Earlier today I had the opportunity to talk to a group of business leaders that were in town as part of the Cincinnati Leadership Exchange to learn about Atlanta and recent city initiatives. I was asked to talk about the Atlanta Tech Village and ways to grow a startup community. Of course, we had several lessons learned over the past 18 months.
Here are seven tips for startup community building:
- Don’t try to control all the startup community activities in town — let a thousand flowers bloom
- Bring the community together on a monthly basis for entrepreneurs to share progress on their startup with the greater community, and have no other agenda beyond building community (see the Atlanta Startup Village)
- Connect mid-to-large companies in the region with startups through curated meetings (the best form of funding for startups is helping them find customers)
- Focus entrepreneurs on building successful, sustainable businesses and not on raising money (too many people view raising money as the measure of success)
- Foster serendipitous interactions in the startup community through clusters of tech companies in different areas of town
- Support entrepreneurs with different programs based on the stage of the company (e.g. The 7 Figure Club)
- Incorporate mentors and community leaders that want to give back, but understand that the strongest startup communities are lead by entrepreneurs
Note that physical office building with startups isn’t necessary for community building, but physical proximity is critical. Startup community building is difficult and rewarding at the same time. Plan for a long journey and enjoy the ride.
What else? What are some other tips on startup community building?
David Cummings on Startups 
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