Build the Fort: The Startup Community Builder's Field Guide

As adults, we seem to make everything harder.

We’re driven to accelerate growth in our local startup communities—but in the process, we overthink, overanalyze, and overload even our simplest activities. Before long, our community goals buckle under the weight of our complex adult concerns. Our motivation dries up. Our best ideas fade away, leaving entrepreneurs no choice but to find another city in which to make their dreams come true.

The solution? Channel our inner ten-year-old…and Build the Fort.

With this simple, actionable metaphor, Chris Heivly empowers readers to replace the grown-up tendency to overcomplicate with his simple framework for effective community and ecosystem building. Energetic, friendly, and relatable, Build the Fort: The Startup Community Builder’s Field Guide provides a compass to move our ideas forward more successfully and propel our cities into the upper echelon of startup communities.

Dubbed "The Startup Whisperer" by startup community enthusiasts, Christopher Heivly is a life-long entrepreneur and multifaceted investor who spent forty years working as, for, and with entrepreneurs. Prior to becoming a successful startup community builder and consultant, Chris co-founded MapQuest—which sold to AOL for $1.2 billion. He currently serves as a managing director of The Startup Factory and is a highly sought-after public speaker. His first book, Build the Fort: Why 5 Simple Lessons You Learned As a 10 Year-Old Can Set You Up for Startup Success, was inspired by his widely acclaimed TEDx talk in 2014.