Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

LARGE COMPANIES

Large companies can play an important role in any startup community. However, there is often much confusion, from both entrepreneurs and the employees of the large companies, about what an effective set of activities is.

The two most powerful things large companies can do for the startup community are (1) provide a convening space and resources for local startups, and (2) create programs to encourage startups to build companies that enhance the large company’s ecosystem.

In Boulder, Google does an awesome job of providing its space for startups. It has a fun office in an old Circuit City building and has created an event space that comfortably holds 250 people. This space is free to any local gathering of entrepreneurs as long as they arrange it in advance with the folks at Google. It’s a generous offer, and it allows Boulder Google employees to easily engage with startup activity in Boulder that they are interested in, while creating goodwill for Google within the Boulder startup community.

On an international basis, Microsoft has created a program called Bizspark, which began five years ago by providing free Microsoft software to startups. It has expanded greatly since then, now including an accelerator program (run by TechStars), international publicity for “Bizspark startups,” free hosting infrastructure via Azure, and deep access to key Microsoft product groups for startups that are building technologies that enhance the Microsoft ecosystem.

Many large companies ...