Brad Feld is a veteran technical entrepreneur, an investor at an early stage and co -founder of TechStars, a risk fund and a start -up accelerator. He is also a fertile author. I asked him how writing helps to shape his ideas and what evokes his latest book “Give First”, which focuses on the value of mentoring.
Jean Gazis: What is the origin of the “Give First”?
Brad Feld: This idea was rattling in my head for more than ten years. In 2012, when I picked up the “starting communities”, I realized that one of the secrets of the success of Boulder Colorado was a philosophy I called “to give before you”. It’s a simple idea: being a will to help someone without a clear expectation of what is in it for you.
It was altruism; It was a bit effective, long -term way to create a healthy system. At about the same time, this ethos was deeply baked to Techstars, which we described as a “mentor accelerator”.
Then, in 2014, my friends in TechStars, led by David Cohen and Gregg Cochran, began to use the hashtag #givefirst on Twitter. It was cleaner, sticky and captured the essence of the idea. At that time I knew he deserved his own book.
Gazists: Give us examples of how you benefited from your first thinking?
Brad Feld
Feld: My example is the story of the origin of Techstars. I held “random days” where someone could book a 15 -minute meeting with me. It was an attempt to be open and accessible without the destruction of my calendar.
So I gave David Cohen. In 2006 he was preparing a brochure for the mentor and investment program for startups.
I loved the idea. Ten minutes after our 15 -minute slot I have already committed myself to invest, and I got to my friend Jared Polis, then an entrepreneur and now Governor Colorado, who agreed to join us on the spot. This unplanned gift of time and capital has turned into TechStars, which has since funded over 4,000 companies. There was no way to predict this return.
Another is the development of a pledge of 1%. This idea began when Ryan Martens of Rally Software, a website development platform, and I co -founded the 2007 Colorado entrepreneurs foundation based on 1% of Salesforce, where the founders committed 1% of capital, technology and employees into a better world.
The promise of 1% generated almost $ 3 billion for communities around the world and created a powerful network of founders to help each other. The financial return was for the community, but the revenues from the network and relationships were immense.
Gazists: What is your goal “give the first” book?
Feld: I hope that readers enforce transaction thinking. We live in “What is this for me?” World. “Give First” is another philosophy. It’s not about being a martyr or working for free. It is about bringing energy into relationships or system without defining the parameters of the return forward. You still expect to get something back, but you don’t know when, from whom or in what form.
The result is a positive long -term game. The following knowledge, trust and opportunities are often much greater than anything you could write by accessing quo-quo. My goal is for people to see that it is a powerful and sustainable way to build a career, company and community.
Gazists: Why do you write books? Will they notice in our digital world?
Feld: Absolutely. In the age of endless distraction, the book is an anchor. It is a technology for focus, deep thinking that tweet, post or podcast cannot replicate. Writing long forms forces both writers and readers to slow down and struggle with nuance. The book is a durable artifact. In the world of fleeting digital content, the 250 -page story about a signal with which it is worth spending time is well argued.
Writing tuning my own thinking. I have ideas and stories that circle from decades of investment and mentoring. The process of putting them in a cohesive narrative forces me to clarify what I believe. This is how I find a noise signal.
The second reason is a scale. I can only mentor so many founders one one. The book allows me to share lessons – and scars tissue – with anyone anywhere. I explored the philosophy of Givest on my blog and practical in Techstars for 15 years. Putting everything into the book makes it available to anyone.
Gazists: You wrote about mentoring in business. Do you have a mentor?
Feld: Len Fassler was my most important mentor in business and life. I gave him “give the first”. He taught me how to behave in business relationships and how to show up for people, which is strange when things are difficult. I will never forget that he will be in his house in 2001, a completely crushed Dot-Comm bust. Put his hands on his shoulders and said, “Suit. They can’t kill you and they can’t. We’ll go through it.” This is a story, not a table. It is always honest.
As far as writing, Adam Grant’s book “Give and Take” has provided a framework for ideas I have explored intuitively for years. And Dov Seidman’s book “How” stressed that our way to do things depends more than what they are. They both write with clarity and moral beliefs I seek for.
Gazists: What books do you read?
Feld: M and a greedy reader. My wife Amy and I took every quarter from the grid for a week and I used to use the book a day. This immersion is where I do some of my best thinking and patterns recognition.
My reading is everywhere and watching every book on GoodDReads. My endless pile of books has a lot of fiction, biography, history, philosophy and some business, especially friends. I like to discover how different systems work, be it society, brain or fictitious universe. The variety is essential and feeds my curiosity, which is the fuel for all I do, including writing.
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