boulder Archive

Entrepreneurs: Know What Game You're Playing

Wanted to highlight a post by Micah Baldwin-- one of my favorite people I met during my far-too-quick trip to Boulder. In it, he takes issue with my observations that Boulder entrepreneurs are the only ones on the planet that I've found who refuse to be self-promotional. And, further, my take that while charming, this isn't a luxury a startup can afford. Micah's comments definitely gave me pause. He makes a compelling case that self-promotion in the end doesn't really matter.

But at the end of the day he notes, "Boulder entrepreneurs don't have to be wild self promoters, because unlike Silicon Valley, there isn't a deafening amount of noise to battle through." That mindset is entirely my point! Boulder entrepreneurs design companies for Boulder, they don't look outside what Matt Galligan calls the "Boulder Bubble." If you at all have a good idea, there are competitors, and you do have to cut through the noise of them to reach your audience and paying customers, whether they are subscribers or advertisers. If you are outside the Valley, that is harder. That's why a company like FriendFeed seems to have so much traction, while in some metrics as Micah points out, it has just as much as his company Legit. (Although sheer page views aren't equal in value in and of themselves, but that's another discussion.)

But, more to the point is the issue of "success." I don't think FriendFeed would consider itself a success by Valley terms, but rather a work still in progress. At the end of his post, Micah says, "Boulder entrepreneurs are doing just fine in the success department." I agreed initially, as I met several entrepreneurs and companies I'd deem successful. But then I thought, well, it all depends on what you mean by "success."

This is the point I've made over and over again on this tour: Know what game you are playing. In the Valley, success at the venture level and serial entrepreneur level is creating a $1 billion company. You *do not* do that by nose-down-working-hard when your goal is to build a consumer brand. Media and consumer attention is your market share and you have to steal it the same way an Oracle sales rep will snatch a deal away from SAP.

If you want to build something of interest and sell it to a larger player for sub-$100 million, Micah is probably right. You probably don't have to play that game. Or, if you're like me, and building a business that can largely be a nice lifestyle, you probably don't have to either. But the key is knowing your game, and it's crucial when it comes to the Web because you don't need venture funding to build something of value. In fact, if you are not playing that game, funding could handicap you, as could-- to Micah's point-- wasting a lot of time yelling about how awesome you are.

To be clear, I am in no way dismissing anyone who isn't trying to build the next Google. I didn't take funding when I started working for myself, because I knew my game. I know what I am building long-term. I have a plan, and it would probably surprise a lot of people. And I think my company will be of great value. But it's a media business. It takes time. And I wanted to build it right, not on an artificial, high-growth time table. I don't think that makes me any less an "entrepreneur" than friends of mine whose companies are worth billions. We're just playing different games.

Now, in my case, I still think self-promotion is crucial. I have the luxury of knowing some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, and they've all stressed to me the importance of this. At the end of the day, you are your best evangelist and you can't count on anyone to do it for you. I would be insane not to take their advice.

So my question for any Boulder entrepreneurs reading this is: Which game are you playing? If it's to build the next Google, I doubt it'd hurt to step outside the bubble and your comfort zone.

Can't Buy Me Love....But You Sure Can Buy My Start-up

While we had Mr. Matt Galligan in front of us, we decided to fill him up with beer and then pump him for some information- namely, Social Thing's recent sale to AOL. Sarah adores AOL because it makes Yahoo look like a sexy young thing. However, all snark aside, a huge platform is still a huge platform. Or at least that's what an AOL sell-out (Matt) and a Yahoo sell-out (Sarah) discuss in this clip...

Pssst. Hello, It's Boulder Calling. Just Don't Tell Anyone.

OK. Boulder. What a roller coaster!

Let's set aside the lack of sleep, charmingly odd doll house we stayed in, and continuation of bizarre UGBT cab drivers for a minute. As I've said, it was our last stop on the whirlwind, and honestly career-changing, User Generated Book Tour.   I already had mixed feelings about it coming to a close, but I'll save all that for another post. And as we've detailed even more I was getting a less-than enthusiastic response to my impending arrival. Still, I knew there was something in Boulder. And I was right.

Here's the thing. Boulder has a ton to offer. The companies that presented at New Tech were pretty amazing, and the people we hung out with where smart, confident, collegial and surprisingly effortless to be around. They just, um, don't want anyone to know?

This is what puzzles me about Boulder. It's a very, very tight-knit community. While entrepreneurs from London, D.C., Memphis, Los Angeles and several other cities have complained that it is hard to develop a regular startup "crew" because the cities were so spread apart geographically, Boulder is only a cuddly 100,000 people or so. There are twice as many bikes as people, so either people have calves of steel or everyone is just a quick cycle away. The New Tech event itself was like a more earth-conscious, savvy version of a Town Hall meeting in Stars Hollow. There was something so genuine and non-poser about it. It was unlike another one I've seen.

But for whatever reason, there's a general desire to protect that unique vibe by fencing out everyone else. More on this in the next post, which features a point-counterpoint between Matt Galligan of Social Thing/AOL and me, so I won't belabor my thoughts now.

But while my gut still tells me that kind of thinking inherently limits companies in Boulder, I love that the scene is its own animal and it feels utterly different than any other stop on the tour. As I've written throughout the tour, the single most important thing is that cities play to their own strengths. In Boulder, a core strength is clearly this community, cooperative vibe. After all, one of the biggest entrepreneur success stories is Celestial Seasonings-- right down to the early days when town's folk helped the founder pick herbs from around the town to go in our teas. (Which I'm inhaling as I write, thanks to a nasty cold.)

I'll be interested to see what develops out of Boulder over the next few years. Hopefully, some new hot shot will actually return a Silicon Valley call...

Now to that dollhouse...this video was shot before our pleasant surprise of an evening, hence the apprehension. (and Olivia's hair in progress)