by Chris Heivly | Jul 9, 2026 | Community
There is a weird little trap sitting right in the middle of startup community building. The people who most want to do the work often can’t afford to do it. The people who are paid to do the work often have a boss, a board, a funding requirement, a city council, a...
by Chris Heivly | Jun 25, 2026 | Community
If you lead a startup community or operate an ESO, you are going to run into three types of people. Understanding this dynamic is necessary for you to achieve your goals and generate community success. The first group is the easy group. I call these the willing. They...
by Chris Heivly | Jun 4, 2026 | Community
We talk a lot about builder burnout, especially around Mental Health Month (May of each year). Founders get tired. They run too hard for too long. They raise money, miss payroll, chase customers, lose sleep, pivot twice, and pretend on LinkedIn that they are “crushing...
by Chris Heivly | May 28, 2026 | Community
We just wrapped up our 5th Raleigh Durham Startup Week. And when I say “we,” I mean me and 41 of my best friends who somehow decided that the highest and best use of their time was to help pull together a week-long startup circus for the area. And I mean circus in the...
by Chris Heivly | May 18, 2026 | Community, Founder Tips
The unknown is almost always bigger and nastier in our minds than it is in real life. That’s just how we are wired. When we can’t see around the corner, our brain fills in the blanks. And rarely does it fill those blanks with calm, rational, “this will be fine”...
by Chris Heivly | May 7, 2026 | Community
Every once in a while, I hear a phrase from someone working inside an Entrepreneurial Support Organization that makes me twitch a little. “My founders.” As in, “I need to check in on my founders,” or “My founders are really struggling with fundraising,” or “We had 40...
