Startup Communities by Brad Feld, published by Wiley in 2012 and updated in a second edition in 2020, is a book about how cities build healthy startup scenes. Feld is a venture investor and co-founder of Foundry Group and Techstars who has lived and invested in Boulder, Colorado, for decades. He uses Boulder, a small city with an outsized startup community, as his main case study to show that a strong scene can grow almost anywhere.
What is Startup Communities about?
The book’s best-known idea is the Boulder Thesis, Feld’s four principles for a lasting startup community. Entrepreneurs have to lead it. Leaders have to commit for the long haul, at least two decades. The community must include anyone who wants to join. And it needs constant activity that involves people at every level, from first-time founders to investors and large companies.
Around that thesis, Feld separates leaders from feeders. Leaders are the founders who build companies and set the tone. Feeders are everyone else who helps: universities, government, investors, mentors, service providers, big companies and the media. Feeders matter, and they cannot lead, because their incentives and timelines differ from those of founders. The book covers the role of each feeder, the value of accelerators, events and mentorship, and the problems that hold communities back, such as top-down control, short-term thinking and gatekeeping. Feld also stresses a culture of giving before you get, where people help others without expecting anything back.
What sets it apart is that it is written from inside a community by someone who helped build one, with contributions from other community builders. The second edition adds material on universities, large companies, rural areas and how communities avoid stalling.
What are the main lessons for founders?
- Founders lead. Do not wait for a city programme or a university to build your local scene. Organise the meetup or founder dinner you wish existed.
- Think in decades. Communities grow slowly. Commit to a regular contribution you can keep up for years, even a monthly coffee for new founders.
- Open the doors. Welcome newcomers, career changers and people from outside tech. Gatekeeping kills communities faster than lack of money.
- Give before you get. Make introductions, share advice and review pitch decks without asking for anything in return. The goodwill comes back in hires, deals and customers.
- Keep it active. Ongoing activities such as office hours, hack nights and accelerator programmes create more connections than a single big conference.
Who should read Startup Communities?
It suits founders who want to give back to their local scene, organisers of meetups and accelerators, angel investors and people in city government or universities who support entrepreneurship. Founders who have just moved to a new city will also learn how to find and plug into the community.
Skip it if you want help building your own company. The book is about the environment around startups, and it has little advice on product, sales or fundraising.
How do you put Startup Communities to work this week?
- Map your local startup scene on one page: the founders who lead it, the feeders that support it and the gaps you notice.
- Offer one hour this week to a newer founder, with no ask attached.
- Start or join one regular gathering, such as a monthly founder breakfast, and commit to it for the next 12 months.
If you are choosing where to build or want to compare startup scenes, Best startup cities from Fe/male Switch profiles cities by their startup scene.
Where does Startup Communities fall short?
The book leans heavily on Boulder and on US tech, so founders in very different cities, especially outside the United States, must adapt the lessons. It says little about how founders without free time or money can lead, or about barriers that keep women and minorities out of startup communities. Its insistence that governments and universities only play a supporting role also fits poorly in regions where they fund most early activity. For a broader theory of why some ecosystems work, read The Rainforest.