Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

BE HONEST

A phrase my partners and I at Foundry Group have used for many years is “intellectual honesty.” Our goal, simply stated, is to not bullshit one another. Regardless of the emotions you feel about a particular issue, decision, or situation, being intellectually honest trumps everything. Sometimes you have to dig deep to do this, especially when the discussion is heated or there are different opinions, but if you take an approach of always expressing yourself honestly and recognizing that you could be wrong, you put yourself in a much simpler and more powerful position in life.

This applies strongly to the dynamics of a startup community. There will be many different perspectives, motivations, opinions, and agendas swirling around. Individuals respond to feedback differently: Some need a lot of praise and are extrinsically motivated; others, like me, are deeply intrinsically motivated and although we hear praise, it doesn’t really have much impact on us. Recognize that your startup community will cover a wide range of these behaviors.

Recently we held a Startup America Regional Summit in Boulder. In it, 120 people from 27 states descended on Boulder for two days to discuss how they were building startup communities throughout their states. This was the third Startup America Regional Summit as part of the Startup America Partnership (http://startuprev.com/n0) and it was an awesome experience. Afterwards, Christian Renaud, one of the principals behind Startup Iowa, wrote a ...