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<li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/02/'>February 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2011/01/'>January 2011</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/12/'>December 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/11/'>November 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/10/'>October 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/09/'>September 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/08/'>August 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/07/'>July 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/06/'>June 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/05/'>May 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/04/'>April 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/03/'>March 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/02/'>February 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2010/01/'>January 2010</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/12/'>December 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/11/'>November 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/10/'>October 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/09/'>September 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/08/'>August 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/07/'>July 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/06/'>June 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/05/'>May 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/04/'>April 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/03/'>March 2009</a></li> <li><a href='https://steveblank.com/2009/02/'>February 2009</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="pages-2" class="widget widget_pages"><h2 class="widgettitle">Other Stuff</h2> <ul> <li class="page_item page-item-2"><a href="https://steveblank.com/about/">About Steve</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-22"><a href="https://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/">Startup Tools</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-62"><a href="https://steveblank.com/secret-history/">Secret History</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-68"><a href="https://steveblank.com/books-for-startups/">Books for Startups</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-11025"><a href="https://steveblank.com/slides/">Slides/Videos</a></li> <li class="page_item page-item-25609"><a href="https://steveblank.com/raising-money/">Raising Money</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div>  <div class="narrowcolumnwrapper"><div class="narrowcolumn"> <div id="content" class="content"> <div class="post-12534 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-business-model-versus-business-plan category-customer-development category-lean-launchpad category-teaching" id="post-12534"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/30/10000-startups-startup-weekend-next/" rel="bookmark">10,000 Startups – Startup Weekend Next</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">October 30, 2012</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p>Today we are announcing the biggest entrepreneurial program ever launched – <a href="http://swnext.org" target="_blank">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a><i>. </i>A partnership of <a href="http://startupweekend.org" target="_blank">Startup Weekend</a>, <a href="http://www.s.co/">Startup America</a>, <a href="http://www.techstars.com/">TechStars</a> and <a href="http://www.udacity.com/">Udacity</a><i>, </i>Startup Weekend <em>Next</em> brings four weeks of amazing hands-on training learning to build your startup to cities around the world.<i> </i>Our goal– to inspire, educate and empower hundred’s of thousands of entrepreneurs and help create 10,000 startups.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/shake-the-world-swnext.jpg"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12561" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/30/10000-startups-startup-weekend-next/shake-the-world-swnext/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/shake-the-world-swnext.jpg?fit=1608%2C2100&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1608,2100" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Shake the World SWNext" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/shake-the-world-swnext.jpg?fit=230%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/shake-the-world-swnext.jpg?fit=468%2C611&ssl=1" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-12561" title="Shake the World SWNext" alt="" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/shake-the-world-swnext.jpg?resize=229%2C300" height="300" width="229" /></a></p> <p><b>The Lean LaunchPad</b> <b>Class<br /> </b>You may have read my <a href="http://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad/" target="_blank">previous posts</a> about the <a href="http://steveblank.com/2012/09/06/the-lean-launchpad-online/" target="_blank">Lean LaunchPad</a> entrepreneurship class. The class teaches founders how to dramatically reduce their failure rate through the combination of business model design, customer development and agile development using the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984999302/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwsteveblank-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0984999302" target="_blank">Startup Owners Manual</a>. Just a crazy idea two years ago, the class is now taught at <a href="http://steveblank.com/2010/12/07/the-lean-launchpad-%E2%80%93-teaching-entrepreneurship-as-a-management-science/" target="_blank">Stanford</a>, Berkeley, <a href="http://steveblank.com/2012/04/28/five-days-to-change-the-world-the-columbia-lean-launchpad-class/" target="_blank">Columbia</a>, Caltech, Princeton and for the <a href="http://steveblank.com/2012/03/26/the-national-science-foundation-innovation-corps-what-america-does-best/" target="_blank">National Science Foundation</a> at the University of Michigan and Georgia Tech.</p> <p>And in the thirty days since we’ve put the <a href="http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/ep245/CourseRev/1">Lean</a> <a href="http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/ep245/CourseRev/1">LaunchPad class <i><span style="text-decoration:underline;">online</span></i></a> at <a href="http://www.udacity.com/">Udacity</a> – <i>50,000 students</i> have been taking it.</p> <p>While the Lean LaunchPad <a href="http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/ep245/CourseRev/1">online</a> has received rave reviews (it’s being translated into Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese and Greek, and it’s being used as part of a “<a href="http://www.knewton.com/flipped-classroom/">flipped classroom</a>” in other entrepreneurship courses), it’s different than taking the class in person. It doesn’t require you to form a team, and there’s no immediate instructor feedback. More importantly, it makes no demands of you to stand and deliver your weekly customer development progress in front of your peers. In sum, it lacks the rigorous and collaborative hands-on experience that entrepreneurs get in our university classes.</p> <p>We thought long and hard about how we could take the Lean LaunchPad <a href="http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/ep245/CourseRev/1">Online</a> to the next level and deliver <i>the same level</i> of experiential instruction to tens and hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs around the world.</p> <p>The result – Startup Weekend <em>Next</em>.</p> <p><b>Hands-On in 100’s of Cities<br /> </b>Startup Weekend <em>Next</em> is a four-week version of the Lean LaunchPad class <i>with </i>hands-on instructors and mentors – and we will teach it in hundreds of cities around the world.</p> <p>I’m partnered with four great organizations to deliver the program. The class is organized, led and delivered by <a href="http://www.startupweekend.org./">Startup Weekend</a>, the global non-profit that teaches entrepreneurs how to launch a startup in 54 hours. They’ve hosted close to 800 Startup Weekend events in over 350 cities worldwide educating a staggering 57,000 entrepreneurs who’ve created over 5,000 startups. Today they are going to take Startup Weekend to the next level by organizing and teaching a four-week version of the Lean LaunchPad class as their <a href="http://swnext.org">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a> course<i>. </i>Their reach and scale means our goal of helping to create 10,000 startups is within our grasp.</p> <span class="embed-youtube" style="text-align:center; display: block;"><iframe class="youtube-player" width="468" height="264" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RmZuEn4wgCw?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen="true" style="border:0;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"></iframe></span> <p>(If you can’t see the video above click <a href="http://youtu.be/RmZuEn4wgCw" target="_blank">here</a>.)</p> <p>In addition, the leading experts in building entrepreneurial companies and regions, <a href="http://www.techstars.com/">TechStars</a> and <a href="http://www.s.co/">Startup America</a> are partnering with us in this endeavor.</p> <p>In the U.S, <a href="http://www.s.co/">Startup America</a> will leverage its network of 30 startup regions to engage entrepreneurial leaders throughout the country. And <a href="http://www.techstars.com/">TechStars</a> will use its broad and <a href="http://www.techstars.com/program/mentors/#featured" target="_blank">unparalleled network of mentors</a> (experienced entrepreneurs and investors) to coach the teams. And <a href="http://www.udacity.com/">Udacity</a> has put their awesome production resources behind the class and hosts the Lean LaunchPad online lectures. And we are looking for other partners worldwide to help make this successful.</p> <p>The first four-week <a href="http://swnext.org">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a> classes will start on Nov. 28 in more than 25 cities worldwide. The program expands to all of Startup Weekend’s 350 member communities in 2013 where it will be offered up to five times a year in each city.</p> <p>The cost of attending a <a href="http://swnext.org">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a> is ridiculously inexpensive. It doesn’t take equity and just has a small fee that varies by city ($140 to $299), to cover event operations and expenses.</p> <p><b>How it Works<br /> </b>We now know how to crack the entrepreneurial code by creating an <em>Entrepreneurship API </em>– a standard language for entrepreneurs. When you leave the class, you’ll know how to think about your startup in the now standard “language” of the <a href="http://www.udacity.com/view#Course/ep245/CourseRev/1/Unit/144005/Nugget/312001">business model canvas</a>. You’ll understand the <a href="http://www.udacity.com/view#Course/ep245/CourseRev/1/Unit/473001/Nugget/235004">customer development process</a> used to test those hypotheses and learn how to iterate or pivot when your hypotheses need to change. And you’ll learn about how to build a <a href="http://www.udacity.com/view#Course/ep245/CourseRev/1/Unit/473001/Nugget/376003">minimal viable product</a> to get feedback early and often from customers.</p> <p>Here’s how the four intense weeks in a <a href="http://swnext.org">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a> class works.</p> <ul> <li>You form a startup team (if you don’t have one, taking the <a href="http://startupweekend.org">54-hour Startup Weekend class</a> is a great a way to find one) and come into class with an initial idea</li> <li>Your team arrives with an initial Business Model Canvas. (Your pre-class reading is to watch the <a href="http://www.udacity.com/view#Course/ep245/CourseRev/1/Unit/144005/Nugget/261002">Lean LaunchPad initial lectures</a> on Udacity)</li> <li>You present your hypotheses and what you learned in front of your peers and coaches</li> <li>Your team gets live coaching and advice from <a href="http://swnext.org" target="_blank">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a> mentors.</li> <li>You’ll take the suggestions from the meeting, get out of the building and talk to ten plus customers per week.</li> <li>You’ll refine your business model by iterating or pivoting your product, your target customers, pricing, channels, partners, etc.</li> <li>Repeat for four weeks– all while working with volunteer mentor partners from Startup Weekend, <a href="http://www.s.co/">Startup America</a> and <a href="http://www.techstars.com/">TechStars</a> – serial entrepreneurs and seasoned startup investors – to see whether your business idea was truly a vision or simply a hallucination.</li> </ul> <p><b>The Big Idea – Incubators – Accelerators – and Something New<br /> </b>In the last decade <i>startup</i> <i>incubators</i> have become increasingly popular. These <i>incubators</i> which provides new startups with year-round physical office space, infrastructure and advice in exchange for a fee (often in equity.) <a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/incubators.jpg"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12544" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/30/10000-startups-startup-weekend-next/incubators/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/incubators.jpg?fit=683%2C914&ssl=1" data-orig-size="683,914" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Incubators" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/incubators.jpg?fit=224%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/incubators.jpg?fit=468%2C626&ssl=1" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-12544" title="Incubators" alt="" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/incubators.jpg?resize=112%2C150" height="150" width="112" /></a> They may be privately run but often are non-profit, attached to a university or in some locations a local government. There is no formal “start date” so there is a no fixed time for their stay. (For some incubators, entrepreneurs can stay as long as they want.) There is no curriculum and seldom any formal instructors or mentors. There is no guaranteed funding. Think of incubators as “shelter from the storm.”</p> <p>In contrast, the goal of an <i>accelerator </i>is not physical office space, it’s a fundable company. <a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/accelerators.jpg"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12542" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/30/10000-startups-startup-weekend-next/accelerators/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/accelerators.jpg?fit=1443%2C958&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1443,958" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Accelerators" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/accelerators.jpg?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/accelerators.jpg?fit=468%2C311&ssl=1" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-12542" title="Accelerators" alt="" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/accelerators.jpg?resize=150%2C99" height="99" width="150" /></a>Startups enter and leave as a cohort (starting and ending the program at the same time) in a program of a set length. While there is no formal curriculum, most offer weekly expert lectures, experienced mentors, coaching and introductions. Accelerators provide funding at the end of the program. Getting into an accelerator is more competitive than grad school.</p> <p><a href="http://swnext.org" target="_blank">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a> represents something new – a <i>pre-accelerator.</i></p> <p>Like an accelerator there is no physical office space, and startups enter and leave as a cohort in a program of a set length. But the key difference is that Startup Weekend Next engages you in a <a href="http://steveblank.com/2012/09/06/the-lean-launchpad-online/" target="_blank"><i>formal</i> <i>curriculum</i></a>. We believe we know what startups need to learn, and we focus on teaching you that. <a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/preaccelerator.jpg"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12545" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/30/10000-startups-startup-weekend-next/preaccelerator/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/preaccelerator.jpg?fit=1443%2C958&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1443,958" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="PreAccelerator" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/preaccelerator.jpg?fit=300%2C199&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/preaccelerator.jpg?fit=468%2C311&ssl=1" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-12545" title="PreAccelerator" alt="" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/preaccelerator.jpg?resize=300%2C199" height="199" width="300" /></a>Instead of guest lecturers, you get out of the building <i>and you learn by doing</i>. Like the best accelerators, you get experienced mentors, coaching and introductions. Unlike accelerators, there is no funding at the end of the program. But you leave knowing a lot more of what it takes to build a company beyond a PowerPoint deck for a VC presentation.</p> <p><b>Lessons Learned</b></p> <blockquote> <ul> <li><a href="http://swnext.org">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a> – four weeks in hundreds of cities</li> <li>Starts Nov 28<sup>th</sup></li> <li>You’ll learn about working with a team</li> <li>You’ll learn about the <a href="http://www.udacity.com/view#Course/ep245/CourseRev/1/Unit/144005/Nugget/312001">business model canvas</a>.</li> <li>You’ll understand the <a href="http://www.udacity.com/view#Course/ep245/CourseRev/1/Unit/473001/Nugget/235004">customer development process</a></li> <li>You’ll learn about how to build a <a href="http://www.udacity.com/view#Course/ep245/CourseRev/1/Unit/473001/Nugget/376003">minimal viable product</a></li> </ul> </blockquote> <p>If you have passion, an idea and a team, and you want to take advantage of the most advanced entrepreneurial training program, sign up at <a href="http://swnext.org">Startup Weekend <i>Next</i></a>…</p> <p>and wait until you see what we do next.<br /> Listen to the post here: Download the Podcast <a href="http://clearshore.net/page/3/" target="_blank">here</a></p> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/30/10000-startups-startup-weekend-next/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%2010%2C000%20Startups%20%20-%20Startup%20Weekend%20Next&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2012%2F10%2F30%2F10000-startups-startup-weekend-next%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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And I emphasize the value of a founding team with complementary skills sets – i.e. the <a href="http://steveblank.com/2011/12/13/the-startup-team/" target="_blank">hacker/hustler/designer</a> cofounder archetype for web/mobile apps. But <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jalter" target="_blank">Jessica Alter</a>, Cofounder & CEO of <a href="http://www.founderdating.com/" target="_blank">FounderDating</a>, pointed out that <strong>co</strong>founders did not mean two founders in the same room. She suggested that I was missing one of the key attributes of what makes successful startup teams powerful. She suggested that <em>how cofounders fight</em> was a key metric in predicting the success of a founding team. So I asked her to write a guest post.</p> <p>——————</p> <p>I think about [cofounding] teams a lot – an insane amount. And, not surprisingly, I frequently get asked what to look for or what to think about when starting the process of finding a cofounder – a true partner to start your next company with.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/keep-calm-and-fight-on.jpg"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12495" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/21/how-we-fight-cofounders-in-love-and-war/keep-calm-and-fight-on/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/keep-calm-and-fight-on.jpg?fit=689%2C997&ssl=1" data-orig-size="689,997" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Keep Calm and Fight On" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/keep-calm-and-fight-on.jpg?fit=207%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/keep-calm-and-fight-on.jpg?fit=468%2C677&ssl=1" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-12495" title="Keep Calm and Fight On" alt="" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/keep-calm-and-fight-on.jpg?resize=207%2C300" height="300" width="207" /></a></p> <p>Like second nature, I start to recite a list of important attributes: complimentary skill sets, common visions, the notion of not trying to make someone fall in love with your idea (because the idea will likely change and then where are you?). There are plenty more and they are important. But a few weeks ago after I sat on a panel about cofounders at Startup2Startup there was a small group dinner conversation to dig deeper on the topic. <a href="http://twitter.com/garrytan" target="_blank">Garry Tan</a> (Posterous, YC), in recounting his personal experience said, “success can cover up a lot.”</p> <p>And it clicked in my head – one of the key things to pay attention to in a search for a cofounder is <em>how you fight</em>.</p> <p><b>Taking Time<br /> </b>How you fight with your potential cofounder(s) matters for a lot of reasons, the simplest of which is that you have time to fight – meaning you’ve worked together long enough to hit disagreements or bumps. It’s one of the most common mistakes we see. I literally just received an email from someone (that I don’t know) asking to me to meet with them so that they can circumvent our regular process because, “I don’t feel like I have time for the regular FounderDating process.“ Quick advice to people that think finding a cofounder is a box to check and “don’t have time” – you won’t find someone and if you do the relationship is unlikely to last. You’re looking for an employee, not a partner.</p> <p>We tell all our <a href="http://www.founderdating.com" target="_blank">FounderDating</a> members that we’re a great starting point to connect with amazing people all with high intent to start something. But in order to figure out if you can work together you have to (wait for it…) <em>actually work together</em>. That could be starting a side-project, heading over to a <a href="http://startupweekend.org" target="_blank">Startup Weekend</a> or other hackathon, working full-time for a few months or some combination of those options. However you do it, <em>you need to build something together</em>. It doesn’t ultimately matter it if ends up being the right product, you will still have areas you disagree on throughout the process. Ask yourself: Have we had disagreements? If you haven’t, maybe you should consider a longer courtship period.</p> <p><b>Simulating Real-Life<br /> </b>Consider what real startup life is going to be like. For a long-time (longer than you plan) <em>things are not going to work</em> and you’ll have to figure out what to do – together. If you do eventually reach a point where the company is making real progress, you’re still going hit crazy challenges on a regular basis that you’ll have to navigate together. This pressure – which is compounded by the sound of the ticking clock if you took money – will up the stress levels and hence the propensity to disagree.</p> <p>If you don’t have at least a taste of what that’s going to be like, not only have you not done your homework, but also could be in for a rude awakening. So, let’s agree you’re going to fight. That, in and of itself, doesn’t mean anything. In fact, it’s quite healthy. What matters in real life is what are the fights like? Do they escalate rapidly or become knock down, drag outs? Can you recover quickly and keep moving? Entrepreneurship and early stage companies are about moving fast; if you’re caught in a disagreement for days at a time it means decisions are not being made and/or people are walking around feeling resentful. Either one will eventually lead to failure. Ask yourself: When we fight do we get over it quickly and respectfully?</p> <p><b>What Are You Fighting About?<br /> </b>Finally, and this is insanely important, <em>it matters what the fights are about</em>. Are you fighting about whether a button should be green or blue or are you fighting about whether or not you want to raise money?</p> <p><em>A lot of people approach finding cofounders as just a skill set need and believe once that box is checked, everything will be smooth sailing</em>. Complimentary skill sets are important and if you’re fighting about one functional area (e.g. design, product) it might be a sign you have too much skill set overlap. But if it were just about complimentary skill set matching it wouldn’t be very hard.</p> <p>What’s difficult is making sure you’re aligned on the softer side: Why do you want to build a company? What kind of company you want to build? What are your working styles? What are your values? What are your other priorities (family, etc.)? <a href="http://www.founderdating.com" target="_blank">We</a> don’t care if entrepreneurs want to build lifestyle businesses or go for IPOs, if they are tethered to their email or check out at 7pm – that’s a personal decision. But you better <em>make sure you’re on the same page as your potential cofounder about those topics</em>. These are the issues that break up relationships, not button colors.</p> <p>Ask yourself: What are we fighting about and why?</p> <p>Make no mistake; I’m not suggesting you should manufacture a fight. But every relationship has ups and downs, the ones that last are able to bounce back from the downs quickly and respectfully and be better for it. So give yourselves permission and time to fight and reflect on how you do it before you take the leap together.<br /> Listen to the post here: Download the Podcast <a href="http://clearshore.net/page/3/" target="_blank">here</a></p> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/21/how-we-fight-cofounders-in-love-and-war/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20How%20We%20Fight%20-%20Cofounders%20in%20Love%20and%20War&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2012%2F10%2F21%2Fhow-we-fight-cofounders-in-love-and-war%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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href="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/17/how-to-get-a-vc-meeting-the-flowchart/#comments">13 Comments »</a> </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-12315 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-corporate-govt-innovation category-teaching category-venture-capital" id="post-12315"> <h2><a href="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/08/startup-communities-regional-clusters/" rel="bookmark">Startup Communities – Building Regional Clusters</a></h2> <div class="postinfo"> Posted on <span class="postdate">October 8, 2012</span> by steve blank </div> <div class="entry"> <p>How to build regional entrepreneurial communities has just gotten it’s first “here’s how to do it” book. <a href="http://www.feld.com/wp/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brad Feld’s</a> new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118441540/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1118441540&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwsteveblank-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Startup Communities</a> joins the two other “must reads,” (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674753402?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwsteveblank-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0674753402" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Regional Advantage</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446541478/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0446541478&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwsteveblank-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Startup Nation</a>) and one “must view” (<a href="http://steveblank.com/secret-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Secret History of Silicon Valley</a>) for anyone trying to understand the components of a regional cluster.<a href="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/startup-communities.jpg"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" data-attachment-id="12314" data-permalink="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/08/startup-communities-regional-clusters/startup-communities/" data-orig-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/startup-communities.jpg?fit=313%2C467&ssl=1" data-orig-size="313,467" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":""}" data-image-title="Startup Communities" data-image-description="" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/startup-communities.jpg?fit=201%2C300&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/startup-communities.jpg?fit=313%2C467&ssl=1" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-12314" title="Startup Communities" src="https://i0.wp.com/steveblank.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/startup-communities.jpg?resize=172%2C257" alt="" width="172" height="257" /></a></p> <p>There’s probably no one more qualified to write this book then <a href="http://www.feld.com/wp/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brad Feld</a> (startup founder, co founder of two VC firms – Mobius and Foundry, and founder of TechStars.)</p> <p><strong>Leaders and Feeders<br /> </strong>Feld’s thesis is that unlike the common wisdom, it is <span style="text-decoration:underline;">entrepreneurs</span> that<em> lead</em> a startup community while everyone else <em>feeds </em>the community.</p> <p>Feld describes the characteristics of those who want to be regional Entrepreneurial<em> Leaders; </em>they need to be committed to their region for the long term (20+ years), the community and its leaders must be inclusive, play a non-zero sum game, be mentorship-driven and be comfortable experimenting and failing fast.</p> <p><em>Feeders</em> include the government, universities, investors, mentors, service providers and large companies. He points out that some of these, government, universities and investors think of themselves as the leaders and Feld’s thesis is that we’ve gotten it wrong for decades.</p> <p>This is a huge insight, a big idea and a fresh way to view and build a regional ecosystem in the 21st century. It may even be right.</p> <p><strong>Activities and Events<br /> </strong>One of the most surprising (to me) was the observation that a regional community must have continual <em>activities</em> and <em>events</em> to engage all participants. Using Boulder Colorado as an example, (Feld’s home town) this small entrepreneurial community runs <a href="http://bunkerofficehours.pbworks.com/w/browse/#view=ViewAllObjects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">office hours</a><em>,</em> <a href="http://www.bdnewtech.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boulder Denver Tech Meetup</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BoulderOpenCoffeeClub" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boulder Open Coffee Club</a>, <a href="http://igniteboulder.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ignite Boulder</a>, <a href="http://boulderbeta.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boulder Beta</a>, <a href="http://startupdigest.com/boulder/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boulder Startup Digest</a>, <a href="http://boulder.startupweekend.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Startup Weekend</a> events, <a href="http://cunvc.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CU New Venture Challenge</a>, <a href="http://boulderstartupweek.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Boulder Startup Week</a>, Young Entrepreneurs Organization and the <a href="http://efcolorado.org/wp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado</a>. For a city of 100,000 (in a metro area of just 300,000 people) the list of activities/events in Boulder takes your breath away. They are not run by the government or any single organization. These are all grassroots efforts by entrepreneurial leaders. These events are a good proxy for the health and depth of a startup community.</p> <p><strong>Incubators and Accelerators<br /> </strong>One of the best definitions in the book is when Feld articulates the difference between an <em>incubator</em> and an <em>accelerator.</em> An <em>incubator</em> provides year-round physical space, infrastructure and advice in exchange for a fee (often in equity.) They are typically non-profit, attached to a university (or in some locations a local government.) For some incubators, entrepreneurs can stay as long as they want. There is no guaranteed funding. In contrast, an <em>accelerator </em>has cohorts going through a program of a set length, with funding typically provided at the end.</p> <p>Feld describes <a href="http://www.techstars.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TechStars</a> (founded in 2006 with <a href="http://www.techstars.com/program/mentors/dcohen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Cohen</a>) as an example of how to build a regional <em>accelerator</em>. In contrast to other accelerators TechStars is <a href="http://www.techstars.com/program/mentors/#featured" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mentor-driven</a>, with a profound belief that entrepreneurs learn best from other entrepreneurs. It’s a <a href="http://www.techstars.com/program/schedule/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">90-day program with a clear beginning and end for each cohort</a>. TechStars selection criteria is to <em>first focus on <a href="http://apply.techstars.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">picking the right team</a></em> then the market. They invest $118,000 ($18k seed funding + $100K convertible note) in 10 teams per region.</p> <p><strong>Role of Universities<br /> </strong>To the entrepreneurial community <a href="http://stvp.stanford.edu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stanford</a> and MIT are held up as models for “outward-facing” research universities. They act as community catalysts, as a magnet for great entrepreneurial talent for the region, and as teachers and then a pipeline for talent back into the region. In addition their research offers a continual stream of new technologies to be commercialized.</p> <p>Feld’s observation is that that these schools are exceptions that are hard to duplicate. In most universities entrepreneurial engagement is not rewarded, there’s a lack of resources for entrepreneurial programs and cross-campus collaboration is not in the DNA of most universities.</p> <p>Rather than thinking of the local university as the leader, Feld posits a more effective approach is to use the local college or university as a resource and a feeder of entrepreneurial students to the local entrepreneurial community. He uses Colorado University’ Boulder as an example of of a regional university being as inclusive as possible with courses, programs and activities.</p> <p>Finally, he suggests engaging alumni for something other than fundraising – bringing back to the campus, having them mentor top students and celebrating their successes.</p> <p><strong>Role of Government<br /> </strong>Feld is not a big fan of top-down government driven clusters. He contrasts the disconnect between entrepreneurs and government. Entrepreneurs are painfully <em>self-aware</em> but governments are chronically not self-aware. This makes government leaders out of touch on how the dynamics of startups really work. Governments have a <em>top-down</em> command and control hierarchy, while entrepreneurs work in a <em>bottoms-up</em> networked world. Governments tend to focus on <em>macro metrics</em> of economic development policy while entrepreneurs talk about <em>lean, startups, people </em>and<em> product</em>. Entrepreneurs talk about <em>immediate action</em> while government conversations about <em>policy</em> do not have urgency. Startups aim for immediate impact, while governments want to control. Startup communities are networked and don’t lend themselves to a command and control system.</p> <p><strong>Community Culture<br /> </strong>Feld believes that the Community Culture, how individuals interact and behave to each other, is a key part of defining and entrepreneurial community. His list of cultural attributes is an integral part of Silicon Valley. <em>Give before you get</em>, (in the valley we call this the “<a href="http://steveblank.com/2011/09/15/the-pay-it-forward-culture/">pay it forward” culture</a>.) <em>Everyone is a mentor,</em> so <a href="http://steveblank.com/2011/04/19/mentors-coaches-and-teachers/">share your knowledge</a> and give back. <em>Embrace weirdness,</em> describes a community culture that accepts differences. (Starting post World War II the San Francisco bay area became a magnet for those wanting to embrace alternate lifestyles. For personal lifestyles people headed to San Francisco. For alternate business lifestyles they went 35 miles south to Silicon Valley.)</p> <p>I was surprised to note that the biggest cultural meme of Silicon Valley didn’t make his Community Culture chapter – <a href="http://westonludeke.com/2011/05/29/steve-blank-interview-by-business-insider/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failure equals experience</a>.</p> <p><strong>Broadening the Startup Community<br /> </strong>Feld closes by highlighting some of the issues faced by a startup community in Boulder. The one he calls <em>Parallel Universes</em> notes that there may be industry specific (biotech, clean tech etc.) startup communities sitting side-by-side and not interacting with each other.</p> <p>He then busts the myths clusters tell themselves; “lets be like Silicon Valley” and the “there’s not enough capital here.”</p> <p><strong>Quibbles<br /> </strong>There’s data that that seems to indicate a few of Feld’s claims about about the limited role of venture, universities and governments might be overly broad (but doesn’t diminish his observation that they’re feeders not leaders.) In addition, while Silicon Valley was a series of happy accidents, other national clusters have extracted its lessons and successfully engineered on top of those heuristics. And while I might have misread Feld’s premise about local venture capital, but it seems to be, “if there isn’t a robust venture capital in your region it’s because there isn’t a vibrant entrepreneurial community with great startups. As venture capital exists to service startup when great startups are built investors will show up.” Wow.</p> <p>Finally, local government top-down initiatives are not the only way governments can incentivize entrepreneurial efforts. Some like the <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/i-corps/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Science Foundation Innovation Corps</a> have had a <a href="http://steveblank.com/2012/03/26/the-national-science-foundation-innovation-corps-what-america-does-best/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">big bang</a> for little bucks.</p> <p><strong>Summary<br /> </strong>Entrepreneurship is rising in almost every major city and region around the world. I host at least one region a week at the ranch and each of these regions are looking for a roadmap. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118441540/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1118441540&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwsteveblank-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Startup Communities</a> is it. It’s a strategic, groundbreaking book and a major addition to what was missing in the discussion of how to build a regional cluster. I’m going to be quoting from it liberally, stealing from it often, and handing it out to my visitors.</p> <p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118441540/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1118441540&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwsteveblank-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Buy it</a>.</p> <p><strong>Lessons Learned</strong></p> <blockquote> <ul> <li>Entrepreneurs<em> lead</em> a startup community while everyone else <em>feeds </em>the community</li> <li><em>Feeders</em> include the government, universities, investors, mentors, service providers and large companies</li> <li>Continual <em>activities</em> and <em>events </em>are essential to engage all participants</li> <li>Top-down government-driven clusters are an oxymoron</li> <li>Building a regional <em>entrepreneurial culture</em> is critical</li> </ul> </blockquote> <p>Listen to the post here: Download the Podcast <a href="http://clearshore.net/page/4/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a></p> <div class="sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled"><div class="robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-official sd-sharing"><h3 class="sd-title">Share this:</h3><div class="sd-content"><ul><li class="share-print"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-print sd-button" href="https://steveblank.com/2012/10/08/startup-communities-regional-clusters/" target="_blank" title="Click to print" ><span>Print</span></a></li><li class="share-email"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-shared="" class="share-email sd-button" href="mailto:?subject=%5BShared%20Post%5D%20Startup%20Communities%20-%20Building%20Regional%20Clusters&body=https%3A%2F%2Fsteveblank.com%2F2012%2F10%2F08%2Fstartup-communities-regional-clusters%2F&share=email" target="_blank" title="Click to email a link to a friend" data-email-share-error-title="Do you have email set up?" data-email-share-error-text="If you're having problems sharing via email, you might not have email set up for your browser. 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class="linkcat"><h2>Customer Development</h2> <ul class='xoxo blogroll'> <li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/sblank" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Customer Development Methodology – slides</a></li> <li><a href="http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/search?q=%22customer+development%22" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Eric Ries on Customer Development</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/0976470705" rel="noopener" title="My book about Customer Development and more" target="_blank">Four Steps to the Epiphany – the book</a></li> <li><a href="http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2048" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Stanford Entrepreneurial Leadership Talks by Steve Blank</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/startuplessonslearned/lean-startup-presentation-to-maples-investments-by-steve-blank-and-eric-ries-presentation" rel="noopener" target="_blank">The Lean Startup by Eric Ries & Steve Blank – slides</a></li> 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