Brad Feld of TechStars, Startup America and the world of entrepreneurship
I had the great pleasure of meeting Brad Feld when he visited Upstate NY last week to talk about the entrepreneurial community we’re building here.
For those who don’t know Brad, he’s an entrepreneur, investor, board member and adviser to several internet and software companies. He is also co-founder of TechStars in Boulder, CO, (now with locations in Boston, Seattle and New York, too) and one of the forces behind Startup America, the new Obama Administration program to promote tech startups as an important part of America’s economic recovery.
I had heard good things about Brad before he came here. But talking to him in a small group, hearing him in a more formal setting in front of an investor group, and then seeing him in conversation with a group of young entrepreneurs (mostly college students), I must say: he’s the genuine article. I was impressed with how well-informed, accessible and enthusiastic he was. He really believes in entrepreneurship. That’s because he really believes in entrepreneurs.
In his post on MIT’s Technology Review, Two Days of Entrepreneurial Community Building In Upstate New York he spoke glowingly about his visit here (when frankly it would have been very easy for him to be negative or even say nothing), and he went on to state what I now know he really believes:
I’m a believer that there is the potential for over a hundred entrepreneurial communities across the United States. While Silicon Valley epitomizes an entrepreneurial community, there are natural resources everywhere in this country that can support continuous entrepreneurship – especially high growth entrepreneurship and innovation – over many years…
No bullshit. He means it. And Brad and TechStar’s commitment to Startup America is another proof point: committing to use the TechStar accelerator model to create a mentor and support network for “6,000 promising young entrepreneurs, increasing their success rate tenfold and creating 25,000 new jobs by 2015.” Now that’s some serious growth.
In his talk with our community, Brad made some other consistent points:
- Take a long view: It takes 20 years to build an entrepreneurial community.
- Entrepreneurs have to lead and be at the heart of the effort.
- Mentors and coaches increase the speed and likelihood of success for young startups.
- High-growth startups are the key to job growth and a truly entrepreneurial community…
and he made an important and often missed distinction between startups and small business. - Regions that want to build entrepreneurial communities need to recognize the reality of their situations and leverage the natural resources available to them: whether that’s the 500,000 college students in the region (like we have in Upstate NY), some technological expertise that makes a region unique, a cluster of industries or expertise or whatever.
Brad believes in America and in the power of innovation and entrepreneurship. But mostly, he believes in these young entrepreneurs and the what they make possible. Rock on, Brad.