Episode #145: Brad Feld on Corporate Innovation, Building Startup Ecosystems and Techstars Adelaide

Brad Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding venture capital firm Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars, the global startup accelerator program that has incubated over 1,000 startups since inception that have collectively raised US$3.3B.

In addition to his investing efforts, Brad has been active with several non-profit organizations. He currently is chair of the National Center for Women & Information Technology and on the boards of Path Forward, the Kauffman Fellows, and Defy Ventures.

Brad is a writer and speaker on the topics of venture capital investing and entrepreneurship. He's written a number of books as part of the Startup Revolution series and writes the blogs Feld Thoughts and Venture Deals.

Brad holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from MIT. Brad is also an art collector and long-distance runner. He has completed 24 marathons as part of his mission to finish a marathon in each of the 50 states.

Brad provided a wealth of knowledge in the 50 or so minutes of time he was gracious enough to invest, but there were so many more questions I wanted to ask him on a number of topics so I’ll try and tee up a follow up interview in a few months time.

In the interim, please enjoy what I hope will be part 1 of my interview with Brad Feld, recorded between 1 and 2am Melbourne time, so if I didn’t sound like I was 100% on top of my game, despite cranking out 100 pushups and downing an espresso before this interview, you now know why.

Nonetheless, Brad brought the value bombs so please enjoy, the one and only, Brad Feld!

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Topics Covered:

• Techstars Adelaide
• The Australian startup ecosystem
• What makes for a successful corporate accelerator
• The trend of large organisations paying massive premiums for startups to offset their corporate innovation woes
• Why being “the next Silicon Valley” does a disservice to Silicon Valley and the city making such bold proclamations
• Brad’s book, Venture Deals
• The #GiveFirst philosophy
• Depression in the startup ecosystem
• The digital Sabbath

Show Notes:

1. Feld Thoughts: Feld.com
2. Foundrygroup.com
3. Techstars.com
4. Twitter: @bfeld

Brad’s books on Amazon:

• Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist - https://amzn.to/2pdEESF
• Startup Boards: Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors - https://amzn.to/2xkAoV9
• Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City - https://amzn.to/2Mw1NJu
• Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup - https://amzn.to/2p8HqZw
• Startup Opportunities: Know When to Quit Your Day Job - https://amzn.to/2xlBhwZ
• Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur - https://amzn.to/2p9yEdF
• Brad Feld's Burning Entrepreneur - How to Launch, Fund, and Set Your Start-Up On Fire! - https://amzn.to/2OoiTup

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