Disqus - Latest Comments for bfeld

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sun, 20 May 2012 20:57:11 -0000

Yes

Re: Do More Faster Top 12 Tips At RailsConf 2012

bfeld — Sun, 20 May 2012 20:41:21 -0000

That's not what he meant - he means it as a "signal" - specifically, where developers CHOOSE TO WORK is a powerful signal for investors.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sun, 20 May 2012 20:40:51 -0000

Nope - absolute number of entrepreneurs isn't nearly as important as total # people working for startups in the same geography.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sun, 20 May 2012 20:40:20 -0000

It's a different measure but also interesting.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:07:04 -0000

I think they will happily co-exist. I remember very well go to Kinko's to get copies and laser printed stuff even after I had a copier and a laser printer on my desktop.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 17:06:02 -0000

I know you meant it as a compliment. Boulder welcomes you any time.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:47:18 -0000

I think there are many places in the world people want to live. I strongly assert that you should find the place you want to live and then build your life around it.

When we came to Boulder, we didn't know anyone but we wanted to move her because of (a) physical beauty, (b) middle of the country, (c) mountains. Six months in we realized this would be home forever.

I know plenty of people who love to live in Minnesota. They would have a different set of reasons, but they'd be there.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:43:10 -0000

Disagree that "only those with a definitively artistic talent can truly make custom 3D shapes appear on the screen from an idea in their head". Rather than argue, let's check back in five years when the software has evolved. Plus, there are rapidly becoming large databases of 3D objects (similar to fonts, styles, etc.) - see http://www.thingiverse.com/ and amazing new products like TinkerCad - see https://tinkercad.com/. Plus, imagine when your iPhone is a real time 3D scanner.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:26:01 -0000

Bwahahahahaha.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:21:20 -0000

Awesome - my pleasure.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:20:50 -0000

Your assertion that anyone can sit down at Word and create whatever printed document they want with no experience was most definitely not true in 1984. I remember very clearly fighting with Final Word to get the formatting just right for a simple document my dad wanted - I was doing it because he had tried and struggled and failed.

Software will evolve very rapidly now that the hardware is here.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:16:40 -0000

Boulder does a great job of this although I encourage you to come visit and see the actual market share which I think will blow your mind.

Cross community is where it becomes really powerful - think Techstars across Boulder, Boston, NY, and Seattle.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 15:15:05 -0000

Agreed!

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:17:18 -0000

I think everyone needs to print out plastic parts on a daily basis. Just look around you at the amazing amount of plastic in your life. Now, imagine if you could customize it.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:16:15 -0000

Hugely so. I think I left a comment down below somewhere about both physical and virtual communities. The short version is that with the demise of hierarchies and the emergence of networks, virtual communities are even more powerful.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:56:03 -0000

I don't know.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:46:11 -0000

Well - I'm two hours behind y'all AND was tired after the week so I slept in.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:40:28 -0000

Mark my words - in a decade we will have 3D printers on desktops everywhere just like we had laserprinters everywhere in the 1990s. The killer app hasn't yet emerged - but remember that Desktop Publishing didn't emerge until AFTER the Laserprinter started showing up on desktops. I got my first HP Laserjet (first generation) in 1984. We are in 1982 or 1983 of 3D printers.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:37:48 -0000

Cautionary, but part of the creative destruction that goes on. The old guard disappeared, there was an infertile time, and now the cycle starts again. There are awesome things going on in Portland (we are investors in Urban Airship and about to close a second investment there) and the new guard (many of whom are experienced entrepreneurs) are reinvigorating the place with a passion, without being constrained by the old guard who made a bunch of money but then didn't seem to reinvest in the next generation.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:35:54 -0000

I disagree that Boston is missing the boat. Boston / Cambridge is a few years behind NY but accelerating very rapidly. There is incredible entrepreneurial density in a few neighborhoods, including Kendall Square, the Innovation District, and the Leather District. You are starting to see the next generation of hugely successful software / Internet companies emerge and the entrepreneurs are actively playing into the community.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:34:34 -0000

In my upcoming book (Startup Communities) I write extensively about Startup "Neighborhoods". What you have in the Union Square area is a startup neighborhood. You've got this in DUMBO and a handful other spots in NYC. At them all up and you get the Startup Community of NYC, but the neighborhood is a key concept since it generates massive entrepreneurial density ((# entrepreneurs + # people working for startups) / total working population in a geography) which is what you are referring to.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:32:15 -0000

The network is rapidly displacing the hierarchy and with it the virtual displaces the physical. We've got a ways to go, but think about how our relationship works (very little physical, a lot virtual, very close and intimate, even though we are rarely together physically). I experience this even more profoundly as an introvert as I'd love to spend even more of my time physically alone but emotionally and intellectually connected.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:30:23 -0000

I'm not sure the timelines are "shrinking" - I'd assert they are unpredictable (or non-predictable).

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:28:03 -0000

Humans generally don't understand exponential curves. If you take a short enough time period everything looks linear and that's how most people view what's going on right now and what is going on in the forceable future. But almost all innovation curves are exponential until they break, so the behavior as you accelerate is mindblowing - for a while - and then mindblowing again in a different way.

Re: The Darwinian Evolution of Startup Hubs

bfeld — Sat, 19 May 2012 13:26:32 -0000

Absolutely. The arc and involvement of people would have been very different if it had stayed in Boston. I have no idea what the success dynamics would have been, but the people involved would have been radically different ones.