Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

THE COLLAPSE OF THE INTERNET BUBBLE (2001–2002)

The Internet bubble burst in Boulder, just like it did everywhere else in the world. Suddenly, nothing worked, every company was having layoffs, stock prices of newly public companies were declining precipitously, and capital was nowhere to be found.

Because I invested all around the United States, 2001 was a particularly intense year for me. I was on planes from Monday to Thursday trying to help salvage some of the companies for which I was on the boards. I’d get home Thursday night and spend all day Friday running around Boulder working with my local companies. I’d crash on the weekends and repeat the cycle the following week. At the time, I was on about 25 boards, which, in hindsight, was an insane amount to be trying to handle. I saw Boulder occasionally, and when I did, it was always through the tired eyes of a person simply trying to survive.

Many companies that I was involved in shut their doors in 2001. My failure was a very visible one as layoffs occurred everywhere in my world. I remember working tirelessly to try to help companies get to a sustainable place, but although I was occasionally successful, I failed more often than I succeeded.

Typically, when I have a crappy day, I’ll go home, chill out with Amy and my dogs, and resolve to have a better day the next day. By June I realized that every day had been worse than the previous day. So I changed my perspective and decided to simply see what the world had to throw at ...