Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

GIVE PEOPLE ASSIGNMENTS

People approach me on a daily basis and ask how they can get involved in the Boulder startup community. These requests come in many different forms and with various levels and amounts of background information. It’s impossible for me to spend the required time filtering out who is serious and who isn’t, so I’ve come up with a simple approach that I use both in dealing with these offers to get involved and with anyone else who wants to engage with me in something I’m involved with. My approach is to give the person an assignment.

The assignments are straightforward. I try to quickly think of something the person could do that would immediately be helpful. Often the actual assignment is trivial, but it does require that the person do something. These are always assignments that can be completed within an hour, and often within a few minutes, with minimal specific knowledge.

One of three things happens. Half the time I never hear from the person again. I view this as a blessing—the person wasn’t serious about helping or engaging and has self-selected out. Occasionally I’ll hear from these people again, but usually I never do. When I do hear from them again, I ask them about the assignment, especially if they once again ask to engage in some way. Sometimes they do it, but most of the time they go away again.

A quarter of the time the person does the assignment and reports back. This is useful, because I can now filter this person into the category of “a doer.” ...