A crowd of current and would-be entrepreneurs turned out last night in Seattle to hear Brad Feld, the well-known blogger, entrepreneur, and investor talk about his career, his Boulder-based startup program TechStars, and the state of venture capital and technology industry today. Feld knows a thing or two about the Seattle tech scene, having invested over the years in local companies AdReady, Shelfari and Judy's Book (he's also a board member at Impinj). And he had some interesting things to say about the viability of the venture capital model and the resources needed to get startups up and running these days.

Asked if the VC model is broken, Feld insisted "it's not broken at all." He said "there's no question" that too much money flowed into venture capital starting in the mid-1990s, and said the economy is accelerating the natural shaking-out process. But he said the venture capital model of investing is as sound as ever. "The fundamental dynamics of the VC are great -- They're not that changed," Feld said.

One audience member asked Feld if the fact that entrepreneurs have more low-cost web tools at their disposal is changing the rules of the game. Feld acknowledged, "It's cheaper to get started," and said "you can get something out and make more demonstrative progress" more quickly. But he said to get startups to the next stage of development, there's still a need for input from investors or mentors. His advice to budding entrepreneurs: find a partner with complimentary talents. "If you're a business person, find some nerds you want to work with. If you're a nerd, find a business person to work with," he said.

Feld's Boulder-based seed capital program TechStars has had some notable successes -- such as SocialThing, which was acquired by AOL. The program has expanded to Boston, and Feld mentioned they're looking for another city to include in the mix. Could it be Seattle? Feld didn't say for sure, but it's an intriguing possibility. Here's some video of Feld talking about TechStars and its new Boston branch, courtesy of Seattle 2.0. The event was organized by Dave Schappell of TeachStreet and T.A. McCann of Gist, and sponsored by Beacon Law Advisors, the Microsoft Strategic & Emerging Business Team, and Square 1 Bank.

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