I can’t motivate another person, but [I can] create a context in which they are motivated, and part of being a leader is to understand what motivates other people, most people struggle to understand how somebody else is motivated because they do it based on what motivates them.

Brad Feld

Categorized in : U.S.

Failure is sometimes the best option if you view the process of entrepreneurship as a lifelong journey.

journey views sometimes

Building a startup community is not a zero-sum game in which there are winners and losers: if everyone engages, they and the entire community can all be winners.

zero community games

It’s not about having a Silicon Valley attitude—it’s about having an entrepreneurial attitude. It’s about partnering with other organizations in and around your area. It’s about thinking big with entrepreneurs that sit next to you in your coworking space. It’s about collaborating with tech gurus, social media wizards and community leaders at cool business events. It’s the people that make a community an entrepreneurial one—not the location—and it’s up to you to contribute.

media attitude thinking

The quest for stability or homeostasis is silly. We should accept that we live on an incredibly dynamic planet in a rapidly changing environment, and do our best to have the most amazing experiences we can.

most-amazing environment silly

You can’t motivate people, you can only create a context in which... by Brad Feld

You can’t motivate people, you can only create a context in which people are motivated.

motivated people

Startups are transforming our society. Over the past 100 years, we've gone from an industrial era, where a hierarchical structure dominated business and society, to a post information era where the network is rapidly disrupting the hierarchy and transforming the way we work and live.

gone past years

The most challenging thing for a young entrepreneur is to think long-term. When you are 22 years old, it’s hard to think in 22-year increments since that’s as long as you’ve been alive. But it’s really important to view your life as an entrepreneur as a long journey that consists of many short-term cycles.

young-entrepreneurs journey thinking

I don't think enough people have accepted that the machines have already taken over. They are patiently waiting for us to catch up with them. Our world is now interdependent with the machines, and more entrepreneurs should be working on the symbiosis between the two entities.

taken people thinking

Once a quarter, Amy and I go off the grid and totally disconnect. It's totally doable and it will change your life.

amy changing-your-life balance

Make sure the thing you are working on is something you love. by Brad Feld

Make sure the thing you are working on is something you love.

something-you-love

I no longer really ever like to be pitched. Instead, I prefer to engage in a relationship as part of learning the other person.

persons

When everyone starts sounding the same, that's when you know the words and phrases have become clichés. Instead of speaking in clichés, I encourage people just to be themselves, let their passion burn brightly, and go work on things they love spending their time on.

passion people

The only thing that we know about financial predictions of start-ups is that 100 percent of them are wrong

fundraising predictions financial

Computer science needs to be part of the core curriculum - like algebra, biology, physics, or chemistry. We need all schools to teach it, not just 10%.

curriculum school needs

I dislike reading business books, although I skim a lot of them. by Brad Feld

I dislike reading business books, although I skim a lot of them.

dislike reading book

From pitch perspective, the more you wear your idea, the more it fits you and your comfortable with it, the easier it is for somebody like me to say tell me more.

fit perspective ideas

While I'm a venture capitalist who invests in early-stage tech companies, I often feel like a professional emailer and conference call maker. I try to spend most of my time doing whatever the companies we are investors in need me to do.

venture trying needs

I'm very comfortable in the U.S. and Europe, but I feel completely out of place in the rest of the world, mostly because I never spent time outside the U.S. and Europe until I was in my 30s.

feels europe world

The town is very progressive, it’s a highly educated population -- 30,000 people are affiliated with the University of Colorado and another 5,000 with government and research labs. When you smash together people in college, people with deep technical knowledge and a bunch of creative people doing art and music in a small physical area, crazy, amazing stuff happens.

us

I'm a strong believer that you can build great companies in time of both greed and fear. But you have to be paying attention and operating under the right assumptions. You don't have to believe history repeats itself, but you should accept that history rhymes.

you fear time history