Spatial’s Techstars Journey — Update #1
It starts with a mission. Why, with all the data pouring out of cities are we still unable to tell you what an area is like before you get there? My partner Will and I embarked on a mission six months ago to change the way people see and understand the world by empowering them with Spatial data.
We were recently accepted into Techstars Mobility in Detroit after a grueling application process in which we competed with top companies from every continent (sans Antarctica) for 12 coveted spots.
For those of you who are interested in startups or curious about what happens behind the curtain at a top accelerator, we are opensourcing our struggles and successes throughout the program in a once a week update throughout the course of the accelerator.
WHAT IS SPATIAL? WHO IS IT FOR?
Spatial is the world’s first 100% human-driven layer of social data for maps. We use geotagged data to show the socially vibrant areas of a city. Essentially, we provide boots-on-the-ground understanding of a place without having to be there.
Since building we have found folks using it for a number of different reasons:
- Travel booking companies increase conversion by helping you navigate like a local.
2. Planners can see how cities change over time, revealing the DNA and soul of a city.
3. Mobility companies are bringing in the era of the socially-intelligent automobile.
Come see the technology in action.
MOVING TO DETROIT
There is no coincidence with a technology that peers into the soul of a living city we have found ourselves moving to Detroit. A city that historically has had to struggle to hold onto life. A city peering down the barrel of threat, yet seeing the opportunity it affords. A city with a mantra “Detroit Hustles Harder” — all these things are not so dissimilar to the life of a startup.
And that is why we are proud to represent the city of Cincinnati (scrappy and vibrant in its own right) here in Detroit.
TECHSTARS WEEK ONE
With all the programming and mentorship during the accelerator it is easy to chase the shiny thing rather than playing the long game of chess, moving pieces towards your goal. The first week was full of orienting and defining our goals for the accelerator. There were also some much needed tips on email communication that I found particularly relevant. The folks here run a tight ship and expect timeliness — it was announced during our first meeting that those who show up late will have to dance in front of the group. So of course 20 minutes later Will and I thought we would just get it over with and be the first ones to do a jig.
The second part this week was preparing us for “Mentor Madness”. A three week period where each of the startups meet HUNDREDS of mentors who volunteer their time during the program. This of course is extremely valuable to founders from a learning standpoint.
“But learning??? Aren’t we trying to build a business here and get everyone to use our product so we can raise an awesome seed round?”
I’ll be honest, this is how I was feeling about mentor madness before this week. I like usual wanted to press the gas pedal to the floor, but the first part of techstars is quite the opposite. Which was quite timely in fact, and leads to the struggle…
THE STRUGGLE
Startup founders will tell you every time they get their eyes on the target it seems to move. In the short time Spatial has been around we have seen strong success and traction with companies that are fascinated by what we are doing. However we have noticed a discrepancy between those who have signed up for a key and those who have deployed live. It is time to take a step back to understand why. We couldn’t have hit this roadblock at a more perfect time as we will have hundreds of folks working to solve this with us.
This coming week’s focus is interviewing customers and Techstars mentors to paint a larger picture of the specific needs that are out there and how they intersect with the capability of our technology. We are so serious about this that we are holding the reigns on developing features and Will (CTO) will be joining me in customer discovery.
Before the archer shoots the arrow, he has to pull the string back and aim. With the Techstars network we will have an entire community guiding that shot.
Interested in enriching your application with local-live community understanding? Come schedule a demo and we can chat.
