Startups are Frontier Communities

A frontier situation generates a psychological orientation toward the frontier on the part of the people engaged in conquering it, endowing them with the "frontier spirit."

Another important property of the frontier is its lawlessness. If the law is congealed power, its absence means freedom, and freedom is essential to how the frontier and its inhabitants operate. It's not that startups flout the law (although some of them skirt it), but rather they operate in areas where the law hasn't (yet) stifled innovation. The

But the influence of the frontier doesn't end at the individual. The frontier also shapes the cultures of the tribes who inhabit it.

The most striking effect is forcing solidarity. Out on the fringe, short on resources and surrounded by wilderness and potential enemies, a tribe must either unite or perish. Most tribes — and certainly all the success

Tribal psychology

The frontier is one of the most interesting human niches. It draws a particular type of person, and once drawn, exerts a constant psychological and behavioral pressure (as niches tend to do).

The frontier also tends to forge tribes that are more democratic and meritocratic (and less status-conscious), have fewer laws and policies, and bias toward empiricism over theory (because theory encodes facts about older environments). All of these cultural institutions help keep tribes more flexible, so they're more able to adapt when change inev