Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

by Brad Feld

In the first case, I encourage people to take more chances but give their effort time boundaries. Great entrepreneurs try lots of things that don’t end up working. If you have an idea or initiative that is interesting to you, just get started. If, after a few months, it isn’t going anywhere, you’ve lost interest in it, or you’re having trouble getting others to engage, take that as a signal that the initiative isn’t working in its current form. You then have two choices: change it or kill it. In either case, you are moving on to the next iteration of the idea. Rather than being concerned about wasting your time, make sure you learn something from what didn’t work. In the case of fear of rejection by other leaders in the startup community, let it go. The more people in the startup community who step up and try things, the more the startup community will be open to people trying things. If you have a patriarch problem in your community, just ignore the existing hierarchy. If your initiative doesn’t work, try another one. Build a reputation for trying stuff, collecting data, pivoting, and improving. Over time, that’s much more attractive and impactful than a reputation of being afraid to give it a shot. And it’s much better for the long-term health of the startup community.