There are short-term startup community goals and there are — and should be — long-term startup community goals and both of them require a resilient mindset. Many of us put our heads down under the “get stuff done now” mantra, and of course that has real value. But, as you begin to stitch together a series of events, an angel fund, and a destination space, there will be a natural plateau that occurs when it seems like progress has stalled. Just like scaling a company, startup communities have natural peaks and plateaus as well. How you manage through those plateaus determines the resiliency of your startup community. Building a level of resilience to muster through the plateaus, and the inevitable valleys as well, is the key to your long-term success. In the upcoming book The Startup Community Way by Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway, we talk about a startup community or entrepreneurial ecosystem as being a system. As you begin to understand the characteristics of a system, one thing becomes quite clear: good systems are resilient. Applying Lessons from Psychology to Community Resilience is mostly a trait attached to a person rather than a community, however, we can borrow from …
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Entrepreneurial ecosystems are made up of people, and the success of every entrepreneurial ecosystem depends on the level of people’s connectivity to each other. That is the fundamental principle at the core of our Ecosystem Development practice at Techstars. But why is connectivity so important in the first place? And what does connectivity look like in this age of social distancing? The entrepreneurial journey is a twisting, roller coaster ride, complete with the hard work of chugging your way to the top of some milestone only to quickly come hurtling down to a valley of uncertainty, anxiety, and a queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. Sounds like every day in our households today re: COVID. The work to build our communities does not stop. There really is no real pause button. So what do you do as a community builder? The parallels to the founders we all support are strong. And so are the ideas on how we keep building our entrepreneurial ecosystems. Reach Out – – This is a crucial time to reach out and spend a few minutes with your local investors, program operators, co-working spaces, and economic development enthusiasts. Your agenda is simple — just ask …
Forgive me. I have listened to so many bad pitches over my years that I may have become a bit jaded. Well, maybe jaded may be too strong, what I really want to do is poke a little fun with the intent of using humor to make a very important point. Every one of us sometimes slips into one of these bad pitch personalities. Your pitch presentation is often the first impression that an investor, partner, future employee gets of you and the business. Don’t screw it up! Each of these bad pitch personalities highlight an approach that creates a negative impression. So which one are you? The Dreamer — The idea is so big and so perfect that no data is needed to support the thesis. Slides have big numbers and phrases that support megatrends. Finding any semblance of traction is fruitless. It’s all fluff and no meat. There is no reason for any investor to follow up. The Rookie — This pitch personality decides to change the basic pitch format that has been used for years (Hook-Problem-Solution-Traction-Market-Team-Ask, not in that particular order per se). Listeners are left wanting some answers and some idea of where this company is …
