Review of Startup Communities by Tej Dhawan (Iowa)

Tej Dhawan wrote a great review of Startup Communities that is up on the Startup Iowa site. He delightfully titled the post Higgs Boson of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. I especially liked the following paragraph as it captured one of my goals:

My initial read was quick and the book fascinating.  It documented for me much of what I saw during a visit to Boulder this June when attending the Startup America Partnership regional summit.  As Brad documented the building blocks of the startup community he has built, nurtured and supported, I particularly thank him for not prescribing how the rest of us should build our communities.  He left the building to us, in our own ways, with our own strengths, and an offer to help in his own unique way.

Every startup community is unique. It would have been easy to write a book that was a 12 step guide to building a startup community. If I had simply done this, it would have been a shitty book that undermined the incredible diversity of both the entrepreneurs around the country (and the world) and the natural resources (physical, intellectual, and cultural) of the places they call home. I’m psyched that in early readings of the book guys like Tej caught that it’s up to them to figure out what works for their community, and that it will be different than what works for Boulder, or Silicon Valley, or New York. Learning from existing vibrant startup communities is key – trying to imitate them is foolish.

Tej – I look forward to seeing you in October at the Thinc Iowa 2012 event that I’m speaking at. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment on Startup Communities, as well as for all the effort you are putting into your startup community.