Techstars

5 Questions with Ian Hathaway, co-author of The Startup Community Way

01. What is “The Startup Community Way”?

The Startup Community Way is a book I co-authored with Techstars cofounder Brad Feld. It’s a collection of frameworks, principles, and action points that guide and inform practitioners and observers about the key characteristics, behavioral patterns, and basic function of startup communities and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Our thinking is supported by the science of complex adaptive systems, which explains the behavior of inherently unpredictable, emergent phenomena. We apply insights from systems thinking and community-building across many contexts to enable better engagement and more productive outcomes for entrepreneurs.

How to Build a Successful Startup Ecosystem in your City

Techstars recently launched a Startup Ecosystem Development offering, which is designed to work alongside of communities around the world to help them build a more vibrant environment for entrepreneurship. The program has been in an R&D/beta-launch phase the last couple years, but the first official program will take place in Buffalo, New York over the next three years.

Yesterday, to introduce the program and answer questions about what they’re up to, Chris Heivly (who leads Ecosystem Development at Techstars), Brad Feld (author of Startup Communities and a Techstars co-Founder), and Eric Reich (chairman of 43 North, the startup support organization in Buffalo that is partnering with Techstars to lead the effort) participated in an hour-long segment on Crowdcast.

I embed the event below and encourage anyone interested in the topic to give it a listen—it’s definitely worth your hour and is full of wisdom and insights from these three.