I’ve recently been reflecting about what it means to start a company and community. What sparked this chain of thought was a question about startup culture at Yale and the recent publication of a new Yale admission view book which included a brief profile of me. (side note: I can now say from experience that college admission books don’t use stock photos since I had to pose a dozen times and it still didn’t come out well. I sort of wish they had a model to stand in) 

What they left out was a much larger part about how one of the things I actually learned from college was building a community, which I believe is the same skill set needed to successfully start a company or an organization. What I’ve concluded it takes is:

• Someone to provide a common vision
• Participants who have some shared experience
• Diversity among participants so that each will contribute
• Initiative to be the “first to the party”
• Enthusiasm for just meeting people without clear asks or objectives
• Willingness to reach out two or even three degrees for the right participants
• Acknowledgement of others’ contribution over your own
• Tenacity to get past the birth pains and obstacles
• Relentless promotion to anyone and everyone. Helps internal morale and external awareness

Any community requires patience as it grows. The boxes and arrows in the diagram really miss the time dimension as it’s been about 4 years since I started PaperG and also joined the emerging Yale entrepreneur community. Both communities have grown considerably but not without a lot of time and work.

College is really a time to learn how to build and grow a community — whether through college sports, nonprofits, or startups. I’ve realized that skill has been incredibly useful as I’ve moved to new places — so taking from the last lesson, I’d like to announce the Yale Entrepreneurs and Investors in Bay Area meetup.