Maintaining #yesphx Momentum (My Step 2)
Previously I wrote about my first explorations into the #yesphx community and startup ecosystem here.
24 Hour CEO
Now I am continuing on my journey and in my experience step 2 is the hardest part because you have to maintain momentum. I know this because I have been a “CEO” for exactly 24 hours at just over 100 companies all composed entirely with my own brain.
These 24 hour CEO ventures had domain names (thebusinesscasual.com — my blog with observations on business and how to improve them), products (Toilluminator — the motion light for your toilet to make things a little easier in the dark) and product mockups (Green Tree — the environmentally friendly fake Christmas trees). These were all BRILLIANT ideas. Well maybe not brilliant, but they were ideas. Who knows if they were good or not because in order to find out they would have needed a step 2. Whether that was sharing blog posts on my LinkedIn, creating a prototype type of the toilet light or finding materials needed for environmentally friendly artificial trees they all needed a step 2.
I will take this moment to be 100% transparent. They never got it. Now they sit in the world’s largest graveyard of ideas that were never tried and I am the undertaker. The good news is that I never have to say one of my ideas or businesses failed. Unfortunately it is because it would have taken courage to fail. It is easy to never fail if you never try.
Moving Forward in #yesphx
I did not want my journey into the #yesphx startup ecosystem to get a tombstone in this graveyard. I laced up and jumped back in for the always feared step 2. Now there was a chance I could fail. I could write more posts and no one could be interested so they would quietly gather dust at the last bookshelf on the back of the internet. However, I will not fail at trying to tell my story or engaging with local Phoenix businesses to help.
In my #yesphx journey I started step 2 and signed up for more events, reached out to more people and even joined a conversation in the Slack channels. So let’s see what happened after writing my first ever Medium article.
The Response
Wow. It was amazing! I could only imagine what a real writer feels like when they sell a million copies, hell even 50 copies. I am an analytics geek, so I should do this right and show the numbers:
- 2,935 LinkedIn Views
- 34 LinkedIn Likes
- 3 LinkedIn Comments
- 243 Medium Views
- 95 Medium Reads (14 minute article… So I understand the 39% Read Ratio)
- 5 Medium Recommends
- 6 Personal Text Messages
- 2 Facebook Posts from Friends
- 5 Slack Channel DMs
For a social media influencer, this is not exactly “viral”. For me it was beyond amazing. I loved that people took the time to read it and gave me fantastic feedback. It helped motivate me to continue searching for ways to contribute. Here are a few highlights:
“Thanks for your Medium post and the shout out to Startup Week”
“I loved this post! Everyone please take a minute to read about what its like as a newbie to the #yesphx world”
“Great read Jeff! Good work my man”
“Thanks for taking the time to write that. You nailed if for me and gave me the courage to post to the forum (for the first time)!”
“Nice article Jeff, just getting acquainted with the Phx Startup Scene so your post was really helpful! ty.”
This response came from several amazing people and I am beyond humbled to receive it!
Following Up Great Feedback
For starters I signed up to attend the Pitch Battle that I posted in the first article. I arrived at the event and the average age was a little low. Not that I am an ageist by any means, but these were SUPER Millennials. After I counted 25 people under the age of 13 I realized I may be at the wrong event. So I did what any normal person would do and walked around Galvanize. Pretended I was sort of working there, acted like I was giving a tour and basically anything so someone didn’t say “Sir, what exactly are you doing here?”. Thankfully about 20 minutes later I got the cancellation for my meetup group. It was a little late, but no big deal. From what I read the key to Startups is adaptability, so I adapted and went to the Suns game.
Well now I was 0 for 1 on my commitments. That was not going to be fun to write about it. I needed to rebound quickly.
1st Hackathon Signup
Yep, nailed it! This is an event like a Hackathon except with no coding skills required and a focus on creating a minimum viable product through prototypes. Perfect! I signed up, paid $50 and am ready to participate in the event this May. I even made a financial commitment, so I can officially say I am investing resources into my endeavor. A significant wantrepreneur milestone.
Prior to this event I was told I needed to find teammates. Uh oh, not sure what to do, so I went to a late notice happy hour to try and find potential partners.
Making the Most of Meetups
The turnout was not huge because of some timing confusion; however, it was entirely worth it because I met a few great people.
In my head I have the kid birthday party feelings when going to small events. By that I mean you never want to go to an 8 year old’s birthday party who invited 20 kids and only 2 showed up. You might feel uncomfortable and a little bad. Then something happens, you realize the 8 year old is having a blast with the 2 kids who did show up and no one cares at all. Sometimes that is the best birthday party ever and things are exactly what you make of them.
As an adult I realized I can be the first and only person to show up and if I put my mind to it I can make it a great experience. Previously I would make sure at least 50 people were attending because if 50% cancel that means 25 people would be there and I would not stand out or feel weird. If an organizer is going to take the time to setup events then I can commit to being guest #1 and doing everything in my power to make it a great event regardless if anyone else shows up.
At this event there were 2 gentleman in particular looking to better connect the #yesphx community of entrepreneurs with those who provided resources from financing to coding abilities through Joint Investor. I was immediately intrigued and offered to help any way I could. So if you want to try and help too you can fill out their quick TypeForm survey here!
Meeting Great People
Now I have an event setup with a tangible output which was a huge win because I was looking to advance from networking to a deliverable.
Next I met a great guy named Matt who reached out to me on Slack. Much like me he wanted to get involved and had the same trepidation and concerns about feeling like an impostor. We met for lunch and after talking to him all I could say is “Wow”. Matt was not just talking the talk like I was trying at this point, but he was walking the walk. He had been involved with multiple startups, specialized in Amazon Web Services and was currently doing contracting work with a great Phoenix startup. What!? This guy felt like an impostor!? If he is feeling like an impostor with that skill set and current work then I am an absolute fraud to the Milli Vanilli levels.
Meeting Matt made me realize how hard people are on themselves no matter their talent level. Everyone is worried, nervous or apprehensive as when getting out of their comfort zone. Matt has already given me some great resources and even offered to help me learn about the Amazon Web Services world. Talk about generosity, this guy lives it. Thank you so much Matt!
Now when I hear someone talking about Amazon Web Services and security I can raise my hand and say “I’ve got a guy”! That guy is Matt.
Next in the Queue?
Keep getting psyched for the ProtoHack even though I seriously have no idea what I am doing, how I am going to find a team and of course the relentless self doubt that I will fail to add any sort of value during the event.
Attend the Galvanize happy hour on April 5th. If I did not say so before, this is an amazing facility and I am really excited to see the progress. (No I am not a paid advertiser, affiliated and I actually do not know anyone who works there. It is just really cool!). As if a great location and happy hour were not enough they are also giving Suns vs. Warriors tickets to the first 200 people who arrive. This is taking generosity to the next level!
I am going to continue chatting on Slack, participating in discussions and searching for at least 2 monthly events to attend. I have had lunch or coffee with 3 people already and I am looking to meet at least 2 or 3 more every month.
If anyone wants to get involved, needs help in any way or just looking to bounce ideas off someone I would love to make myself available. Just shoot me a note on LinkedIn or message me on the #yesphx Slack channel.
