A community, in simplicity, is a group of people living in one location together. However, there are much deeper meanings and ways to view a community and what makes it a community. As stated in lecture during my Digital Media and Society class by Professor Jeff Brand, there are two types of communities: Geographic – social relationships that operate within specified boundaries or locales, and, Ideological – sense of common character, identity, or interests.
Strong communities are essential to startup companies and successful businesses. They provide support as well as guidance and aid. Communities are the backbone and keeping them together must be a key objective of every business plan.
The Startup Community
According to businessdictionary.com, the definition of entrepreneurship is “the capacity and willingness to develop, organize, and manage a business venture along with any of its risk in order to make a profit. The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of a new business.”
Going to school in a town such as Boulder, Colorado, I am exposed to one of the strongest community bonds in the country. The town of Boulder focuses on entrepreneurship and small businesses and has even placed certain laws against big corporations and chains being placed within its borders. The reason Boulder is such a successful area is due to its supportive community that it has established not only within the local Boulder community, but by also being involved with the University of Colorado at Boulder, host to 30,000 students. CU Boulder has big one of the towns biggest contributors to the entrepreneurship and small business field. It has established one of the top rated entrepreneurship programs in the country, the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, which I am proud to say I am apart of, and the University School of Law often offers free legal advice and support for beginning stages of companies.
While searching for a relevant YouTube video on a startup community, it was funny to find a video focusing on the town of Boulder as a center for the startup community.
Boulder does not only support small business and entrepreneurship by keeping the big corporations out, but by also hosting supportive seminars and events such as Boulder Startup Week as well as providing entrepreneurs and companies the assistance they need through websites such as Boulderstartups.org.
The BuffONE Crowdfunder
Before I discuss the BuffONE Crowdfunder, I will provide some insight into the world of crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding “describes the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.” In the past five years, crowdfunding has gained a large amount of awareness throughout the world. Not only is it used in an attempt for a personal financial gain, but it generates awareness of your company, product, or idea, through the entire crowdfunding community, and also the world. Crowdfunding has been used for ideas, products, disaster relief, citizen journalism, art, political campaigns, scientific research, and much much more. It is a tool that demonstrates how effective and supportive a community can be.
During my previous semester at CU Boulder, I participated in an experimental class, Entrepreneurial Environments, led by serial entrepreneur Ray Johnson (Or as we liked to call him, Ray J). This class consisted of 15 students and an idea, to create a crowdfunding platform for the University of Colorado at Boulder. The objective of the class was to develop a platform for the University of Colorado at Boulder’s campus, in order to target the “Buff Community” (Our mascot is a buffalo, so we decided our community would be called the Buff Community). Our key differential to competitors was the community that CU Boulder has created through it’s current students, alumni, and friends and family. The platform would be “For Buffs By Buffs,” solely focusing on the community that the University has created.
Throughout this class, I was exposed to the supportive community of Boulder. Several founders of startup companies came to speak our class and offer their advice and we were granted two graduate law students to help write out our legal contracts and decipher legislation regarding the JOBS Act, which describe SEC regulations regarding equity crowd funding. We were fortunate to have RocketHub CEO Brian Meece come to our class and discuss our idea in full, and some of us went to dinner with him and my professor after class.
-My Instagram while at dinner with Brian Meece
The Importance of the Community
Through my past experiences, I have learned that in order to reach your full potential and be able to start a new venture, you need support from others and the community. Communities such as Boulder’s is one example of how such a strong support base can affect you in several ways, from raising initial capital, generating awareness, and advice in areas where you do not have any expertise, such as law.
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