Facade Over Foundation
Why Do We Want More Startups?
I’ve never gotten a good answer to that question. Is it because people believe startups drive innovation? Is it because the successful ones create jobs? Is it because people are happier working at them? Most of the time it seems that we (meaning cities, regions, countries, universities, communities…) want more startups because it seems others do too.
It’s a metric on which we are judged. But I don’t know that it is a good one.
When it comes to the question of trying to duplicate tech hub success around the world, the most common first movements are to copy the facade, but not the foundation, of entrepreneurship.
More Events
When you copy the facade, you do the things that are noticeably associated with success. Associated, meaning connected to — but not necessarily producing — that success. While I’ve been ranting against generic startup events for years now (I call them startup entertainment), events are still the most common of these facades. The most popular and easiest to produce are still the pitch events. But, when we think about the value that these events often provide — getting startup people together to compete in a contest where they are judged by people who don’t understand their work (judges have had a only few minutes to get to know the startups) and in front of an audience of people who are not their customers — this is clearly a poor way to choose good companies. Anecdotally, I believe that this is true because the only pitch event I ever competed in (years ago in my first startup) we won. And I can tell you that we did not have a great business. We had to totally change the business in the months following the pitch event as we started to learn from our customers. However, I was the best presenter that day and that is what matters in an event. I have also seen judges “fooled” into awarding the better presenters, rather than the better businesses in events like these. After all, it’s a pitch competition, not a business competition. That’s facade over foundation.
When you build foundation instead of facade, you don’t worry about looking like a tech hub and think of other things. For example, you might work on how you can support university students who are developing skills that would fuel their work (entrepreneurial thinking, programming, design, business, marketing and more) as they explore entrepreneurial options. You help take people who have the beginning of a startup and match them with potential customers. These are examples of activities that probably do not generate much attention or buzz by themselves. And that is just fine, if you make a difference in the quality of learning and future prospects, then the entire tech community gains.
You also probably stop focusing on the words “startup” and “tech” and realize that you should just support businesspeople.
Find Local Heroes
Related to this is the question of playing to local strengths for tech hubs. These are often the strengths (such as manufacturing, finance, design, etc.) that specific locations have gained in their economic history. If you look at early stage startups, it often seems that there is no consideration to capitalize on these local strengths. In fact, I have often been surprised at how similar startups in very different markets can be. These similarities often have a good reason. One is that very early-stage startup founders have not been around long enough to have expertise in a local strength or to know others who do. Instead, they view the world though a startup culture lens and think of “building startups” rather than solving specific problems for their local customers. Another reason is that startup people often look to similar content as a taste-making guide. Another easy suggestion for you: don’t spend too much time reading tech news. Instead, read the news your customers read.
When it comes to local strengths, every location has people who deeply understand the local situation, have built successful businesses and who, I believe, can be persuaded to guide the next generation of entrepreneurs. I often call these people “local heroes.” These local heroes can do much more for any location than a startup celebrity who briefly visits and who does not fully understand conditions on the ground. My suggestion is to cultivate your local heroes rather than trying to attract startup celebrities. The local heroes have an interest in making your community strong. I look suspiciously at anyone who prefers to hear a celebrity speak. It you’re really that curious, you can hear them give 10 different versions of the same talk on Youtube.
I hope that these suggestions help as you build your own startup — or business — community.