Brad Feld on How to Create a Startup Community Anywhere in the World

2 min readJul 9, 2020

Coverage from the livestream on July 9, 2020, with Brad Feld and Lucy Sanders via Computer History Museum

Brad Feld joined a live stream today as part of The Startup Community Way by Computer History Museum (CHM). He was accompanied by moderator Lucy Sanders, CEO and Co-Founder of NCWIT.

Brad is well known for being the founder of TechStars, one of the earliest VC bloggers and coiner of the term “startup community.” For anyone from or in the Bay area, he’s considered Silicon Valley royalty.

More specifically on the blogging side, Brad is a pioneer in demystifying venture capital. Back in 2015, transparency was not a thing then, and there was a general lack of understanding of how venture capital worked.

As something that he ran into over and over again, this lead him to write a book called “Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist.”

For this particular livestream, the topic was around, you guessed it, startup communities. Brad shared many gems on what makes startup communities thrive, but there are 4 key points you missed if you didn’t watch.

What makes startup communities thrive?

1) Entrepreneurial communities must be led by entrepreneurs. Leaders have to be entrepreneurs! (video & read more)

2) Have a long-term view. You need a 20-year view continuously, like from today. (read more)

3) Be inclusive of anyone who wants to engage at any level. Open arms! (read more)

4) Have activities and events to engage in the act of entrepreneurship. Engage the whole stack! (read more)

Another key point Brad made is that a startup community can be anywhere there’s a big city and population. It isn’t something only relegated to the Bay Area, as powerful as that community is.

Be sure to check out the series of quotes captured by Computer History Museum staff on Twitter

via @ComputerHistory

Directory of Feld Startup Advice

If you’re interested in reading more of Brad’s thoughts, here’s a list of topics he covers that link directly to his blog articles:

Brad Feld on How to Create a Startup Community Anywhere in the World

What makes startup communities thrive?

Directory of Feld Startup Advice

Written by Ashley Huffman