For personal lifestyles people headed to San Francisco. For alternate business lifestyles they went 35 miles south to Silicon Valley.)I was surprised to note that the biggest cultural meme of Silicon Valley didn't make his Community Culture chapter - failure equals experience.Broadening the Startup CommunityFeld closes by highlighting some of the issues faced by a startup community in Boulder. The one he calls Parallel Universes notes that there may be industry specific (biotech, clean tech etc.) startup communities sitting side-by-side and not interacting with each other.He then busts the myths clusters tell themselves; "lets be like Silicon Valley" and the "there's not enough capital here."QuibblesThere's data that that seems to indicate a few of Feld's claims about about the limited role of venture, universities and governments might be overly broad (but doesn't diminish his observation that they're feeders not leaders.) In addition, while Silicon Valley was a series of happy accidents, other national clusters have extracted its lessons and successfully engineered on top of those heuristics. And while I might have misread Feld's premise about local venture capital, but it seems to be, "if there isn't a robust venture capital in your region it's because there isn't a vibrant entrepreneurial community with great startups. As venture capital exists to service startup when great startups are built investors will show up." Wow.Finally, local government top-down initiatives are not the only way governments can incentivize entrepreneurial efforts. Some like the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps have had a big bang for little bucks.SummaryEntrepreneurship is rising in almost every major city and region around the world. I host at least one region a week at the ranch and each of these regions are looking for a roadmap. Startup Communities is it. It's a strategic, groundbreaking book and a major addition to what was missing in the discussion of how to build a regional cluster. I'm going to be quoting from it liberally, stealing from it often, and handing it out to my visitors.Buy it.Lessons Learned- Entrepreneurs lead a startup community while everyone else feeds the community- Feeders include the government, universities, investors, mentors, service providers and large companies- Continual activities and events are essential to engage all participants- Top-down government-driven clusters are an oxymoronBuilding a regional entrepreneurial culture is critical

I am a student at the University of Baltimore and this was the book I chose to read for my Entrepreneurship 300 class.This book is designed to give some examples of a startup community. It uses the boulder community as an example that is based in Colorado. This book shows how it evolves from the pre-internet days to present day. It tells the tale of the author’s relationship with the community and how he grew a business from it. It explains challenges in regards to starting up businesses such as lack of resources. There are quite a few topics I like in this book. I like that the author tackles issues that most startup books do not review for example avoiding people that have had past failures and being too dependent on government resources. It reviews mentorship driven businesses like in the boulder community located in Colorado. They believe “is given before you get” which is their collaboration system that requires a person to put work in then they will receive.There are some things I dislike about the book. I dislike that it takes some time to officially get into the helping topics because there are quite a few side stories that occur. The book is also too vague as I found more insight in the bulletins opposed of the body of the book. Lastly, I disliked that the book does not review the products and services of the company’s referenced. Internet links were only referenced for these companies. If the products and services were reviewed, an entrepreneur may gain insight on how to position their products and services better. Although I did not care for the many side stories in the book, it may be useful to other students because another student may feel a connection to a story that could help them in their own business.