Leadership Is About The One

2/8/13

Being involved in tech and in business you constantly think about scaling things, economies of scale, scaling a business, scaling a process, scaling a website, ect. Doing something at scale is good, but there are some things that aren’t intended to scale.

A great example of this is Venture Capital. I had a VC Law class from Brad Bernthal and Jason Mendelson last semester based on a book co-authored by Jason and Brad Feld, Venture Deals (great book BTW). I remember Jason very clearly making the point that venture capital is not something that you can duplicate on a massive scale, that the expertise required to find and invest in good deals takes experience, and sometimes some massive failures, and it just can’t be transferred from sage to apprentice.

Another great example is leadership.

When I first came to boulder I knew I wanted to get heavily involved in the community both on and off campus. One of the first things I realized was that CU didn’t have a student club that felt like a community of entrepreneurs. It had several great clubs and orgainizations that provide a lot of value (NVC, GEA, CEO, etc.), but nothing that (1) meets on a regular basis, (2) around a regular format, and (3) for ALL CU students. After floating the idea for this type of club to Paul Jerde from the Deming Center, Brad Bernthal with Silicon Flatiorns, and Jill Vanmatre with ATLAS, I decided to start StartupCU.

The club has turned out to be one of the most valuable things I’ve been involved in, but building the club has been hard. We’ve had meetings with as many as 50 students (none of which had to attend for a class) and as little as 20. I’ve found that the people who keep coming back are the ones that I’ve made a one-on-one connection with. Reaching out to them, showing them I want to help, inviting them personally to the meetings, these are the things that have worked. The mass email and flier campaigns bump the numbers slightly, but connecting with people individually has led to the consistent base that comes to every meeting.

This principle has become very clear to me and I think this is why Boulder is poised to become the next startup hotspot in the US. Anyone in the city will give you some of their time if you just ask. I’ve had hour long meetings with Lawyers for free. I’ve been coached on my code architecture from what in other cities would be considered a competitor. This city understands the importance of this one-on-one interaction.

Think of TechStars for instance. This accelerator, which is now #1 in the world, was started on the premise that great entrepreneurs can become better through mentorship, or in other words, one-on-one leadership. And it is true. I recently applied to be a part of the class of ’13, so put in a good word for me!

So don’t get so caught up in the beauty of scale and forget the one.

About The Author

Ben currently works as a senior developer and technical business consultant outside of Boulder, Colorado.

Read more about Ben

About Buink

Buink Web Development is a development shop founded in 2009 by Ben Buie. For years, Ben built and modified web assets for clients in Utah. In 2011, he moved the company to Colorado and in 2015 he started taking on new clients full-time.

Buink’s Core Values:

  • Cost effective technology (with business strategy in mind)
  • Eloquent, maintainable code
  • Responsive and transparent communication

Read more about Buink

Dave G.
Dave G.
14:05 13 Aug 23
Buink is a great place to work, as well as a great place to have quality software written. I originally contracted Buink for some web development, and it worked out so well we began working together on many different projects. Definitely an honest transparent company that needs to be considered for... your software needs.read more
Dru M.
Dru M.
15:41 25 Mar 21
Ben’s a super responsive, thoughtful, sharp and all around great guy to work with. Excellent with his trade. I’d recommend him to anyone. Thanks Ben!
Seth L.
Seth L.
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Ben and team are incredible to work with. They are reliable and proficient. I'd highly recommend hiring them for web development work. SethVOLTAGE
Craig A.
Craig A.
20:50 18 Jun 19
It was a pleasure to work with Ben and his team. It is rare to find such attention to high standards of coding and devops.
Lexi S.
Lexi S.
15:36 18 Jun 19
Grateful to have Ben and his team as such a capable, reliable partner for completing client work!
Tom S.
Tom S.
13:18 14 Jun 19
I reached out to Buink after finding Ben’s name in a local developer/consultant listing in 2017, and I have to say, it has been an absolute pleasure to work with Buink. Ben consistently understands not just the development task laid in front of him but the business application behind the task. I’ve... never felt more comfortable with a development team than I do with Buink. I truly feel Ben and his team are integral partners in the success of my business.read more
Marilyn F.
Marilyn F.
22:47 13 May 19
I could not recommend Buink Web Development more highly. Ben and his team have recently developed a budgeting app for me (both web and IOS). I have had the opportunity of working with them for over a year and I am extremely happy with the results.I would say that the biggest plus for me is that I... trust Ben completely. From the very first, Ben has helped me make decisions that were in the best interest of my company. I have never felt like he is taking advantage of me. Ben does his best to keep the whole process very open and upfront. I have really appreciated that.I tell people all the time that I love my developers. And I do. I'm very happy that I chose to use Buink to develop my apps. It was the best business decision I could have made.If you are looking for someone to develop a website or app, I strongly suggest choosing Buink Web Development. They are fantastic!Marilyn Ference, President, Defend Your Money, LLCread more
James Landon B.
James Landon B.
01:33 28 Aug 18
Great company to help with all your web design needs!
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