Feld Thoughts

JUNE 25, 2012

Last night Amy and I watched the first episode of Aaron Sorkin’s new TV show The Newsroom. It started out strong but by about 30 minutes in I said to Amy “this isn’t going to last for us – this is Sports Night, but less interesting.” By the end I realized Sorkin was simply following “The Formula” which many people, both creatives and professionals, fall into.

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Feld Thoughts

APRIL 2, 2012

I spend all of my working time in the domain of software, Internet, and entrepreneurship. Over the past few years I’ve gotten increasingly involved in a handful of political situations – local, state, and national – that directly impact companies either in the ecosystem I’m part of or that I’ve invested in. Many of these political situations stifle entrepreneurship, innovation, or opportunities for these companies.

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Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 13, 2012

I woke up this morning to a post from Fred Wilson titled The Academy For Software Engineering. In it Fred announced a new initiative in New York City called The Academy For Software Engineering. Fred, and his friend Mike Zamansky (a teacher at Stuyvesant High School) helped create this with the support of Mayor Bloomberg’s office and Fred and his wife Joanne are providing initial financial support for the project.

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Leadership New York City Software Engineering New York 130

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 7, 2012

Doing something for the first time is always fascinating for me. In an hour I’ll be starting the American River 50 Mile Endurance Run which will be the first ultramarathon I’ve ever run. Assuming that RunKeeper and my iPhone works (with it’s special magic Mophie juice pack), you can track me live on my RunKeeper account. I also imagine my wife Amy will be tweeting things out during the day.

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Hawaii Technical Review Partner Technology 129

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 31, 2012

I believe that science fiction is reality catching up to the future. Others say that science fact is the science fiction of the past. Regardless, the gap between science fact and science fiction is fascinating to me, especially as it applies to computers. My partners and I spend time at CES each year along with a bunch of the founders from different companies we’ve invested in due to our human computer interaction theme.

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Feld Thoughts

JULY 20, 2012

I’m on a Google Hangout today at 1pm Pacific time hosted by the EFF. I’ll be discussing the broken software patent system with Jason Schultz and Parker Higgins. I know this announcement is last minute – somehow the event eluded me and my calendar. Fortunately, due to the power of Twitter, I noticed that I was mentioned in a tweet about it.

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Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 17, 2012

Six weeks ago I saw a tweet about a new thing from Codecademy called Code Year. It promised to teach you how to code in 2012. I signed up right away and am now one of 396,103 people who have signed up as of this moment. Like a good MIT graduate, I’ve procrastinated. When I was an undergrad, I liked to say things like “I want to give all of my fellow students a four to six week handicap.” Yeah – I was the dude that blew off too many classes at the beginning of the semester

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Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 8, 2012

MakerBot is hiring a lot of folks but they have a two specific needs that are unique. If you fit the description, or know someone who does, please reach out to me or apply. 1. Software Engineer with a focus in Computational Geometry and Image Processing ( [link] applicantstack.com/x/detail/ a2m4ro97dz39 ). 2. Manufacturing Engineer to be a strong leader for our manufacturing teams ( [link] applicantstack.com/x/detail/ a2m4ro9s06i3 ).

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Engineer Software Hiring Software Engineering 122

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 4, 2012

This article ( Business Plans Are An Historical Artifact ) first appeared last week in the Wall Street Journal The Accelerators Column , which I’m contributing to on a regular basis. . In 1987 when I started my first company (Feld Technologies), I wrote a business plan for a course at MIT that I was in called 15.375: New Enterprises. The textbook for the course was Jeffry A.

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Business Plan Lean Cofounder Venture Capital 193

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 19, 2012

The first cycle of The Microsoft Accelerator , powered by TechStars , is in its final run up to demo day. The first program has focused on Kinect applications and has some super teams, such as Gestsure (they control operating rooms with motion control) and Ubi (they turn any surface into a touch screen.). Demo Day is in Seattle on June 28th. If you are an investor (angel or VC), send me an email and I’ll get you an invitation.

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Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 6, 2012

I spent two weeks without my iPhone. I was completely off the grid for the first week but then spent the second week online, on my MacBook Air and Kindle, but no iPhone. I got home on Sunday and have had my iPhone turned on the past few days. I’ve used it as a phone, but I’ve largely stayed off of the web, email, and twitter with it. Instead, I’m only done this when I’m in front of my computer.

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Feld Thoughts

JUNE 17, 2012

Brad Burnham ( Union Square Ventures ) and I were in Iceland a few weeks ago for the Startup Iceland event. Bala Kamallakharan organized the event and moderated the discussion (and was an amazing host.) We talk about the Boulder and New York startup communities, why we were hanging out Iceland, what we thought about Iceland as a startup community, how to “organize the future” (since the future doesn’t have a political lobby), innovators vs. incumbents, leaders and feeders, an

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Feld Thoughts

APRIL 25, 2012

Yesterday, President Obama was in Boulder. The guys at Orbotix showed up and got him to play around with a Sphero. Watch the video (it’s pretty awesome) and then I’ll tell you the story of how they made it happen. The short answer – always be ready to demo your product – you never know when the President (or a key customer) is nearby.

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Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 15, 2012

When I created Startup Revolution and began writing Startup Communities , I insisted with Wiley (my publisher) that the word be “startup” and not “start-up” or “start up” or even “StartUp” It took a while to (a) get everyone to agree to that and (b) expunge the efforts of the copy-editor to reintroduce some gross variant of “startup” but I finally got it done.

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Feld Thoughts

JULY 1, 2012

Are you “too busy.” When someone asks you how you are doing do you immediately respond with something like “I”m incredibly busy.” If the answer is yes, go read the amazing opinion piece in the NY Times by Tim Kreider titled The ‘Busy’ Trap. I’ll wait. I’ve spent the last month at my house in Keystone in Maker Mode.

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Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 25, 2012

There has been a cliche going around the last decade or so that goes “hope is not a strategy.” It inspired a book titled Hope Is Not a Strategy: The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale and is repeated often by VCs in boardrooms when they are confronted with companies that are flailing, especially when trying to reach their revenue goals. I’ve been guilty of saying it a few times although it always left a funny taste in my mouth and I didn’t know why until this morning when

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Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 22, 2012

I regularly get emails and have discussions with entrepreneurs who are on the receiving end of a software patent lawsuit. Many of these are young companies, often with little or no revenue. It’s total, completely madness. If you don’t believe me, read the latest rant from a young entrepreneur on the receiving end of a software patent lawsuit from a troll.

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Software Entrepreneur Mobile Revenue 174

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 4, 2012

I first heard the word “ grinfucker ” a decade or so ago from a close friend who was a former investment banker. He said, in response to a meeting we were in with a person who was very polite and charming “he’s such a grinfucker.” I loved the word and, as I found out later, it described the person perfectly. I had an encounter with someone on Friday that made me think to myself “that person is a grinfucker” and I vaguely remembered a post on the web from

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Feld Thoughts

JUNE 1, 2012

It’s June 1st. And that means it’s Life Dinner. On the first day of every month, Amy and I go out to dinner. It’s not “date night” (we have plenty of those). Instead, it’s a special celebration of being alive. It’s a chance to reflect on the last month and talk about what’s coming up in the next month.

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Iceland Hosting Restful Email 172

Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

Over the past two years I’ve been struggling mightily with the dynamics of “classical VC funded board of directors” and how these boards work. When I hear a VC say “I’m an active board member” it gives me the same nauseous feeling I get when someone says “I’m a value added investor.” I’ve been on some awesome boards, some terrible boards, and everything in between.

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Operations Management Email Startup 171

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 19, 2012

On Sunday I’ll be running the Detroit Marathon with a bunch of friends including my partner Jason Mendelson who is running his first marathon. Becky Cooper, our CFO, and Jill Spruiell (Jason’s EA) are also running their first marathon, as is Andrew Tschesnok, the CEO of Organic Motion. As this is my second marathon in my Random Act of Kindness series, Amy and I are again raising $10,000 for someone on GiveForward.

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Detroit Texas Matching Campaign 168

Feld Thoughts

JUNE 18, 2012

Ben Horowitz from Andreessen Horowitz has a beautiful post up titled The Struggle. He captures – in words – what many entrepreneurs, especially entrepreneurial CEOs go through. I’ve heard variants of it many times over the years and have experienced it myself in several companies where I’ve been the entrepreneur and many companies where I’ve been the investor.

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Feld Thoughts

MAY 9, 2012

When you support a family member in need, you’re doing the right thing. The community you are part of is counting on you, and fulfilling your obligation to them is part of being a member of that community. What happens, though, when you help someone you don’t know? What happens when one community deliberately seeks out someone who needs a leg up and attention and support and reaches out – with no possibility of reciprocity?

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San Antonio Montana Cofounder Community 167

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 29, 2012

On Friday I spent three hours at Tufts University meeting with Chris Rogers and a few of his colleagues at the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach. We had an awesome, wide ranging conversation about what they are doing, how the accelerator model could apply, and how education, especially around engineering and computer science needs to radically change, as well as some concrete suggestions about how to change it.

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Europe Boston Engineer Programming 166

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 11, 2012

Inspired by my friend @FAKEGRIMLOCK , I’ve launched a new self-published book with the gang at Hyperink. It’s titled Beyond The Blog: Brad Feld’s Burning Entrepreneur – How to Launch, Fund, and Set Your Start-Up On Fire! and available digitally on Amazon , Barnes & Noble , and Hyperink. For the next 48 hours, you can buy it for $2.99.

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Curation Entrepreneur Web Hiring 166

Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 5, 2012

On that same day the White House announced A New Front Door for Immigrant Entrepreneurs President Obama said that he was not supportive of the STEM Jobs Act of 2012. Infuriating. I’ve been working on making it easy for foreign entrepreneurs to get a visa to start a company in the US since September 2009 when I wrote the post The Founders Visa Movement.

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Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 22, 2012

Dark Side of the Moon is my favorite album of all time. When I was a sophomore in college, I had an early NAD CD player. I put Dark Side of the Moon on at the beginning of the fall semester, pressed repeat, then play, and listened. I’d turn the volume down occasionally but not very often; usually I turned it way up. At the end of the semester, I pressed the stop button and turned my CD player off and then flew home to Dallas for winter break.

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Dallas 164

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 31, 2012

Amy and I wrote a meaningful amount about entrepreneurs and depression in Startup Life. Since we finished the final draft a few weeks ago, I’ve given several talks where depression came up as I’ve woven my own experience with depression into the short (less than 15 minute) version of my story. I’ve received a surprising (to me) number of emails from people thanking me talking about it publicly, along with my discussion of the anxiety disorder (obsessive compulsive disorder) tha

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North Carolina Entrepreneur Kentucky Charlotte 163

Feld Thoughts

JULY 11, 2012

I saw an email from a CEO the other day. In it, he said “I” over and over again. There were numerous places where he referred to “my company”, “my team”, “my product”, and “my plan.” It bummed me out. I know the people on “his team” and they are working their asses off. The company is an awesome company and the CEO is a great leader.

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Partner Email Product Leadership 162

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 24, 2012

Marathon #23 is complete. On Sunday, I finished the Detroit Marathon in 4:41:39. The two smiling faces next to me in the picture are Matt Shobe, who I’ve now done three marathons with, and my running coach Gary Ditsch. They ran with me in Detroit and it was super helpful to have them. The most exciting thing for me about the Detroit Marathon was that my partner Jason Mendelson completed his first marathon!

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Detroit Slovenia Canada America 161

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 27, 2012

I’ve had my share of vomit moments – both in business and in life. It’s that moment where a specific thing happens that causes you to want to run into the bathroom and vomit, which you sometimes actually do. Some of my memorable vomit moments including the night that I asked my first wife if she was having an affair and she nonchalantly said “yes.” Or when I woke up at 4am in the morning and realized Feld Technologies would be out of money in two days if I didn̵

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Denver Colorado Acquisition Naming 160

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

It’s hard to describe the satisfaction of “shipping” your product. I know many of you out there have done it many times and I expect you know what I’m talking about. Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City is officially shipping. The Kindle version is available immediately ; the physical copies are still on pre-order on Amazon but I know books are flowing.

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Community Startup Washington America 159

Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 12, 2012

If you’ve ever shipped anything, you understand the power of a deadline. It’s incredibly helpful to me as an investor to also be a maker, as I get to experience the same pressure many of the people I’m investing in feel, as I try to weave the creation – in my case of books – into a very busy life. Blending the creative / maker experience with a very full manager experience is fascinating, hard, and very enlightening.

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Slovenia San Francisco New York Community 157

Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

A few weeks ago an entrepreneur of a fast growing consumer-oriented company told me that he has every new employee do customer support for two weeks. Their approach is they onboard the new person, given the a one week “get settled into your role / get up to speed on the company” period and then they spend weeks two and three full time in the customer support organization.

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Feld Thoughts

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

FAKEGRIMLOCK showed up recently at HBS to give a short lecture on Minimum Viable Personality. In Grimspeak, IT AWESOME. If you want more of FAKEGRIMLOCK, go check his post on my blog from a while ago – BE ON FIRE - which inspired my book Burning Entrepreneur - How to Launch, Fund, and Set Your Start-Up On Fire! Related articles. Here Secret @fakegrimlock Video About Minimum Viable Personality.

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Feld Thoughts

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

In December I wrote a post titled It’s Not About Having The Most Friends, It’s About Having The Best Friends. Since then I’ve been systematically modifying my social networking behavior and cleaning up my various social graphs. As a significant content generator in a variety of forms (blogs, books, tweets, videos) and a massive content consumer, I found that my historical approach of social network promiscuity wasn’t working well for me in terms of surfacing information.

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Feld Thoughts

DECEMBER 18, 2012

In the Startup Communities , I talk extensively about leaders and feeders. I assert than anyone in the startup community should be able to start / create / do anything that is helpful to the startup community. They don’t have to ask permission – there is no VP Activities in a startup community. I also talk about how the students are the precious and most valuable resource of a university.

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