Where Do You Go Offline To Connect With Other Entrepreneurs & Startups

YEC, Guest Post, Startup Tips, CoWorking, Entrepreneurs

Donna Harris, co-founder of 1776dc chatting with an entrepreneur (photo: NMI 2013)

Where do you go in your city/region (or online) to connect with other entrepreneurs and learn from them?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) (http://theyec.org), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab (http://mystartuplab.com/), a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

1. Co-working Spaces and Meetups

In Phoenix, we have an awesome coworking space downtown. Co+Hoots is full of entrepreneurs and creatives; they all are welcoming. Find a coworking or collaborative workspace, and entrepreneurs will be there! In my city, we also have startup incubators and local organizations that host events or meetups. Find these events via social media in your town. Ask around and join in!

– Kyle Clayton ( http://twitter.com/KyleClaytonGore ), Jackrabbit Janitorial ( http://www.JackrabbitJanitorial.com )

2. Mixergy

My investment in Mixergy’s premium membership has paid itself back 1 million times over. I have learned so much from the interviews, the classes and the discussions. I’ve gained an MBA-type network without the $200K tag. Andrew Warner, the owner of Mixergy, is great at getting guests who can contribute tangible advice to other entrepreneurs, regardless of what industry they are in.

– Derek Capo ( ), Next Step China ( http://www.nextstepchina.org )

3. Philly Startup Leaders

Philly Startup Leaders is a strong local organization that connects Philadelphia’s most successful tech innovators with aspiring entrepreneurs. PSL’s regular events allow for an environment that fosters collaboration and community education.

– Robert J. Moore ( https://twitter.com/robertjmoore ), RJMetrics ( http://www.rjmetrics.com )

4. User Groups

I prefer to attend user groups for different technology, rather than straight-up entrepreneurship meetings. You’re more likely to encounter different types of entrepreneurs when you’re looking at a purely technological point of view. You can also avoid some of the super-charged networkers who aren’t quite as useful to connect with.

– Thursday Bram ( http://www.twitter.com/thursdayb ), Hyper Modern Consulting ( http://www.hypermodernconsulting.com )

5. Meetup.com

Meetup.com lists all local meetings for like-minded entrepreneurs, and it presents a great opportunity to learn more, expand your network and build potentially valuable business relationships.

– Andrew Schrage ( https://twitter.com/moneycrashers ), Money Crashers Personal Finance ( http://www.moneycrashers.com )

6. Self-Hosted Events

In today’s connected world, there’s no reason you can’t show up in a city and host your own event. When I was in Phoenix, a place I’d never been, I found a few connections from Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook and threw an impromptu happy hour. I asked each of them to bring a few interesting people along. Before I knew it, I was fully immersed in the Phoenix entrepreneurial community.

– Matt Wilson ( http://www.twitter.com/MattWilsontv ), Under30Experience

7. Local Organizations

Dyn is located in a great area. In Manchester, I can go to the ABI Innovation Hub, which hosts events, contests and a founders’ series. There are also groups like the NH High Tech Council, the Manchester Young Professionals Network and Stay Work Play that bring people together to share common experiences. We live in a global world, so it’s important to stay connected beyond your own backyard.

– Jeremy Hitchcock ( http://twitter.com/jhitchco ), Dyn ( http://dyn.com )

8. Our Young Entrepreneurs’ Group

I live in a small town, Roseburg, Ore., with 35K people, but we’re creating an entrepreneurial movement here from the ground up. Four years ago, the entrepreneurial culture was struggling. But a group of us are making things happen — one of them being the Young Entrepreneurs Society we started two years ago that’s 104 members strong. Our monthly meetups and book club are awesome.

– Trevor Mauch ( http://www.twitter.com/tmauch ), Automize, LLC ( http://www.automizeit.com )

9. Silicon Prairie News

Silicon Prairie News is all about promoting, connecting and perpetuating entrepreneurship in the Midwest. Its Big Series of conferences is a great starting point for getting involved. And, of course, Silicon Prairie News’ website is worthwhile.

– Jake Stutzman ( http://twitter.com/jstutzman ), Elevate ( http://www.elevate.co )

10. A Speakeasy for Geeks

In Indianapolis, we launched The Speak Easy — a place for Indy-based entrepreneurs, startups and the folks who support them to work, play and collaborate. It’s essentially a clubhouse for entrepreneurs, designers and geeks. Bringing these folks together in a fun, productive work environment is the surest way to accelerate the development of high-growth startups.

– Kristian Andersen ( http://www.twitter.com/kristianindy ), KA+A ( www.kaplusa.com )

DC Mayor Vince Gray praised the YEC on Friday night at 1776, DC’s coworking,startup and entrepreneurial epicenter.

Talk Is Cheap 10 Things New Startup Founders Always Say

Talk is cheap, especially when a pitch is filled with startup buzzwords. One of the huge benefits to last Sunday’s 2 minute quick pitch contest at everywhereelse.co The Startup Conference, was that many of the startups had very limited pitching experience. This also meant that they hadn’t picked up on bad habits, like filling their presentations with buzzwords, that can ultimately be seen as crutches.

Coming from a background with 20 years on commercial radio I am no stranger to crutches. DJ’s have a ton of buzzwords “on your radio”, “coming up,coming up,coming up”, and the always irritating repeating everything the person calling the radio station says to buy more time.

Well in the startup world crutches are also immensely popular. Things like “we’re not too concerned about revenue” or “we’re going to build virally and organically”, are complete turn offs to not just me but to investors who know all the buzzwords already.

Our good friends at Spinnakr.com just published a list of 37 things that new new entrepreneurs say. Here are 10 of them.

This idea is unstoppable.
Nothing else like this exists.
Sorry, man . . . I can’t tell you unless you sign this NDA.
We’re going to totally disrupt the market for [spy cams], [back scratchers], [player pianos], [hover bikes].
We’re revolutionizing the way [flautists], [tug boat captains], [veterinary assistants], [cardio-pulmonary surgeons] approach [dating], [home improvement projects], [booking airline tickets], [personal hygiene].
It’s tapping into the [future of the internet], [awesome purchasing power of secretaries], [real need affecting SAT tutors].
We’re gamifying [sushi], [country music], [the LSAT], [eyebrow extensions].
No one else can build what we’re building.
These financial projections are conservative.
We’re expecting hockey-stick growth curves, year after year.

You can see the rest of the list at the link below. While these may not be the most irritating of them all, you should get the idea.

When you’re pitching, whether it’s at the end of an accelerator demo day or your pitching in a VC’s office you need to kill them with your product, presentation and personality. Knowing the buzzwords doesn’t impress anybody.

Check out the rest of the list of 37 things new entrepreneurs say, here at Spinnakr.com

DC Mayor Vincent Gray Makes Tax Changes To Attract Tech Companies & Startups

Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray has announced some tax changes that are designed to keep the districts budding tech scene building to scale. The changes he outlined recently will be formally announced to the city council on April 17th.

The first tax change is that District residents who invest in technology companies or take on equity as part of their employment would be subject to a 3 percent capital gains tax that they hold on investments they hold for two years or longer.

Gray’s other tax plan for DC is to do away with the borders for the tax technology zones. As it stands now there are certain areas within the district where companies have no income tax for five years from the time they register with city offices. Gray has decided to make this a city wide tax break

“We want to make sure it’s as easy as possible for tech entrepreneurs and business people to set up their business in the city without worrying about which streets are in and which streets are out,” said David Zipper, the city’s director of business development and strategy.

These tax breaks are designed to grow the number of early stage investors who reside in the city. and encourage startups to remain after they cash in.

source: Washington Post