PREFACE
In the fall of 2008 the world financial markets were rocked in an unprecedented way. The global financial crisis that ensued created massive uncertainty across our society and resulted in extraordinary actions by governments and companies throughout the world.
In a parallel universe, something else was happening. Entrepreneurial companies such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Zynga were growing at an equally unprecedented rate. While these companies, and many others, were emerging from Silicon Valley, communities across the country were brimming with startup activity. My hometown of Boulder had become known throughout the world as a great startup community, but cities like New York, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Chicago, and Austin were also seen as nexuses of startup activity.
As the macroeconomic impact of the financial crisis was felt throughout 2009 and 2010 and society tried to readjust to the new economic reality and constraints generated by the collapse of many traditional and well-established institutions, the startups kept being born, growing, and adding jobs.
In early 2011 the world started to notice. On January 31, President Obama acknowledged the importance of entrepreneurship to our global economy through the launch of Startup America. He stated:
Suddenly entrepreneurship was at the forefront of the discussion. While entrepreneurs continued to toil away building their companies from scratch, it became clear that entrepreneurship was a global theme—one that impacted every geography, industry, market, and demographic throughout the world. Overnight everyone started talking about entrepreneurship as the way to revitalize our global economy.
No longer was entrepreneurship limited to a small set of risk takers located in a few specific cities. State and local government became interested. Universities dusted off their entrepreneurship initiatives. Angel groups visibly reemerged, VCs became popular again, and large companies created new startup programs.
All this activity has created an enormous amount of noise that runs the risk of drowning out the powerful signal that is entrepreneurship. It won’t matter in the long run, as entrepreneurs are going to do what they do, which is create new things (products, companies, jobs, and industries) out of nothing, but it occurred to me that there were powerful lessons that we could learn from the experience I’ve had in Boulder over the past 16 years.
From this came the Boulder Thesis, a new framework for creating and building a startup community in your city. I have a deeply held belief that you can create a long-term, vibrant, sustainable startup community in any city in the world, but it’s hard and takes the right kind of philosophy, approach, leadership, and dedication over a long period of time. Hence, this book, whose goal is to help you understand how to do this and give you the tools to create an amazing startup community in your city.
This book is aimed at anyone who wants to be involved in creating, building, and sustaining a startup community in their city. Because entrepreneurs are at the heart of every startup and every startup community, this book is for every entrepreneur.
Startup communities consist of many more participants than just entrepreneurs. Government, universities, investors, mentors, service providers, and large companies play key roles in the development of a startup community. This book is for anyone in those organizations interested in entrepreneurs and startup communities.
Startups have employees who are critical participants in the startup community. Some of these employees will go on to be entrepreneurs and start their own companies; others will work for a range of startups over their careers. They, too, can benefit from many of the ideas in this book.
There are many people studying entrepreneurship, economic development, and innovation, both in government and university settings. Whether you are doing research, creating policy, or just trying to understand what is going on, this book is for you.
Recently, the media has once again become infatuated with entrepreneurship. Unlike the late 1990s when there was relatively little critical thinking in the mix, this time around many journalists and writers are trying to really understand what is going on below the pretty, glossy surface of rich, famous, and successful entrepreneurs. I hope this book will help.
I’ve been talking about the ideas of a startup community for a number of years and have lived them as an entrepreneur, one of the leaders of the Boulder startup community, and a participant in many other startup communities. By codifying my thoughts and ideas in this book, it forced me to think deeply about them. I hope you benefit from this effort as you explore your own startup community.
After a brief introduction, I’ll spend some time exploring the Boulder startup community. I’ll go through a brief history, dating back to the 1970s, and include several perspectives besides my own.
I’ll then go deep into the principles of a vibrant startup community. I will explore several historical frameworks, describe the Boulder Thesis, and explain the various components of it.
I’ll then explore the different participants in a startup community. I separate the participants into two categories—leaders and feeders—and I’ll describe in depth both the characteristics of each as well as what they can do to help, as well as hinder, the startup community.
Given an understanding of the participants, I’ll discuss the attributes of leadership in a startup community. I’ll follow this with a thorough exploration of a set of classical problems that startup communities encounter.
I’ll then give a bunch of examples of activities and events that drive the startup community. Many of these examples will come from the people in the Boulder startup community who actually created the activities in the first place. My hope is that these examples will help create a better understanding of the leadership dynamics around startup communities. I’ll wrap this up with a detailed look at the power of accelerators to a startup community, using our experience with TechStars as an example.
I’ll shift gears and explore the involvement of the university in a startup community. Again I’ll use a set of examples from Boulder to help create a better understanding of what’s actually going on and how a university can participate effectively. We’ll then spend some time on the contrast between entrepreneurs and government and how this often plays out in the development of a startup community.
Near the end of the book, I’ll describe a set of clear approaches that generate real power throughout the startup community over a long period of time. I’ll use some of Boulder’s weaknesses to explore how a successful startup community can continue to improve and grow. Finally, with the help of Paul Kedrosky of the Kauffman Foundation, I’ll explore some common myths about startup communities.
I’ll finish with a few examples of how to get started, from Iceland, Omaha, and the Startup America Partnership, leaving you with the belief that you can create a vibrant startup community anywhere in the world.
Startup Communities is the first of several books in the Startup Revolution series. The Startup Revolution website (http://startuprev.com) has links to numerous additional resources, including the Startup Communities website (http://communities.startuprev.com). This site includes a blog that we regularly update with stories about startup communities around the world, a discussion board for those interested in startup communities, events that I’ll be participating in around startup communities, and resources for anyone interested in creating a startup community.