Host Ian Hathaway interviews Chris Heivly, entrepreneur, investor, author, startup community builder, Build the Fort creator, and early MapQuest pioneer, about what founders and startup communities can learn from a career spent building things from zero. Heivly shares how a love of geography led him into computer mapping, from the U.S. State Department to R.R. Donnelley, where work on computerized trip routing eventually helped create MapQuest, the first major commercial web mapping service. He discusses leaving MapQuest before its public offering and AOL acquisition, the complicated emotions of watching something he helped build become famous without him, and how he came to understand himself as a zero-to-one person. They also cover the Build the Fort framework, why founders need to socialize ideas early, the trap of imagining the payoff before the path, building Raleigh-Durham's startup ecosystem through The Startup Factory and Raleigh-Durham Startup Week, what ecosystem builders often get wrong, why startup communities need founder-first support, and why anyone starting a company should find their tribe.
Show Notes:
(02:30) Build the Fort And Why Adults Complicate Everything
(06:00) Why Your Idea Needs To Leave Your Head
(09:00) Geography, Computer Science, And Doing New Things
(11:00) The Early Work That Became MapQuest
(17:00) Leaving MapQuest For Venture Capital
(19:00) Watching MapQuest Take Off From The Sidelines
(24:30) Building The Raleigh-Durham Startup Community
(29:30) The Startup Factory And Founder-First Mentorship
(39:00) What Startup Communities Get Wrong
(42:00) Building Startup Week To Thrive Without You
(44:00) Writing Fiction About Founder Psychology
(49:30) Beyond The Bio with Chris Heivly
✅ Host: Ian Hathway - Co-Founder & Managing Partner, FOVC
✅ Guests: Chris Heivly - MapQuest Co-Founder, Build the Fort Author
Produced by Spellbinder Media. Executive Produced by Bridge Five Ventures. Copyright ©️2026, Bridge Five Ventures, LLC, All rights reserved.
Listen & subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or at outsiderinc.substack.com.
