Starting to Figure Things Out in #yesphx
The Journey Continues
Wow, it has been over 6 weeks since I last put pen to paper or finger to key about trying to uncover the mysteries of the startup community. I struggled with finding the balance of highlighting my journey and overloading with minutia, so I tried to wait long enough to have more significant milestones.
Plus I had feedback from multiple friends about how much they enjoyed reading about this journey… followed by letting me know about the painstaking length. Oops, sorry pals, I’ll get better.
Where I Left Off
Last I wrote I mentioned upcoming events of a ProtoHack and Galvanize Happy Hour to see the Suns and Warriors game. These did not go exactly as planned and one of them quietly went away without much communication. It sounds a little bit like a startup.
The ProtoHack event seemed like a struggle, but I was keeping my fingers crossed that it would come to fruition. Unfortunately, it did not and it was unceremoniously canceled with no communication and a refund line item in my bank account. Bummer.
I bombed the Galvanize Happy Hour and Suns vs. Warriors game. I went immediately after work and as usual was on an island and trying to find ways into conversations. I had a few opportunities to chat with vaguely familiar faces and met several new people, but I just could not find the mojo. I was walking around, looking personable and trying to exude the aroma of approachability.
Failed. I could not get traction. I did not put myself out there enough. I did not jump into conversations and introduce myself. I did not make the most of the event. Much like the Suns vs. the Warriors that night, I did not have it that night. It was a bummer and I am sure many people have attended events with big dreams of meeting everyone and then struggled to get it going. No worries, just have to keep trying!
Hearing About New Startups with Product Hunt Phoenix
I stepped back up and found an event where I was able to hear from real life startups about their products and plans. I signed up and attended the first ever Product Hunt Phoenix put on by Mat Sherman. I had the opportunity to hear from 2 great startups and one of them particularly interested me called Digitile.
Digitile is a visual search engine for company files. It makes finding documents easier for businesses. After over a decade in the corporate world with large spiraling network drives, poorly named files, and horrendous folder hierarchies I could see the value. Without going to this event, I would have never had the opportunity to learn about them. Now I am excited to share it with my friends still searching through endless network drives.
I had the opportunity to speak with the founders, provide feedback and gain a great understanding of their product. This is definitely the type of interaction I had been seeking.
Where to next?
Graciously Allowed to Visit the House of Genius
House of Genius is an assembly of diverse groups of people to focus their creativity and experience to solve problems in entrepreneurship. This assembly happens monthly where a panel of professionals with a variety of skills listens to two business presenters and provides feedback.
I was honored and thrilled to be welcomed to participate in the April House of Genius meeting as a panelist. It became even more of a privilege after meeting other panelists who had incredible experience and provided amazing feedback for the presenters.
House of Genius introduced me to two up and coming organizations called 100Pedals and City Cup. Honestly, I could write 10,000 words on the two hours we spent at the event. I might save that for another post, but I would be doing the world an injustice to not briefly highlight the work of these two entrepreneurs here.
First, we heard about 100Pedals from Dave Cooke. It feels short changed to call this an organization because it is far more than that. 100Pedals is a mission and Dave was beyond impressive in his experiences, passion, and storytelling. The 100Pedals mission is to provide education and coaching for family members navigating their lives around a loved one’s addiction. Dave was searching for technical talent to help create a more robust content delivery platform. We discovered while a content delivery platform would be helpful, we just wanted more of Dave’s content. The panel wanted more blogs, podcasts, stories, testimonials, and data. I look forward to hearing more about Dave’s journey and the families he is able to help.
Next, we heard from an impressive young man named Chris Oosthuisen who is a student at ASU and started City Cup. As a student, Chris valued good deals for dining and enjoyed support local businesses in the Tempe area. His solution was City Cup, a $10 purchase of a plastic cup that allows you to get free refills at all participating restaurants. This was an interesting concept and seemed like a potential core offering for a joint loyalty program among Tempe’s small food business community. This business has been built on hustle from on-boarding new restaurants to selling City Cups door to door. We had a great discussion on the value of this business from a loyalty offering perspective and environmentally friendly solution to disposable items. I am excited to see where Chris takes it and hope to use a City Cup here in Phoenix some day.
The experience was amazing and very well organized and hosted by the House of Genius team including Caitlin Waters, Phil Guttilla, and JP Taxman. In a perfect world, I would attend every House of Genius event to learn from both the talented entrepreneurs and panelists. I would highly encourage any entrepreneur looking for feedback or panelists looking to support entrepreneurs with feedback to participate in this amazing event.
Any Sight of a Game Plan? What’s Next?
Working on it. I have continued to stumble my way around in various events, community forums and even offering my assistance to a few entrepreneurs. It has been great so far and I enjoy being a participant in any way I can find.
I have been playing it safe. No major commitments and working within my schedule of full-time work and friendly. This seemed like a good way to begin learning the #yesphx ecosystem. It also works very well with my schedule; however, if I want to make a significant impact then I need to take intentional action to help grow this community.
In the upcoming weeks, I am going to continue searching for a clear direction in contributing to #yesphx and hopefully telling the story is a big part of it.
