Building What Lasts: Brad Feld on Trust, Mentorship, and Long-Term Thinking

33 snips

Feb 4, 2026

Brad Feld, venture capitalist and Techstars co-founder known for championing mentorship and long-term thinking. He discusses the Give First mindset, why generosity beats transactional networking, and how mentorship becomes most powerful as a peer relationship. He also covers practical rituals, setting boundaries, and spotting founders who can build lasting companies.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Teen Meeting With Al Eisenstadt

Brad Feld told a story about meeting Apple general counsel Al Eisenstadt as a teen and being generously given 30 minutes.
The encounter illustrated the lasting value of unexpected generosity and mentorship.

INSIGHT

Mentorship Should Become A Peer Relation

The best mentors become peers who learn from the mentee quickly.
Effective mentorship is reciprocal and often begins learning in the first interactions.

ADVICE

Be Accessible — With Boundaries

Be a default-yes mentor but create practical boundaries to protect your time.
Use email, assignments, or short meetings to filter serious requests before long commitments.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

What does it really mean to give without keeping score? Brad Feld has built a career by answering that question differently than almost anyone in venture capital.

In this episode of Remarkable People, Guy Kawasaki sits down with Brad to unpack the philosophy behind his new book Give First, a mindset that has shaped startup communities, mentorship culture, and long-term trust across the tech world. Brad explains why generosity isn’t naïve, why mentorship works best when it becomes a peer relationship, and how founders can build enduring success without transactional thinking.

This conversation challenges many of Silicon Valley’s most sacred assumptions—and replaces them with something more human.

---

Guy Kawasaki is on a mission to make you remarkable. His Remarkable People podcast features interviews with remarkable people such as Jane Goodall, Marc Benioff, Woz, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Bob Cialdini. Every episode will make you more remarkable.

With his decades of experience in Silicon Valley as a Venture Capitalist and advisor to the top entrepreneurs in the world, Guy’s questions come from a place of curiosity and passion for technology, start-ups, entrepreneurship, and marketing. If you love society and culture, documentaries, and business podcasts, take a second to follow Remarkable People.

Listeners of the Remarkable People podcast will learn from some of the most successful people in the world with practical tips and inspiring stories that will help you be more remarkable.

Episodes of Remarkable People organized by topic: https://bit.ly/rptopology

Listen to Remarkable People here: **https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/guy-kawasakis-remarkable-people/id1483081827**

Like this show? Please leave us a review -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Thank you for your support; it helps the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.