Brad Feld
Give First: The Power of Mentorship
ISBN: 978-1-64687-132-2
As many of you are familiar, I’m a big fan of Brad Feld’s writing. I’ve reviewed a number of his books over the years, and it forms the basis for a lot of the work I do in building my local startup community and the statewide entrepreneurial ecosystem. His book Startup Life was one of the first books I read at the beginning of my startup journey, recommended to me by a cofounder of a startup that has come and gone, and I was hooked. Since then, I’ve had the chance to listen to Brad talk at several different events throughout the Midwest and heard him on a few podcasts.
His latest book, Give First, reinforces the concept that forms the basis for everything he does, as well as the foundation for the Techstars accelerators and other programs, like Startup Weekend. This concept states that founders do good things for others with the expectation that something good will eventually be done for them. It might be goodness in return from the person helped, or it might be someone else through a chain of people. Unlike altruism, you expect good things to happen in return – it isn’t good work just for the sake of good work. It’s also different than “paying it forward,” which is much more transactional. Giving first forms the basis of goodwill that underpins startup communities, and why those who operate on a transactional basis don’t tend to last terribly long in the community.
Most of the book covers mentoring and the Techstars Mentor Manifesto, a list of 18 bullet points that guide the work of mentors who work with founders in the organization. The Techstars Mentor Manifesto was developed over several years as Techstars grew from one location in Boulder, Colorado, to several other tech hubs across the United States and then across the world. Mentors who work with Techstars companies are held to a high standard, and it was really interesting being able to peek behind the curtain regarding this aspect of their programming. As I mentor startup founders, I plan to integrate much of the material from this part of the book into what I do and what I have the rest of the Braintrust mentorship group do as they work with new and struggling founders at EntrePartners.
I also appreciated the section covering the limits of the Give First philosophy. While I promote the idea of Give First among the people with whom I work, there are organizations in the statewide entrepreneurial ecosystem who stray from these ideals. It makes working with them incredibly frustrating at times, as they occasionally lapse into a selfish mindset. Give First is not a one-way street – everyone must buy into the mindset in order for things to work properly. I also appreciated his candor regarding burnout – I’ve written a bit about this, and there have been times where I’ve had to say no to new projects because I feel overloaded or unappreciated. It’s refreshing to know that these feelings and situations occur even among the highest performers in the startup world.
Overall, 9/10, would highly recommend to startup founders looking to more deeply understand the concept of Give First and how it ties into building a functional startup community locally. Give First is not a difficult concept to learn, but it can be challenging to completely master. I’m glad that I had a chance to pick up this book at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress back in June and had a chance to briefly chat with Brad after his talk on the conference’s big stage. If you’re not familiar with the philosophy or are interested in building your local startup community, mindset is everything. Give First will help you understand that mindset.