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Derek Andersen

Derek Andersen

Derek Andersen Contributor More posts by this contributor Mark Suster Tells Founders To Be Authentic, Hire Co-Founders, And Give Before Taking Build A Company That Attracts The Next Steve Jobs

Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 50+ cities community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs. In 2013 Startup Grind will host 20,000 entrepreneurs at 300 events in 20 countries.

After founding Vaporware Labs in 2009, he incubated many products (most of which failed spectacularly) including Startup Grind and professional social network Commonred. In 2012 Commonred was sold to Income.com.

He is also Ex-Electronic Arts where he worked on games like Burnout, Mirror’s Edge, The Sims, and Need For Speed. Having spent 8-years living outside the United States, he currently lives in Palo Alto California with his wife and two children.

The Latest from Derek Andersen

Y Combinator’s Sam Altman On The Elements Of A Successful Startup

Derek Andersen
You don’t have to have millions of dollars or the best team possible to launch a winning startup. What you do need to have, however, is passion according to Sam Altman in an interview he gave with a

Mark Suster Tells Founders To Be Authentic, Hire Co-Founders, And Give Before Taking

Derek Andersen
Editor’s note: Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 45-city community in 20-countries, uniting the global startup world together through educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepr

Build A Company That Attracts The Next Steve Jobs

Derek Andersen
Editor’s note: Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 45-city community in 20-countries, uniting the global startup world together through educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepr

From The Garage To 200 Employees In 3 Years: How Nest Thermostats Were Born

Derek Andersen
<b>Editor’s note: </b> <em>Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 40-city community bringing the global startup world together while educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs

Clayton Christensen Talks Venture Capital, Crowd Funding, And How To Measure Your Life

Derek Andersen
Editor’s note: Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 40-city community bringing the global startup world together while educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs. There are

Bing Gordon’s Founder Checklist: Animal Energy, Blind Confidence, And A Toupee.

Derek Andersen
Editor’s note: Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 40-city community bringing the global startup world together while educating, inspiring, and connecting entrepreneurs. As an Ele

The Story Behind Qualtrics, The Next Great Enterprise Company

Derek Andersen
<b>Editor’s note:</b> <em>Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 35-city event series hosted in 15-countries that educates, inspires, and connects entrepreneurs. He also founded Commo

Hiring Great Engineers: Kleiner Perkins’ Mike Abbott Explains How

Derek Andersen
Editor’s note: Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 35-city event series hosted in 15-countries that educates, inspires, and connects entrepreneurs. He also founded Commonred (acqu

How The Huang Brothers Bootstrapped Guitar Hero To A Billion Dollar Business

Derek Andersen
Editor’s note: Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 35-city event series hosted in 15-countries that educates, inspires, and connects entrepreneurs. He also founded Commonred (acqu

42 Things Entrepreneurs Should Be Grateful For

Derek Andersen
<b>Editor’s note: </b><em>Derek Andersen is the founder of Startup Grind, a 35-city event series hosted in 15 countries that educates, inspires, and connects entrepreneurs. He founded Commonred

Should You Trust Your Gut? The Answer Is Yes.

Derek Andersen
<strong>Editor’s note: </strong><a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/derekjandersen">Derek Andersen</a><em> is the founder of </em><a target="_blank" href="http://startupgrind.com/">Start

Unicorns, Banana Suits, and 500 Startups; Just Another Night With Dave McClure

Derek Andersen
<strong>Editor’s note: </strong><a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/derekjandersen">Derek Andersen</a><em> is the founder of </em><a target="_blank" href="http://startupgrind.com/">Start

Founders Are Not Heroes. Let’s Get Back To Work

Derek Andersen
<strong>Editor’s note: </strong><a target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/derekjandersen">Derek Andersen</a><em> is the founder of </em><a target="_blank" href="http://startupgrind.com/">Start

Why Are Startups Flocking To SF? There’s No More Room In Silicon Valley

Derek Andersen
A lot has been written about the real estate turf war between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Most point out that many of the developers these companies target live in the city. The nightlife, walka

The Story Behind Payment Disruptor Stripe.com And Its Founder Patrick Collison

Derek Andersen
Paypal created a cost effective way to safely accept payments 10 years ago, but the web has changed dramatically and accepting payments has not. Enter Stripe, a company that in my opinion is going to

Steve Blank Teaches Entrepreneurs How To Fail Less

Derek Andersen
While secretly wanting to be an entrepreneur but working at Electronic Arts, I would sometimes sneak out early and jet to Stanford campus to crash Steve Blank’s entrepreneurial lecture series. Steve

Pinterest’s Unlikely Journey To Top Of The Startup Mountain

Derek Andersen
Over the past 12 months, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing some of the Valley’s best entrepreneurs and investors at <a target="_blank" href="http://startupgrind.com/">Startup Grind</a>. Peopl