There are certain phrases ingrained within our society that everyone has heard time and time again such as “there’s no place like home” and “home is where the heart is.” Personally, these phrases lost meaning for me a long time ago. Then came our trip to Boulder and Austin and I found myself thinking more carefully about what it truly meant to be “home.” Within a home there lies a tiny little community also known as a family. Ideally, that family community is laced with respect, caring, and, perhaps most importantly, trust.
Prior to entering the city of Boulder, I had read about it and researched various key points made about the city. Over and over I read that Boulder was a very inclusive city, full of mutual trust and respect but nothing prepared for the intensity of those feelings running through the very core of the city. Not only did we hear those same terms and real life examples of situations defending the inclusivity of the community from almost everyone we met with, but it was as if the city was alive with the feeling. The entire startup community thrived on trusting and helping one another out. They helped one another grow by whatever means they could and build upon one another to create a community full of trust, accepting of all, and a place where people come to stay. A place people call home.
By the time we left Boulder, I was convinced that the trust factor is one of, if not the single, most important factor in the creation and sustainability of successful startup communities. Despite this, I was not positive that would be what we found in Austin. It was. I don’t want to say that it was the same thing in a different place, because it definitely wasn’t. The culture in Austin had its own quirks and the people fit a different niche, but there were also extreme similarities. The weirdness, the massive amount of creative class people, among other things. However, trust and inclusivity within the community were the most relevant connecting points between the two communities. Out of the countless number of people we spoke with/encountered in Austin, they all spoke of the same things: inclusiveness of the community and the overall trust flowing within the community. Austin was more spread out, yes. It was a different type of culture, yes. But it was inclusive. People trusted each other and believed in each other and everyone offered a helping hand whenever possible.
Overall, the trip was just as enlightening as it was magical. There are numerous things to take away from the trip but one stands above all other – the trust factor. Each community was deeply ingrained with trust, a trust that seems to be missing in Kalamazoo. Perhaps this is one of the core elements to successful startup communities and something that we, as a community, should work harder to integrate into our Kalamazoo home.
