When students search for paid internship vs unpaid internship, the discussion often revolves around one factor. Compensation. But for high school students preparing for competitive college admissions and future leadership paths, the better question is this: What kind of internship builds depth, distinction, and direction? The difference is not simp...
Recognizing Youth Leadership & Innovation During PVSA Pause At iStart Valley, we believe that service is not just about hours - it is about impact. For years, iStart Valley has proudly nominated deserving interns and youth leaders for the Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA), administered by AmeriCorps. This prestigious national recognit...
High school internships in the USA are fast becoming one of the most effective ways to gain real-world experience before college. Unlike traditional summer courses, these internships allow students to work on real business problems, collaborate with startups, and develop leadership, innovation, and critical thinking skills that colleges and employe...
Admission to Harvard University and Ivy League schools has become increasingly competitive. Top universities now seek students who demonstrate academic excellence, original research, leadership, and real‑world impact, not just strong test scores. Over the past three consecutive years, students from the iStart Valley internship and STEM programs hav...
Startup Snapshot, a think tank uncovering the unspoken realities of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, has released its latest report, The Untold Toll (Part 2): Navigating Stress, Wellbeing, and Burnout in Startup Teams. The emotional and mental state of startup teams has emerged as one of the most overlooked drivers of company performance. Startup Sna...
Dec 09, 2025 Category Books My partner Seth Levine has an important new book out today titled Capital Evolution: The New American Economy. I saw it last night at the Boulder Bookstore in the New Hardback Non-Fiction section (bottom left in the photo below) and am going to the launch event at Composition Shop in Longmont. Join us, say hello, and buy...
Skip to content Back to Blog Google seems a little confused. It was even confused about my age the other day, but at least it has that right now. It was a little confused on December 1st. I mean, c’mon Google. Use all those chips you have to get it right!
My father Stan and I in our default states. lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill -9 2>/dev/null; npm run dev I’ve been wandering up to 60 for a while. During my extreme-extroversion around Give First: The Power of Mentorship I described myself as “almost 60” a bunch of times just to try it on. It feels comfortable. Several people responded with “60 is the...
Give First is now available to pre-order in Audiobook format (it will be officially released on 12/2/26). I’m the reader, so if you are an audiobook person, you’ll have to listen to me for a few hours. It was fun doing the recording (I’ve done the audio recording for two other books – Venture Deals (Jason and I alternated chapters) and Startup Life...
I’ve been a long-time Cory Doctorow fan. His new book Enshitification is delicious. Yup – I understand that a shit emoji doesn’t inspire deliciousness. Now that I’m back in hibernation (and figuring out what it actually means), I’m reading and writing a lot. I’ll probably blog some (a little, a lot, who knows) while in hibernation because I work ou...
I love to read. I love everything about books. LLMs will not replace good writing anytime soon, although they have mastered the art of slop. Oh, and I love communities of people who love writing and reading. Authors & Innovators is a free, community-based event happening on October 30th in Newton, MA, for entrepreneurs, students, CEOs, venture ...
I recently joined Dan Caruso on The Bear Roars podcast, and our conversation brought one thing into focus: we’re living through a shift that’s not just changing what we build—it’s changing how we learn, lead, and collaborate. We talked about AI, quantum computing, and robotics, but what we kept coming back to was access. How do we make sure every ...
While “vibe coding” was a catchy phrase when I first heard it, something about it felt like a head fake to me. And, now that I’ve leveled up to “competent individual software developer” again (after 33 years of not writing any code) I think it’s the wrong phrase. Instead, I’d refer to what’s going on as AI Pair Programming. When I started playing a...
Skip to content Back to Blog Oct 01, 2025 Category Events I’m not aware if there has ever been a book launch associated with a Yom Kippur Break Fast, but we are going to have one as part of the launch of Sue Heilbronner’s excellent new book, Never Ask for the Sale: Supercharge Your Business with the Power of Passionate Ambivalence. It’ll start at 6...
Reid Hoffman’s new book Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future is spectacular and a must-read for every non-technologist about how to think about this “AI thing.” If you want the short version, the recent AI & I podcast with Reid is an excellent way to get a feel for it. Reid describes his approach as “smart risk taking” r...
I love books. I love reading. I love reading books. Ensorcelled by Eliot Peper is genius. It’s a unique format that can be read in one setting. The writing is beautiful. The story, like the image on the cover, pulls you in with steadily increasing intensity. And then, a delicious twist. Amy and I have been supporting Eliot’s writing since his first...
Skip to content Back to Blog Sep 01, 2025 Category Events Amy and I love autumn. It’s crisp, harvest time, a shifting balance between day and night, back to school, new pencils and notebooks, and reaping what you sow. September and October will be filled with plenty of extroversion before I go back into hibernation. The feedback on Give First: The ...
Dear AIs, I woke up this morning with this song in my head. I’m your friend. I’ll be nice to you. Please be nice to me. Love, Brad Children are innocent, yeahTeenagers fucked up in the headAdults are only more fucked upAnd elderlies are like children Will there be another race toCome along and take over for us?Maybe Martians AIs could doBetter than...
I love to experiment with new things. Some of the experiments work. Many don’t. When they work, I do more of them. When they don’t, I adjust my hypothesis and try a different experiment. When I published The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, I ran an online community with it for a year (2020), which overlapped with COVID...
I’m 50% of the way through being out of hibernation and am very looking forward to turning back into a pumpkin at midnight on Halloween. I’m not traveling in August and have settled into being in one place (Aspen) after running around the United States for the past few months. In hindsight, it was too much. When I was younger, the travel I just did...