The Startup Community Way

CHAPTER THIRTEENLEADERSHIP IS KEY

Startup Community Way Principle

Entrepreneurs must lead the startup community. A startup community that is not led by entrepreneurs will not grow, thrive, or last.

The first principle of the Boulder Thesis is that entrepreneurs must lead the startup community. When I wrote that, I wasn't thinking about the idea of contagion in complex systems. As we worked through this book, we realized that contagion was an underlying reason for why entrepreneurs needed to lead the startup community.

When most people hear the word contagion, they have a negative response and think of the spread of something harmful, like disease or a financial crisis. As we send this book to the publisher for final revisions in April 2020, we and the rest of humanity are being painfully reminded of this reality as the COVID-19 coronavirus wreaks havoc on the world.

However, contagion can also be a powerful force to harness for good because it spreads positive behaviors and attitudes, too. In complex systems, ideas, behaviors, and information can spread quickly to a large number of people. This gets magnified in an era of connectivity. Healthy practices are adopted while harmful behaviors are reinforced. Individuals with stature or visibility magnify both good and bad behavior. Unfortunately, this works both ways. Sometimes it seems like bad ideas and behaviors can spread even more than helpful ones.

Increasing returns reinforces the useful elements of contagion. When ...