Books

The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

After three eventful years, I’m excited to say that my new book—The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, with Brad Feld—is officially available to the public today! It’s my first book, so this is a new feeling. It’s hard to put into words how grateful I am for the experience. I learned so much in the process and developed a large number of meaningful relationships along the way that will last a lifetime. It wasn’t always fun; writing a book of this nature is really hard work. But it was worth it.

I believe that Brad and I have created something that will be useful to many people, not just in entrepreneurship and community-building, but far beyond. Our book is not the final say on the topic of startup communities; it’s the beginning of a conversation. There is more work to do and many other voices to hear from. Like with startup communities, the work is truly never finished. But, I believe we have provided a solid foundation from which many people can benefit and build upon for years to come. I’m proud of our work.

Then, All at Once

Last Sunday I hit send on my first book manuscript for review by the publisher. It’s been nearly three years in the making, full of twists and turns, a roundtrip Transatlantic move with my family, tens of thousands of discarded written words, and two hiatuses totaling twelve whole months in length. It’s been a long time coming and damn does it feel good to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

If you don’t know already, it’s a book on entrepreneurial ecosystems co-authored with Brad Feld. We use the concept of complex adaptive systems to explain the behavior of startup communities and entrepreneurial ecosystems. A defining characteristic of complex systems is a process known as emergence. This occurs when the “parts” of a system interact in a way that produces value in novel and unexpected ways. Nobody is in control and the ultimate outcome is difficult or impossible to predict in advance.