Why I am Proud To Be An OCEAN Founder
As I look back on the past two years at Spatial I see a few pivotal moments: landing our first Ford contract, closing our seed round, getting into Techstars. All great moments to be sure, but only one of these was foundational to the company and opened all the other opportunities, and that was getting into OCEAN accelerator.
Rewind back to 2015. While freelancing as a ethnographer I had an idea for collecting social data to understand location. I got an email that mentioned a free ticket to the UNPOLISHED conference for volunteering. I was in.
My first job was welcoming attendees at the front door with a swag bag. I took a peek at the agenda since it had been under wraps till that day and noticed a competition. $3,000 for winning a pitch contest. I was nervous and excited, but was disappointed when I looked to the bottom of the page and saw it said “for paid conference attendees only”.
I went back to handing out the bags but couldn’t focus on anything except that pitch competition. I mentioned it to Chad Gardner, CTO at Lyfeboat an OCEAN company (today a critical teammate at Spatial). Chad said, “Hey you should do it”. At that point I went to the bath room and paid full price for a ticket on the spot — for a conference I was already attending for free — just to get a chance to pitch my idea.
Long story short, I was beyond shocked to win the event.
More than the $3,000 dollars — it gave Spatial visibility to the OCEAN team, helped me attract my cofounder Will Kiessling, and as early as we were, a place in the second OCEAN cohort.
What Makes an Ocean Team Different
OCEAN Founders Form An Alliance At A Deeper Level:
Having gone through Techstars, I can tell you the bonds you form with your OCEAN cohort come from a deeper place. Phil and Griffin from Homefield (OCEAN cohort ’15) really set the stage for this to happen. Will and I got along well with Phil and Griffin during OCEAN. After OCEAN, Will and I were accepted into Techstars Mobility accelerator in Detroit. About a month and and a half into the accelerator I got a call from Griffin, and after a few conversations we decided to join teams.
In my opinion, two of the strongest teams from OCEAN joined up during Techstars to make a super-team. Since then we have been blessed to bring on Chad (previously CTO at Lyfeboat, ’15) and Sherman (previously CTO at Devoo, ’16). This is something you just don’t see happen everyday. It all has to do with the collaborative bond formed in the environment of OCEAN.
OCEAN Founders Know How To Follow A Mission:
It has been my experience that OCEAN founders just “get it” when it comes to following a mission greater than yourself. I think people generally, and investors specifically can tell when everyone is bought into a mission. It is intangible, but we as humans can sense this. And when things get rough, it carries the team through. Jesus Christ had a clear mission for than mankind, at OCEAN we learned to follow that example. Our mission is Hebrews 10:11:
For Abraham was looking forward to a city with foundations, who’s builder and architect is God.
OCEAN Founders Keep Christ at the Center During The Storms:
This is one of the most important differences of OCEAN founders. Startups are hard. And we have had our share of storms. But when things get tough, we are able towork through it because at the core we are not just employees at Spatial — we are here to build God’s kingdom. There is respect between team members when you know the person across the table from you genuinely has your best interests in mind and is doing their best to follow in Jesus’s footsteps. At a recent retreat it became clear that our team could use improvement at giving each other feedback. We had to work through some hard and uncomfortable conversations, but we came out stronger as a team as we were proactive in weathering the storm together.
In the first few years, startups are built on the faith of the founders. OCEAN directly addresses this faith component more than any accelerator out there. These are just a few reasons I am proud to be an OCEAN founder. The OCEAN network continues to pay off in spades for us, and we are just one company. OCEAN’s vision is to accelerate God’s presence in the marketplace, and they are just at the beginning.
If you want to join in on making this mission happen check out their Crowdrise page here.
