Brad Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over 30 years. He lives in Boulder, Colorado and Homer, Alaska with his wife and is on a quest to run a marathon in every state in the US. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars.

Brad holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brad is also a writer and speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship. He’s written a number of books as part of the Startup Revolution series and writes the blogs Feld Thoughts and Venture Deals.

About 'The Startup Community Way'

The Startup Community Way is an explanatory guide for startup communities. Rooted in the theory of complex systems, this book establishes the systemic properties of entrepreneurial ecosystems and explains why their complex nature leads people to make predictable mistakes. As complex systems, value creation occurs in startup communities primarily through the interaction of the parts—the people, organizations, resources, and conditions involved—not the parts themselves. This continual process of bottom-up interactions unfolds naturally, producing value in novel and unexpected ways. Through these complex, emergent processes, the whole becomes greater and substantially different than what the parts alone could produce.

Although we are living in a booming age for startups, we need to think about the future. When the boom times slow, what will happen to our startup communities, and how will we ensure that entrepreneurial success is still within reach for everyone? This book provides a framework for answering these questions, looking at startup communities as complex systems that—given the right resources and support—can help entrepreneurs succeed and benefit society as a whole.

If you have been involved in any way in building a startup community or entrepreneurial ecosystem in your city, The Startup Community Way is key to helping you understand the next phase of your journey.

This Showcase will be hosted by Erik Mitisek, a founder and co-chair of Denver Startup Week; and is sponsored & produced by MAPRagency.