Graveti: Making 2019 Your Year
Graveti is a place for under-represented Entrepreneurs and Creators in Minnesota to come together, learn, take action and get stuff done.
In this post you’ll learn the following:
- Ideas are Overrated and Heavy
- Taking Action is Key
- Engaged communities further your development
Ideas are Overrated
Let’s go through the following scenario. You have an idea… and it’s a pretty amazing idea. You keep that idea locked away in the heavy-black safe full of $1,000,000 ideas hidden in the right part of your brain. You know that if anyone ever got access to this safe and stole these ideas, you’d be ruined.
That thieving thief would go onto fame and fortune and be known as “that person” — the next Jeff Bezos.
However, there’s a catch. If you’re the person with a bunch of $1,000,000 ideas stuck in the safe then I’m sorry to say……you’re not going to make it.
The more ideas that enter the safe, the heavier it becomes. If you never take these ideas and show them the-light-of-day…then it’s a wrap. Period. You’ll sink.
Solution = Pursue some of these ideas
Now we’re not saying quit your 9–5, take out a loan for $10,000, and change both your Instagram and LinkedIn handles to “Entrepreneur”. Please do not do that. Instead you should test out your ideas in a sensible, methodical and cost-effective way.
That’s where we come in… Introducing:
Bones of it — We are an organization that hosts speaker panels, events, and capacity development workshops for under-represented creators and entrepreneurs in the Twin Cities .
Meat of it — We are a community that likes to Take-Action
Take Action?
Now there are THOUSANDS of Meetup groups in the world; you can learn everything from Javascript to Crocheting by going to a Meetup group in your area. These groups are a great way to:
- Find ways to improve or expand your skills
- Meet new people who are interested in the same things as you
- Get exposed to new ideas that get your creative juices moving at the speed of light
Meetup is great. There’s only one problem though. People do not take action.
I used to do this time-and-time again. Every Meetup I went to - I’d talk with people, get their business cards, add them on Linkedin, Facebook or, in some cases, Snapchat, and that’s where the conversation would END. There would be no follow-up with these people. No lunch or coffee. I thought that this was something that only I was doing. Until I realized that virtually everybody else at these events was making the same mistake.
At Graveti it played out like this: Graveti members would come to the speaker presentations or panels on entrepreneurship → share ideas →network with each other → then never contact each other again. No action was being taken.
So, Graveti’s founding team came together, and decided that in 2019 we were going to be maniacally focused on getting our members to take action. That is — if you have an idea for something, or you’re a creative with a new concept — we want to be the place where you’ll find individuals who’ll go deep with you and help you not only fine-tune the idea but also figure out what the next steps should be.
The 2019 Pivot — Engaged Community
This year we’ll be focused on taking action and getting our members from Point A to → Point B → to Point C while keeping them accountable. For Example…
Have A Stellar App Idea?
If you have an idea for a stellar app that will blow Uber out of the water but don’t know how to code → We want to help you think through exactly what you need to do before coughing up $5000+ in developer fees — for an app that was doomed to fail from the start. Graveti will be the place where you learn about how to test the concept through DIY research, prototyping and customer feedback to see if what you’re doing is possible before you put down a single buck.
Starting your own brand of Streetwear?
If you’re going after Virgil Abloh’s throne → We want to help you think through how to position your Streetwear brand. As well as how to spread the word about your brand on-a-budget (by connecting you with people who’ve done it before). The steps you can take to move from idea to actual product. Get some real feedback about your product (Not feedback from your family or best friend who may sugarcoat things).
Launching a crowdfunding campaign for an IOT-enabled foot-massager?
Feet can get tired. We’ll help you think through how to plan a campaign with the funding amount in mind. You’ll meet people at Graveti who you can practice your pitch too, and fully explain why an IOT-enabled foot-massager is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
These examples are not exhaustive — They illustrate why we believe Graveti is really important…
We want to help our members move from:
“I just have an idea”
to
“I tested my ideas and here’s what I learnt, plus I got some pretty amazing skills along the way”
Our next series of posts on this platform will highlight the stories of entrepreneurs, founders and creatives in the Twin Cities. The aims of these highlights will be to provide you, the reader, with the right knowledge and tactical tips to move from point A to point B. At the end of the day, progress is what matters.
Come Join Us
If you’re curious about how we’re changing the face of tech, entrepreneurship and creativity in Minnesota then check out our Meetup Group at the link below. Sign up and see what our community is all about.
