The second Feld-Weiser one-on-one covered “Feld on the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem,” where Foundry Group Managing Director Brad Feld discussed his experiences in Boston as a young entrepreneur and his views on what elements are necessary for a region to foster dynamic startup growth. This dialog, while part of a stand alone series, was a contributing event to CU’s first annual Entrepreneurship Week, which culminated in a free conference featuring Colorado Governor Bill Ritter and the finals of the CU New Venture Challenge business plan competition.
Feld moved to Boston in 1983 to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) after an upbringing in Dallas. He remembers the University as being “incredibly well organized around innovation,” although the 1980s were “well before anyone talked about entrepreneurship – it wasn’t part of the zeitgeist.” Feld, who received his BS and graduate degree from MIT, stayed in New England after graduation and sold his first company in 1993. Yet even with success Feld recalls, “I never completely felt like I fit in,” largely due to the lack of like-minded entrepreneurs within his peer group. The culture changed in the mid-nineties as the rise of the commercial internet produced a “plethora of companies…and [Boston] really grew aggressively from 1994 through the bubble.” While Feld followed his wife to Colorado in 1995, he carries opinions on why Boston – which in his mind had as much potential as northern California – never delivered in the same way as Silicon Valley post-bubble: “People either made a lot of money and disconnected… or the people got creamed and sort of disappeared and didn’t reengage…The whole ecosystem rarely stays connected.”
Feld’s views on a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem pivot upon the idea of perpetually renewed engagement from actors at every stage of the startup life cycle, from the “seed corn” first timers to the seasoned managers, as well as healthy interest from the wealthy veterans who might otherwise “build a house in Hawaii.” He believes “there is a cultural norm that’s necessary for the system to work,” a symbiotic benefit derived when the fresh, smart and hungry authenticity interact with the old[er], wise, and professionally traveled. While “most ideas from young, first time entrepreneurs are crappy,” “these people give experienced people a reason to participate long term, and you need first time entrepreneurs that value that.” Feld believes possessing an understanding of this cycle combined with a willingness to advance it signals a capacity for leadership that is vital for the ecosystem: “It’s not just the experienced people being leaders, but the inexperienced people being leaders and taking chances.”
Boulder, according to Feld, has come a long way since his arrival: “In 1995, the rap on Boulder was, a lot of good tech talent, no one wanted to work very hard, and no management talent.” While recognizing that assessment as a cliché, Feld considers the region to have created or attracted the missing professional elements required for a full throttle entrepreneurial community in the last fifteen years: “By 2003-4 you started to have these multi-time entrepreneurs plus all of these people from out of state that had come here, combined with a very broad software engineering talent …with a culture of people wanting to be collaborative and work together in a relatively small populace.” While the city is filled with “really smart people who I think are a little bit weird,” Boulder is “in a fantastic place today, and is possibly one of the best and most vibrant communities in the country” for developing an engaged and curious set of leaders to shepherd in the next generation of entrepreneurs. Critical to this has been David Cohen’s Techstars incubator, which has funneled successful innovators into a structured mentorship program.
After an hour of reflecting on myriad subjects, Feld took a step back and offered the audience some counsel on how to exist within the ecosystem: “Be leaders. Think about what you can do to continue to energize the community, whatever it is. Recognize that it might not be obvious what you’re going to get back on the front end of that, but as you engage it will start to pay off and if nothing else it will be a really satisfying thing.
Feld-Weiser One-on-One is hosted by Silicon Flatirons, an interdisciplinary center housed in the CU Boulder Law School. The next Feld-Weiser One-on-One will take place on Wednesday, June 10th, and focus on Brad’s thoughts on work/life balance. A video of the event can be found at Silicon Flatirons.
