6 Things That Can Kill Your City's Startup Community

Not every tech startup enjoys the luxury of launching in Silicon Valley — or Silicon Alley, or Austin, Texas, or another high-tech hotspot.

What’s the solution?

Instead of waiting for someone to offer a helping hand, or packing up the U-Haul and moving across the counryy, try taking the entrepreneurial approach and turning your home town into a high-tech startup community.

Brad Feld author of Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City, says it can be done.

Feld, who has over 20 years of experience as both an entrepreneur and an early-stage investor, is a co-founder of tech accelerator TechStars and knows whereof he speaks. He bases his book on the lessons he’s learned from 20 years in the vibrant startup community of Boulder, Colorado.

Too often, though, cities trying to build high-tech startup communities make one or more key mistakes that keep their plans from reaching fruition. According to Feld, here are the six common problems that afflict — but don’t have to squelch — startup communities:

1. The Patriarch Problem: Is your city’s startup infrastructure ruled by “old white guys”? If your ability to get funding depends on who you know, where you went to school and where you’ve worked, your city might be suffering from the Patriarch Problem. If funding is based solely on what you do, congratulations - you’re in a vibrant startup community. Getting beyond the patriarch problem is tough (in the worst case, you’ve got to wait for people to die), but can be done if enough leaders of the startup community decide they’re going to ignore the patriarchs and just keep doing what they’re doing.

2. Capital Shortage: If you’re complaining about the shortage of local capital in your city, Feld’s got news for you: Entrepreneurs everywhere — yes, even in Silicon Valley — are complaining just as loudly about the same thing. “Let it go,” advises Feld. Instead, just keep doing what you’re doing, and if you do it well enough, you’ll attract capital from around the country.

3. We’re From The Government, We’re Here To Help: While Feld acknowledges that government can provide some help in constructing and supporting startup communities, entrepreneurs who rely too heavily on government will go nowhere fast. “Government moves at a much slower pace than entrepreneurs,” Feld warns. Just keep doing what you’re doing — don’t wait for Uncle Sam.

4. Do I Know You? A startup community that’s suspicious of newcomers is likely to die on the vine. “In Boulder, when someone new shows up in town, the entrepreneurs swarm them… to make the person feel welcome,” Feld writes. In contrast, if your city makes newbies “earn their way into the hierarchy,” you’re basically creating your own Patriarch Problem.

5. Feeders Trying To Be Leaders: Feld identifies government, universities and venture capitalists as “feeders” who can help support an entrepreneurial ecosystem. The problem occurs when feeders try to be “leaders” and take charge of entrepreneurial growth. A successful entrepreneurial ecosystem must be led by entrepreneurs themselves, says Feld, who cautions that when feeders try to take charge of entrepreneurial growth, they typically slow it down with committees, initiatives and other photo ops that create a lot of noise but do nothing — essentially the antithesis of entrepreneurial behavior.

6. Risk Aversion: Are you afraid of putting your time and effort into growing your own startup community — especially when you’re busy creating your own startup, too? You can’t create a startup environment without taking risks, says Feld. His advice: Jump right in and try stuff, but always set a time limit. If your effort doesn’t work out in that time frame, try something else. Trying — and even failing — without fear is a hallmark of a vibrant startup community.

See a common thread here? “Just start doing stuff and keep doing it” is Feld's entrepreneurial mantra. Startup Communities clearly conveys the contagious sense of energy, enthusiasm and possibility that’s at the heart of the most successful startup communities.

What to Look for When Renting Office Space

Q: What should entrepreneurs look for when renting an office?

A: There’s much to consider, from hiring a real-estate broker to finding the right location to fine-tooth-combing through the lease.

Bill Armstrong, treasurer of the National Association of Realtors, who has toiled for 30 years in just about every aspect of commercial real estate, advises finding a broker who is experienced in commercial real estate and familiar with the pertinent geography.

“You have to interview, if you will, a broker, and have a sense of comfort with his competency,” Armstrong says. “I think you can meet with them and find out what they know in really short order.”

OK, time to find your office. First determine how much space is necessary for you to operate. Armstrong cautions: Be realistic. If you lease more space than your business requires, your monthly rent could consume an excessive chunk of your precious resources. If you’re a start-up, you’ll want to account for future growth. But how much? Be thrifty.

“Don’t take on more space than you need,” Armstrong says. “That’s critical.”

Once you’ve determined the square footage your business requires and homed in on a space to match, figure out whether the existing layout suits your needs. If it doesn’t, you may want to embark on what’s known as tenant improvement, or TI.

If your desired space requires extensive renovations, find out whether the landlord will contribute to those costs. “This is another big thing,” Armstrong says. “The entrepreneur needs to say, ‘What kind of help can I expect with respect to TI?’”

Armstrong says landlords generally are more willing to share TI costs when a tenant has agreed to a long-term lease. If you’ve signed on for only a year or two, you may be on your own.

About that lease – it’s a mighty important document. Be sure you know the meaning of every syllable. Armstrong says it’s imperative that the lease protects your interests. Consider hiring a real-estate lawyer to review it.

As you peruse the lease, Armstrong says, watch for costs beyond your per-square-foot rental price, such as utilities and common area maintenance (CAM) fees, which cover the expense to maintain the building – cleaning hallways and restrooms, removing snow, keeping up the landscaping. If you’re not sure whether the rental price covers CAM or utility costs, by all means, ask.

After all, the terms of your lease are just as important as your rent. “I may need, in a year or two years, to double my space,” Armstrong says. “I might want a one-year lease with a three-year option or a five-year option. If I need to grow, I need the ability to come out of there without a long-term commitment.”

Social Media Experts and Politics Clash in ‘SNL’ Skit

This year’s presidential election has been more about the battle between social media experts and pundits than the one between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney. While political pundits have tried to prove who will win the election, social media experts said they don’t need polls or stats to decode democracy, they just needed Facebook and Twitter.

And let’s be honest, the media loved it (yes, even Mashable).

But Seth Meyers and the rest of the Saturday Night Live team seemed to be the only ones who wanted us all to stop and take a really good look at those political analyses coming out of social media.

“Social media expert” Kourtney Barnes showed up on this week’s “Weekend Update” and said it best: “That’s the beauty of social media — everyone’s opinion is equal.”

She then compared an elegant statement made by David Brooks of The New York Times to the equally profound political statement, “Obama = poop” by a Facebook user.

Check out the clip above to see what other political gems of truth Saturday Night Live found on social media.

Who do you think got it right this election — social media experts or political pundits?