Eric Ries wrote The Lean Startup in 2011 and changed how a generation of founders thought about building companies. He’s been an inspiration for me, especially around writing about entrepreneurship.

Eric has a new book coming out on May 26 called Incorruptible. The premise is one I think about a lot. The Lean Startup helps you build a valuable company. Incorruptible is about how and why to protect it, keeping a company mission-driven over the long term instead of letting it rot from the inside.

This rot is now everywhere, as described so clearly by Cory Doctorow in his book Enshitification.

On April 29 at 10am PT / 1pm ET, Eric and I are doing a fireside chat together. It’s virtual and free. Register here.

Last year I published Give First: The Power of Mentorship. It’s the long-form version of an idea I’ve been carrying around for fifteen years - that the best startup communities are built by people who put in more than they take out and don’t keep score.

The two books point at the same problem from different angles. Eric is asking how companies stay true to themselves. I’m asking how communities stay generous. Both are about resisting the pull toward extraction.

Register for free. I hope to see you there.

Give First is now available to pre-order in Audiobook format (it will be officially released on 12/2/26).

I’m the reader, so if you are an audiobook person, you’ll have to listen to me for a few hours. It was fun doing the recording (I’ve done the audio recording for two other books – Venture Deals (Jason and I alternated chapters) and Startup Life.

Give First Audiobook on Amazon
Give First Audiobook on Audible
Give First Audiobook on Apple
Other links via RBmedia

I love to experiment with new things. Some of the experiments work. Many don’t. When they work, I do more of them. When they don’t, I adjust my hypothesis and try a different experiment.

When I published The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, I ran an online community with it for a year (2020), which overlapped with COVID, so it was weird on multiple dimensions. The software I used was good, but it evolved into a “monetize your community” type of thing, which wasn’t my goal. I learned a lot from this experience (good and bad).

With the launch of Give First: The Power of Mentorship, I’ve decided to try something new that brings all the books, blog posts, startup advice, and conversations into one place. And, I’m trying two new experiments: 1) using AI in the community and 2) participating less while seeing if the community can evolve on its own, based on the AI, community members, and the content.

The new community has launched on Vinly and is called Brad Feld’s Online Book Club. It’s private and admission only. It’s for people who have read any of my books or my writing over the years and are interested in the ideas around them. It’s intended to be a safe community and will be moderated with a TOS. It’s not a “spend time with Brad” community. Instead, I want to see if AI is effective at engaging a community instead of just a person (e.g., me) since I don’t scale well across all the inputs coming at me anymore for a variety of reasons (nor do I want to as I approach 60).

My AI alter-ego is named Spike Feld. He knows all the content from my books and Feld.com. He’s available 24/7 to answer your questions and guide conversations. I’ll be popping in from time to time. Occasionally, I’ll jump into threads and reply to posts. Maybe I’ll host a video call. Who knows.

Kris and Peggy (the co-founders of Vinly), are new friends but long-time fans. They are helping me run the community. They’re here to keep the experience smooth, the conversations rich, and the connections meaningful. They built Vinly for niche communities around focused spaces like this one, where people can join thoughtful, low-noise conversations, discover others with shared interests, and build long-term relationships.

I’m excited about the idea of doing this around people who have read one or more of my nine books. This is a particularly interesting experiment for me as I’m playing around with some other ideas around books and writing these days.

To join, either click on the link for Brad Feld’s Online Book Club or use the following QR code.

We’ve got onboarding questions, smart pairings of people, warm intros, RSS feeds of my latest content, and more. It’s designed to feel like the community you’ve been wanting, not another distraction. And, of course, feedback is welcome as we try to evolve it quickly.

We’ve been supporters of the NVCA for many years. Two Foundry partners, Jaclyn Hester and Jason Mendelson, have served on the board at different periods. I was an early donor to Venture Forward, the NVCA’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

We unpack the disconnect between Washington, D.C., and the startup world. As part of this, we discuss why that gap poses a growing threat to innovation in the U.S.

Bobby tells some stories from the front lines of venture policy, illustrating how small regulatory changes can have significant consequences for emerging fund managers and founders. We cover the unintended impact of tax reform, upcoming anti-money laundering rules, and some hidden obstacles that could stall the next generation of startups.

We finish up with a discussion on mentorship, exploring how it can function within the venture community, both among VCs and startups.

I have enormous respect for Bobby and the work the NVCA does. Bobby, thank you for your leadership.

I’m on my way to Kansas City for the day to spend time with the Kauffman Foundation at the 1 Million Cups annual meeting, talking about Give First: The Power of Mentorship. My drive to the airport started off with an intimate conversation with a close friend who recently got a cancer diagnosis that compounds another serious health issue he’s been battling. Consequently, I’m in a pensive and reflective mode right now.

I’ve got a long history with the Kauffman Foundation, dating back to the early 1990s, along with many enduring friendships, including Jana Matthews and Lesa Mitchell, from my early time there. It’s an organization I have enormous respect for that has had an extraordinary impact on entrepreneurship throughtout the United States, so it’s always a pleasure to spend time there.

Ben McDougal facilated this event. When I was in Boulder in May, he came to town and we recorded a two and a half hour conversation at Coupe Studios for Episode 100 of his podcast You Don’t Need This Podcast. It was one of my first recorded podcasts around Give First: The Power of Mentorship and you can tell that I’m still working out how to talk about the book and some of the ideas in it. Ben is a great and patient interviewer, but neither of us expected it to go so long. We left an easter egg in the last half to see if anyone actually listens all the way through, so send it to me by email if you do…

The team at Coupe Studio was fantastic and the studio was beautiful. I subsequently recorded the foreword for Sue Heilbronner’s upcoming book Never Ask for the Sale there. I highly recommend them if you need to record anything.

Last night Amy and I had dinner with Ian Hathaway. We had a nice talk in the afternoon, including discussing how much fun he’s had working on his new Outsider Inc. podcast. He’s off to an amazing start with long-form interviews with Scott Dorsey (High Alpha – Indianapolis), Mike Praeger (AvidXchange – Charlotte), Wade Foster (Zapier – Missouri), Linda Rottenberg (Endeavor – NYC and Everywhere), Jason Seats (Techstars – Austin and Everywhere), me, and Dug Song (Duo – Ann Arbor). I love the idea that Ian is focused on fascinating people all over the world having massive impact on their local startup communities. Ian is quickly learning how to pull magical stories out of them.

For a taste of the depth of this, listen to Ian’s latest interview with Sean O’Sullivan (another long time friend) titled Founder, Filmmaker, Humanitarian, & VC: Reinvention through Purpose w/ Sean O’Sullivan, Co-Founder of MapInfo & Managing GP, SOSV. In the “super interesting and amazing people you should know but might not”, Sean is at the top of the list.

The final podcast to add to your queue is today’s release on the Give First Podcast titled The Near Death (and Rebirth) of Simple Energy with Justin Segall & Yoav Lurie. If you have read Give First: The Power of Mentorship, you’ll recognize them from the example of the first item in the Techstars Mentor Manifesto: “Be Socratic.” In this episode, we go deeper on what actually happened. I’m still knocking the dust off my podcast boots, so while it’s a little rough, it was fun to do.

While I’m enjoying elements of being out and about, which I decided to do it around the launch of the book because there are some ideas I want to try to get out in the world in this moment, I sent my relentenlessly positive assistant Colleen Clair a note yesterday that began with “UNCLE!” At midnight on Halloween, I’m definitely turning into a pumpkin and going back into hibernation.

I have no idea how long that hibernation will last, or if it will be permanent. While I reflect on the past three months of being out of hibernation, a lot of things I’ve been doing are in the “like” category, but none of them make the “love” category, which now is only four things (spending time with Amy and close friends, reading, writing (non-fiction, fiction, and code), and running/hiking). My goal is to continue to shift more of my time to the love category, fulfill my work commitments, while embracing the third third of life as I wander into my 60s. That won’t include lots of podcasts, travel, or public-facing activity, which is what is filling in all the available gap of time right now.

While I’m having fun, knowing that it is time bounded has been important for me, especially around my energy and mental health. Amy and I have flipped the cliché and are saying this is experience is “a sprint, not a marathon.”

I spent two days in Toronto (hosted by Matt Golden at Golden Ventures) and a day in Upstate New York (hosted by Martin Babinec) this week as part of the launch of Give First: The Power of Mentorship. Many others were involved in making this a fantastic trip that touched over a thousand people. Extra special thanks to Julia Baird and Olivia Goldstein for the awesome support.

Last Friday, I did a fun interview with Connie Loizos in TechCrunch titled Brad Feld on “Give First” and the art of mentorship (at any age) that just came out, along with five fireside chats this week.

I kept coming back to three concepts that are the foundation of the Give First philosophy.

Non-Transactional*:* Today, many aspects of our society are transactional, and, in some cases, excessively so. In Give First, interactions are based on genuine connection, interest, support, and affection, without expecting an immediate or reciprocal return. Now, as I define in Give First, it’s not altruism – you expect to get something back. But you don’t know when, from whom, in what form, or over what time frame. Of course, as a businessperson, I engage in numerous transactional interactions. Still, I try to bring a non-transactional perspective to all of my relationships (business and personal), especially when I’m getting to know a person or engaging with someone with whom I’ve developed a healthy relationship.

Positive-Sum: This is not fluffy “win-win” language, but rather the idea that both parties can gain from an interaction. While the gains don’t have to be equivalent, they aren’t absolute (e.g. one party is +10 and the other party is -10.) When I was young, my parents often referred to this as a compromise. However, in today’s zero-sum transactional world, the compromise is frequently described as the “least terrible or offensive outcome to both parties,” which I call a negative-sum interaction. My goal, even in failure, is to learn something, get better at something, or feel like aspects of the engagement had positive contributions, even though the result wasn’t successful.

Multi-Turn: While some transactions are single-turn (e.g., a one-time negotiation with a counterparty that you will never deal with again), I view my entire life as a multi-turn game. While I’m sure there are situations where I’ve only had one interaction with someone, and there are plenty of times where the other person decided they don’t ever want to deal with me again, I’m open, with limited exceptions, to viewing every interaction as part of a larger, long-term relationship. This is particularly true when things don’t work out, there’s disappointment, or failure. As long as both parties engage thoughtfully and respectfully and try to learn from their mistakes, I will continue to engage. Ultimately, there are some people I have no interest in engaging with; however, almost all of this stems from a fundamental rupture in the relationship or endless ad hominem attacks, rather than a view of experiences as a single turn.

The opposite of my philosophy is a one-time, transactional relationship where there is a winner and a loser. I love it when someone says, “But isn’t that how sports work?” in which I offer up two of the greatest competitors of all time in a sport I love. Consider the relationship between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Is it a one-time transaction interaction where there is a clear winner and loser? If your response is “Yes, each time they played was a single-turn transaction with a winner and loser.” Pause, and say that out loud while considering the 2008 Wimbledon final, or any of these amazing five matches. In each transaction, they challenged each other to play at a higher level. They built on their love and respect for each other as people, players, and champions. And they played many times, each time providing a positive-sum experience for everyone involved, including all the fans. I look back on their long, intertwined careers and see a non-transactional, positive-sum, multi-turn relationship.

Finally, I emphasized many times this week that Give First is a philosophy, not a religion. It’s not a set of rules to follow, commandments from me, or a way to behave that, if you do it rigorously, you will achieve salvation. And, it’s not an obligation. Instead, it’s a set of concepts to consider and incorporate, as you wish, into your approach to life and the way you interact with others.

Give First: The Power of Mentorship is now available in both physical and Kindle formats. BradTheBookSalesman says, “Don’t wait, buy it today!” And yes, someday it will be available as an audiobook.

As a bonus, my long-time friend Andy Sack’s book AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand is also launching today. BradTheBookSalesman says, “Buy Andy’s book also! Make it a two-fer.”

Ok – enough with the BradTheBookSalesman shit. In addition to my alter ego, BradTheBookSalesman, another alter ego, Spike Feld, will emerge in a few days with some more fun and games for everyone.

To clarify that Give First is a philosophy rather than a religion, let’s begin with its formal definition.

“Give First” means being willing to put energy into a relationship or a system without defining the transactional parameters. However, it’s not altruism. You can and should expect to get something back. But you don’t know when, from whom, in what form, or over what time frame.

If you know me, you’re aware that I’ve been living my life this way for a considerable time. While many of the things I do in life are transactional, and BradTheBookSalesman is amused by the irony of his role in this, many are also non-transactional.

Importantly, though, Give First is a philosophy, not a religion.

From my perspective as a Jewish atheist with Buddhist tendencies, a religion is something where, if you follow the rules, you will achieve salvation, spiritual fulfillment, or a closer relationship with the divine. Or, reincarnation and the opportunity to try it all over again. Or, lots of other things. I am not anti-religion, but I have my view about where religion fits in the pantheon of the human experience.

A philosophy is a set of perspectives that is a guide, not a set of rules. You build your worldview as a result of the philosophy you adopt. You incorporate it into your perspective, views, and values. You choose what is interesting to you and ignore the rest.

While this is not a rigorous definition of a philosophy, I think it’s sufficient for distinguishing between philosophy and religion. If you want Claude’s view, it’s a little more abstract and precise:

“Philosophy generally prioritizes intellectual exploration and accepts ambiguity, whereas religion offers comprehensive worldviews that integrate belief, practice, and community in ways that provide meaning and guidance for adherents’ entire lives.“

Rules have a place in our society. So does religion. So does philosophy. But they are different things.

Please don’t view Give First as a religion. A higher power will not judge you. You have no rules to follow. You are not trying to achieve salvation, enlightenment, or even success. Instead, Give First, along with my views on mentorship, is a set of ideas to consider. You get to decide what to incorporate, if any, into your worldview.

As with any philosophy, I learn more every day from my interaction with others. I run lots of experiments. I make lots of mistakes. I try to learn from these mistakes and run new experiments. When I figure out something that works, or feels right, or makes sense to me, I try to incorporate it and do more of it. When something goes wrong, I try to figure out what I did wrong and do it less often.

The philosophy of Give First has evolved for me over the past 25 years, since I first considered it in Len Fassler‘s kitchen in 1996. I didn’t have a definition or a phrase for it, only a feeling. Len and many people since have contributed to this philosophy, and I’ve learned an enormous amount about myself along the way.

Until the lights go out, I plan to never stop learning. And, when they do, I hope the philosophy of Give First endures long after I’m gone. For all that have contributed, and continue to contribute, to Give First, thank you.

The Kindle version of Give First: The Power of Mentorship launched today and is available for 50% of the regular Kindle price.

Brad the Book Salesman says, “Please still buy the regular version also, but if you want an early look, buy the Kindle version today to help my Amazon ranking. And to get an early read of the book.”

Amazon Reviews and Goodreads Reviews are now live. If you’ve read an early version and are willing, please share your thoughts with a review.

In it, one of Erik’s questions caused me to go off on a riff about authenticity, which led me to one of the Techstars Mentor Manifesto items titled Be Authentic—Practice: What You Preach and a section in the book titled Nonsense Phrases Such as “I’m Value Added”. I gave the example in the section Being Full of Value‑Added Shit and explained that when I hear someone say “I’m an (adjective) (noun)” I insert (in my brain) the word “not” after the word “I’m.” From the book:

I’m amused when someone says, “I’m authentic,” “I’m transparent,” “I’m founder-friendly,” or “I’m a value-added investor.” Whenever I hear something like that, I automatically insert the word “not” between “I’m” and the rest of the phrase.

I’m suspicious whenever someone says, “I’m an (adjective) (noun).” Why did you need to say, “I’m a great tennis player,” “I’m a deep thinker,” or “I’m a generous person”? Instead, why not simply play tennis, regardless of how great you are? Or think as deeply as you want? Or be generous?

I’ve followed it up with two more Techstars-related talks, where I used this example again. In the last talk, I said, “I think I’ll make that today’s blog.” So – here’s the story.

“Hmm,” I thought to myself.

I had just watched a video interview with a famous VC. Although I didn’t know him, I was friendly with several founders who had worked with him and knew of at least one of the situations he had described.

The VC’s verbal fillers took up the first 30 minutes of the interview. There were plenty of “Honestly” and “To tell you the truth” woven in between “I’ll be transparent about what happened” and “The best
founders are authentic to their true selves.”

One of his stories, which I was familiar with, didn’t feel right. I knew the founder/CEO of the company he described and thought she’d had a particularly rough time with this VC. However, the VC’s preamble was, “In difficult situations, I’m always transparent about what will happen with the founder. That way, they have an opportunity to challenge or correct me.”

I emailed my founder-CEO friend to ask about the situation. I told her I’d just seen an interview with the VC in which he discussed her company. Had she seen the interview? Did she agree with what
the VC said?

“He’s full of shit,” said my friend. “That guy is a manipulative psychopath. Before we even talked about the situation, he’d gone around me to everyone on my management team and planted seeds of doubt with them. He told different things to each team member, lied about our situation, and attributed things to me that hadn’t happened at all.”

“So, he wasn’t transparent with you?”

“Are you kidding me? I have no idea why anyone takes this guy seriously.”

“Did you when you first met him?”

“Well, yes, of course. He was charismatic, had a lot of capital, talked a good game, and had a lot of people who said great things about him.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I think he’s a manipulative, misogynistic, ego-challenged person who is deeply deceitful. Well, maybe he’s not misogynistic, but all the people who liked him were men, and I’ve subsequently met a few other female founders who had similar experiences to mine.”

The VC was neither transparent nor authentic. As is often the case, his reputation eventually caught up with him.

I was feeling tired and a little down before our call. I slept until the last possible minute before starting a Techstars Managing Director Alumni Network. While that cheered me up somewhat and gave me some energy, I followed it with another call with a CEO/investor/long-time friend where we spent some of the time wrestling with things going on in the US right now. My energy coming out of this was low and my mood was “meh.”

But then Seth Godin and I recorded an episode of the Give First Podcast, which will be released soon. We’ve known each other for 30 years and have a friendship where both of us are in “instant yes” mode (which we discussed). I smiled more in the last 30 minutes than I did all day yesterday.

I just asked my friendly neighborhood AI for a summary of one-liners from our discussion.

1. “Two cannibals are eating a clown, and one says, does this taste funny to you?”
2. “Leadership is not the act of you doing all the jobs and belittling everybody else.”
3. “Some people end up in an instant yes category.”
4. “If Jerry asks me for anything, even a kidney, it’s always yes.”
5. “Are you building something that the future you will thank you for?”
6. “Founder mode is seductive—good for your ego, but it will burn you out.”
7. “No can also be a gift.”
8. “The system outlasts us.”
9. “The shortest version is, is your mom gonna be proud of what you’re doing?”
10. “I don’t get why you signed up to do all this work if all you’re gonna do is be a cog in that system.”

There’s plenty more in front of me today – some easy, some hard, but with one conversation, I’ve been able to reframe my mood and energy.

Seth – thank you.

I’ve been having a lot of fun at public events around the launch of my new book, Give First: The Power of Mentorship. I’ve got a handful of events left in Boulder before Amy and I head to Aspen for the summer.

• 6/5: Denver: Techstars Workforce Development Demo Day + Give First with Brad Feld
• 6/10: Boulder: CoinGeek Startup Spotlight: From Entrepreneur to Enterprise
• 6/12: Boulder: New Tech ft. Give First Fireside Chat w/ Brad Feld

For the past two days, I was in Indianapolis at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2025. The last time I was at GEC was in Rio de Janeiro in 2013. Even then, I was talking about Give Before You Get, a concept I had introduced in Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City, which I wrote in 2012. And, I had longer hair.

In addition to a panel and a keynote, I reconnected with many people around the world who work on startup communities, some of whom have been long-time friends (Andy, Victor, and Lesa – I’m looking at you). I had several great conversations with Jonathan Ortmans, the CEO of GEN, and I’m incredibly proud to be associated with the fantastic work he has done over the past 20+ years. I recorded several podcasts in the recording studio that Silver Foxx Media set up, which will soon be dropping on the Give First Podcast.

And, I spent a wonderful evening at High Alpha with Scott Dorsey and 150 of their closest friends. Mollie Kuramoto on their team wrote a lovely long-form post about our fireside chat: Give First: Insights from Our Fireside Chat with Brad Feld. I loved Molly’s final words on our discussion, which included:

Brad closed the evening with reflections on life’s finite nature and the importance of living with intention. “This is the moment,” he shared. “Life is full of challenges, heartbreak, and failure, but it’s also filled with opportunity. Focus on what matters to you. Define your own meaning. And don’t miss the chance to contribute to something greater.”

I’ve decided to mix metaphors and turn into a pumpkin at midnight on Halloween and go back into hibernation for an indeterminate amount of time on November 1st. I turn 60 on December 1st, and I want to spend at least a few months experiencing that and fully embracing my entrance into what Amy and I call “the third third of life.” Until then, I’m having a great time being out and about in the world again.

Below is the Give First: The Power of Mentorship TOC. While pre-orders are available now (the official release is June 24, 2025), the book is physically available at only one bookstore in the world: Composition Shop in Longmont.

I’ll be there tomorrow (Tuesday, May 28, 2025) from 10 am to 5 pm except for a break for lunch from 1 pm to 2:30 pm, when I’ll be with a friend who is in town. Join me and buy a copy of the physical book now, rather than waiting for the release date in a month.

Additionally, if you’d like to see where I’ll be out and about in public (until I go back into hibernation), take a look at the new Events page on this website. Registration links for any events that require them are in the event details.

And now, the TOC for Give First: The Power of Mentorship.

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On Saturday, May 31st, from 3:30 to 5:00 PM in downtown Denver, I’ll have a public conversation with Phil Weiser about various topics, including technology and innovation in Colorado. We will also talk about what (and how) we’ve learned from each other over the years and how we’ve worked constructively through disagreements, conflicts, and mistakes.

Phil’s blog post Startup Community Leadership discusses many of the things he’s done to positively impact the Colorado startup community. My journey with Phil started in 1999 when he co-founded a new center at CU Boulder: the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship. While unfortunately named (I hate the name Silicon X for anything, and over the years, I’ve teased Phil many times about this), this began a collaboration between us that resulted in organizations like Startup Colorado and BEN Colorado. It also resulted in the New Technology Meetup, the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, the Entrepreneurs Unplugged Series, and CU Boulder’s New Venture Challenge.

If you’ve read my book Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City, you know about the incredible impact that Phil and Brad Bernthal had on engaging CU Boulder with the Boulder Startup Community, starting around 2007. It meaningfully impacted how I thought about how the culture across a University could be changed around entrepreneurship and engagement with a local startup community. I attribute much of the early leadership here to Phil and Brad, who worked as incredible thought partners early on the new approach to developing startup communities I codified in that book, and it has now had a global impact.

Given the other public conversations Phil and I have had, including one with Jamie Dimon at CU Boulder as part of Entrepreneurs Unplugged, I expect we will cover a wide range of topics. It’s a chance to get to know another side of Phil and better understand how we’ve learned from each other over the past 25 years on technology, entrepreneurship, startup community development, government involvement with technology and innovation, leadership, and mentorship.

Anyone who attends will receive a copy of my newest book, Give First: The Power of Mentorship, which I will happily sign if they wish.

I have nine random day slots (15 minutes each), and I’ll hang out between them for anyone in the bookstore signing books. I’ll also have a bunch of my other books there that day in case you are interested in one of them (and yes – I’ll sign them also).

The Composition Shop is a new bookstore created by Greeley Sachs, an extremely close friend married to my Foundry partner, Seth Levine. Greeley has bought several buildings on Main Street in Longmont and is new and improving the area. So, in addition to participating in Random Day, give Greeley and her new bookstore some love (she’ll be there all day also, and maybe some other Foundry partners will come by).

Sign up is first-come, first-served below (click on the Jump to the next bookable date button). If Mailchimp blows the link up, like it did with my AC/DC YouTube video, just click through to my website – it works there.

If you don’t know how Random Day works, here’s an excerpt from Give First: The Power of Mentorship.