Founders, Startups & Communities.

Last week, I had the privilege to speak about the state of our startup community at Innovate Raleigh.  I have been a little quiet around here lately as I survey and observe startup communities around the world.  I thought I would share my thoughts here (without the actual slide deck) to create some more conversations. Good morning.  Thanks to Bridget and the rest of the INNOVATE RALEIGH team for inviting me here today. My name is Chris Heivly: I am a serial entrepreneur (co-founder of MapQuest) I am a long-time investor (corporate venture fund, co-founder of 2 micro VC funds, and an angel investor) I have been involved in startup community building for the last 9+ years What you should know about those three things is MQ was born in Lancaster, PA a city with 400k metro and 55k Amish The Corporate VC with 38% RIO focused on Internet companies was run out of Chicago The Community is Raleigh/Durham and is not Boston, NY or Silicon Valley Last year I joined Brad Feld of Startup Communities and Techstars to share with community leaders around the world, how great communities get built. Today I am going to share with you some of …