Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

THE IMPORTANCE OF BOTH LEADERS AND FEEDERS

Startup communities need both leaders and feeders. The problem comes when the feeders try to lead or when there is an absence of leaders.

If the startup community has a culture of inclusiveness, it will constantly have entrepreneurs step up into leadership positions. The existing leaders need to be welcoming of these new leaders or else the startup community will have the “patriarch problem,” which I’ll describe later. The entrepreneurial leaders also need to be inclusive of any feeders who want to participate.

It’s hard to separate interest from action. Because building a startup community is a long-term commitment, leaders can easily engage new leaders and feeders by giving them assignments. These assignments can be simple at first, but by giving people tangible things to do, you quickly separate people who are willing to engage from those who merely are looking to network or simply get something from the startup community. Always remember the mindset of “give before you get,” and challenge anyone who wants to engage in the startup community to demonstrate this with their actions.

Finally, every startup community needs cheerleaders. These cheerleaders are both the leaders and the feeders, because everyone in the community should be proud of what they are doing and shout it from the rooftops. This cheerleading can be via a community web site, such as what exists in Washington, DC (http://startuprev.com/b0), Chicago (http://startuprev.com/j0 ...