Startup Communities Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

''Startup communities'' are popping up everywhere, from cities all over the United States like Boulder, Boston, New York, Seattle, and Omaha to countries like Iceland. These entrepreneurial ecosystems are driving innovation, new business creation, and job growth. Startup Communities documents the strategy, dynamics, tactics, and long-term perspective required for building communities of entrepreneurs who can feed off of each other's talent, creativity, and support. So if you think Silicon Valley is the only place to start your next venture, think again. These days, great business ideas can come from anywhere, and this book is the smart wake-up call you've been waiting for. Based on more than twenty years of Boulder-based entrepreneur-turned-venture-capitalist Brad Feld's experience, as well as contributions from entrepreneurs in Boulder and other innovative startup communities¿this reliable resource skillfully explores what it takes to create a startup community in any city, at any time. With this book as your guide, you'll gain valuable insights into building a more vibrant startup community, as you discover how to increase the breadth and depth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem by multiplying connections among entrepreneurs and mentors, improving access to entrepreneurial education, creating events and activities that activate all the participants in the startup community, and much more. Along the way, Feld details the critical principles for forming a sustainable startup community, and discusses the various tactics you need to put around them. You'll become familiar with the idea that in order for a community to grow both deep and wide¿and to enhance its entrepreneurial density¿entrepreneurs must lead the charge themselves. You'll also see how developing a long-term commitment to the startup community is the only way to realistically become a leader of it. Feld continues the conversation by discussing how an openness to include anyone who is interested in joining the startup community¿from students, researchers, and professors to corporate employees, lawyers, government, and investors¿is critical. He also reveals how there has to be activities and events in the startup community that engage everyone in it from top to bottom. So, whether it be accelerators, meetups, or startup weekends, you have to create things that involve everyone. You can have a sustainable startup community in virtually any city in the world. But you need to know what it takes to really make this happen¿understanding everything from the problems that may arise to the power of the community. Engaging and informative, this practical guide not only shows you how startup communities work, it also shows you how you can make them work anywhere.