While working on the book Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City. I developed four principles, which I call The Boulder Thesis, that I believe are necessary for the development of a vibrant, long-term, sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem.
1. Entrepreneurs must lead the startup community.
2. The leaders must have a long-term commitment.
3. The startup community must be inclusive of anyone who wants to participate in it.
4. The startup community must have continual activities that engage the entire entrepreneurial stack.
The Kauffman Foundation has been an incredibly powerful influence on my thinking around Startup Communities. As the leading foundation in the world supporting entrepreneurship, they’ve been an incredible source of knowledge, resources, experience, and wisdom on the topic.
In addition, they are incredibly creative folks. They worked with me to put together a short video as part of the Kauffman Sketchbook series which I completely love. I think it does a fantastic job of explaining the Boulder Thesis.
Brad is one of the managing directors at Foundry Group, a venture capital firm that invests in early stage software / Internet companies throughout the United States. He is also the co-founder of TechStars, a mentor-driven accelerator, author of several books and blogs, and a marathon runner. Read more.
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