Comments on: Supporting Phoenix Startups

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:13:20 +0000

I just stumbled across this interesting program in Georgia: http://atdc.org. Basically the state of Georgia subsidizes discounted office space in a central building to encourage startup density. It was discussed on Hacker News: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=725781

By: Curtis Miller

Curtis Miller — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:38:22 +0000

@Francine thanks, I appreciate your support! I’ve had my moments of feeling like a failure, too, especially recently… I think you’re right about sustainability through entrepreneurship, and I hope we can help that to happen. I have a few other initiatives in the works and I’d already planned to contact Stealthmode about them. In the meantime, we’d love for you or Ed to join us at an OpenCoffee or Startup Drinks event

What can we do to help you, Stealthmode or startups you’re involved with succeed?

By: francine hardaway

francine hardaway — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:12:15 +0000

Thank you so much for understanding the battle. The bad news: I’ve been fighting it for years, often feeling like a failure. The good news: the recession is bringing people to their senses: entrepreneurship is the only way to sustainability. Anything I can do to help your efforts? You can count on Stealthmode:-)

By: Curtis Miller

Curtis Miller — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:18:12 +0000

@Chris I think it would have been more effective to maintain focus on what Gangplank is and why he supports it.

@Brian thanks! I completely agree with you and appreciate the support. All I want is more Phoenix startups and for those startups to have the best chance possible. If that’s disruptive, then so be it.

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:32:46 +0000

Curtis,

Thanks for helping bring people together, and for helping de-fragment the local start-up community! It’s always great to see people making things happen instead of sitting on the sidelines bickering.

There are a million ways to bring people together, many of them effective and many of them not. People will always come out of the woodwork to tell you you’re doing it wrong. More often than not, they are typically only saying so because you’re doing it differently than they would.

I don’t remember how it was said, but in the early days of “Gangplank,” some common phrases were “don’t ask for permission” and “be disruptive.”

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:21:23 +0000

Sounds like what Tyler is saying is that any meetup not at Gangplank is working against Gangplank. Huh?

By: Curtis Miller

Curtis Miller — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:49:51 +0000

@Tyler the events you're attacking are intended to help build a sustainable entrepreneurial community in the same spirit as that described in the Gangplank Manifesto. We're entrepreneurs helping entrepreneurs.

"We believe that innovation breeds innovation. We will transform the Valley culture into one supportive of the entrepreneurial spirit, of risk taking.... This requires education, entrepreneurship and creative workspaces." - Gangplank Manifesto

I don't see these meetups as fragmenting or a waste of energy. Since you do, how would you change them to be less so?

By: Tyler Hurst

Tyler Hurst — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:29:15 +0000

I linked to this post as an example of the unnecessary fragmentation happening in Phoenix. Too much energy is being spent trying to be different.

By: Curtis Miller

Curtis Miller — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:24:15 +0000

@Chris the round table idea sounds interesting. I hear Tornado Design has a nice big conference room As far as CrunchBase, I wrote a post about it already and it will go out tomorrow morning. The interviews/profiles is part of the stuff “in the works” as well and I’m hopeful that other people will be encouraged to do the same. I think it would be great to get more exposure for companies in Phoenix.

@Bobby thanks man, I really appreciate that! I’m not going to lie, sometimes it’s really tough to stay focused…

@Tyler not really sure why you linked to this post, hopefully you’ll explain in more detail.

By: Gangplank: an idea, not a building | tdhurst

Gangplank: an idea, not a building | tdhurst — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:56:26 +0000

[...] of the fragmentation. Enough of every idiot trying to start their own thing. Enough of the bickering. Greatness doesn’t come from a small group of people opening a [...]