I was having coffee with Niel Robertson in Melbourne this week and we were looking at the startup community down here and sharing stories about what we have seen and what we love about it. There is a lot to love about an early startup community, but there needs to be a buy in from all sides if you are going to succeed.
He came up with the idea of having an early stage startup community code of conduct of sorts and here is a first draft. This is what I see worked well for Boulder and things that we learned (the Boulder Thesis is in Startup Communities by Brad Feld).
- Support everyone that wants to be involved
- Have meetings with everyone that asks
- Have open, accessible events
- Create a central place to help new people new to town get involved
- Give everyone the benefit of the moment. Hear something bad? Treat it as a rough day or something you can work on together
- If you see something that needs to be fixed, help fix it
- If you see anyone excluding, harassing or acting in an unfriendly manner to the above have a chat with them inviting them to community
- Create a way to fund a central group for a sustainable welcome to the community
As a community you will all succeed or nobody does, no in between.
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