I'm a strong believer that you can build great companies in time

“I’m a strong believer that you can build great companies in times of both greed and fear. But you have to be paying attention and operating under the right assumptions. You don’t have to believe history repeats itself, but you should accept that history rhymes.” – Brad Feld

Thus spoke Brad Feld, a sage of the modern marketplace — a man who, like the merchants and philosophers of old, has studied the cycles of fortune that turn the wheel of the world. His words are not only for those who build companies, but for all who build anything enduring — families, communities, dreams. He reminds us that greatness is not born of circumstance, but of awareness. Whether the world is ablaze with greed or trembling in fear, those who remain clear-eyed and steadfast can still forge wonders. For success, like wisdom, belongs not to those who follow the noise of the crowd, but to those who understand the rhymes of history.

Feld’s insight draws its lineage from the oldest of human observations — that the affairs of the world move not in a perfect circle, but in patterns. The wise have long seen that while history does not repeat, it often returns in familiar tones. The rhythms of boom and bust, hope and despair, creation and collapse — these are the heartbeats of civilization. To deny them is folly; to study them is strength. Feld’s words echo the ancient proverb of the Book of Ecclesiastes: “What has been will be again; there is nothing new under the sun.” Yet he does not speak with despair, but with resolve. For though the past may rhyme, it need not rule. Knowledge of history is not a curse, but a compass.

Consider the story of the Great Depression. When the markets collapsed in 1929, fear swallowed the world. Banks failed, factories closed, and millions wandered in search of work. Yet from that darkness rose men and women who refused to yield. They learned to build in fear, not with blind optimism, but with discipline and vision. Years later, in the same land that had starved for bread, companies like Hewlett-Packard and Disney were born — forged by minds that saw opportunity in despair. Their founders, knowingly or not, followed the rhythm Feld describes: they listened to history’s rhyme, and in doing so, turned tragedy into rebirth.

Likewise, in times of greed, when markets overflow and gold blinds the eyes of men, wisdom is no less required. The tale of the Dot-Com Bubble stands as a testament to this truth. In the frenzy of the 1990s, when the promise of the internet seemed boundless, many built castles of smoke and illusion. Yet amid the noise, a few listened to the quieter melody of history. They remembered that every boom carries within it the seed of its fall. They built not for spectacle but for substance — companies like Amazon and Google, whose roots were deep enough to survive the storm. These were the builders who paid attention, who operated under the right assumptions, who knew that the melody of prosperity, like all songs, must one day resolve its notes.

In both these ages — of fear and of greed — the lesson is the same. The world will always swing between extremes, for such is the nature of humankind. But the wise do not sway with it. They watch, they learn, they adapt. They study not only the numbers and markets, but the patterns of the human heart — its courage, its folly, its endless capacity to forget and to rediscover. Feld’s counsel is thus not the voice of a financier alone, but of a philosopher: to endure and to thrive, one must be mindful, humble before the lessons of the past, and ever alert to the subtle rhymes of fate.

Let this be the wisdom you carry forward, O seeker of purpose: Do not curse the times of fear, nor lose yourself in the times of greed. Both are seasons of life, and both bear their own fruits for those who labor wisely. Study the past, not to relive it, but to recognize its echoes in your own time. When others panic, hold steady. When others boast, listen. Let your work be rooted in understanding, and your vision guided by patience. For history does not repeat, but it whispers — and to those who listen with care, it will reveal where the next seed of greatness may be sown.

Thus, in the rhythm of ages, the pattern remains: the world may change its face, but the song beneath endures. Whether you build a company, a legacy, or a life, remember Brad Feld’s timeless wisdom — that the past may not return, but it will rhyme, and in that rhyme lies both warning and promise. The wise builder hears it, and acts not with haste, but with harmony — crafting something that will endure, not only through the seasons of greed and fear, but through the endless, echoing poetry of history itself.