Give First - a good lesson from Brad Feld and techstars
Brad Feld has had a huge influence on me and my entrepreneurial career. I first met Brad at a conference in 2008, where I was presenting Gist, our next-generation address book concept. I met him, and he immediately engaged with the product and started giving me feedback. We weren’t actively raising money at the time, but we maintained the relationship. I was rapidly shipping new features, and Brad was giving me rapid feedback. I’ll never forget waking up on Christmas morning in 2008 and seeing an email from Brad with thoughts on features and suggestions for improving Gist. That made a massive impact on me. He later went on to lead our Series A fundraising efforts, and ultimately, we were acquired by BlackBerry. I learned a great deal during that experience as a first-time CEO of a VC-funded company. Brad taught me that giving advice generously can make a huge difference.
After Gist was acquired, I joined Brad as a board member at Full Contact. I participated in many board meetings with him and witnessed his ability to give advice but through the lens of "stories" about other companies, leaders and situations. This was great learning for me.
Along the way, Brad introduced me to the techstars team. I spent time mentoring in Boulder during the 2009 and 2010 programs, and as we launched the Seattle program, I became very active there. Over time, I spent more time mentoring and providing advice across various Techstars programs. I learned a ton about the “give first” mentality during those experiences.
Brad has now written a new book called Give First, documenting many of the lessons learned over the years with techstars and the give-first mindset.
We’re hosting him in Seattle this week to share more of this knowledge with many of our companies and founders. I highly recommend reading the book and adopting this mentality. Everyone has something to share and can help other entrepreneurs and others move forward on their path simply by giving first.
You can learn more about Brad and find his great blog here!
Photos from a great day with Brad. We like walking and talking.
