Home > Startups > Startup Culture Update

Startup Culture Update

April 8, 2009

Teresa manages the door at each Startup Happy Hour told me that we had more than 90 attendees at Monday’s happy hour. Wow! I know I had more than a couple really valuable conversations, hopefully some of you did as well. But I think we hit the pefect size - any bigger would be too big (and too expensive).

If you have been to one of our happy hours I would love some feedback (just leave a comment here if you have a minute). What could we improve? Do we need an agenda or program? Is pure networking/socializing enough?

Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Startups ·

Comments »

how about a facebook group or a basic blog website for this start up happy hour.
I losing track of who I spoke to, they don't bring their biz card
and no follow up after the conversations.
A agenda is a really cool idea.
looking forward to next month happy hour.

Comment by Randy Nguyen — April 8, 2009 @ 7:58 pm

Well, I had zero valuable conversations. I had zero conversations period as I was totally ignored.

Comment by Brad — April 8, 2009 @ 9:35 pm

I'm sorry that happened Brad. Networking can be tough stuff and sometimes it takes a bit of time to get warm to the venue.

Please come out next time and ask Jennifer or Teresa at the registration table to come find me.

Comment by Shannon Barrett — April 8, 2009 @ 9:40 pm

I'm interested in hearing the feedback from the people that have been attending the Dallas startup happy hours, as we are getting ready to start doing something similar here in Raleigh/Durham, NC. We'll be happy to learn from your best practices.

- marc
http://www.northcarolinastartups.com

Comment by Marc Dewalle — April 9, 2009 @ 12:19 am

I've had several valuable conversations at those I've attended. I would be hesitant to create too much of a formal agenda as I think it might become too structured and lose some of the value as counterintuitive as that might seem. Perhaps some way to have some open intros of 30 seconds or less of folks (90 is tough to do, but perhaps each time pick 10-20 with no repeats that can take time to intro who they are and what they're working on to inspire more discussion).

Comment by Hal — April 9, 2009 @ 2:45 am

I'd suggest that we have a rough topic and then 3 or 4 attendees each speak on that topic for five minutes or less. This will introduce people, provide a topic of discussion, and force speakers to be concise.
Attendees could post the topic they would like to discuss on this site ahead of time and then other attendees would vote on the topics / speakers. This way everyone has some say in the potential discussion.

Comment by William — April 9, 2009 @ 4:16 am

I like Randy's facebook group idea. Would be nice if there was a list of attendees (on the facebook group) that included company, expertise, etc…

We have had made some great contacts through the happy hour. It's always nice to bounce new ideas off the SpringStage crowd. Thanks for hosting, Alex!

Comment by Steve_Cospolich — April 9, 2009 @ 6:56 pm

I like the format of a separate meeting right before or after the happy hour to discuss a topic related to software or start-ups. Then, you could have just sightly more structured discussions or presentations.

Comment by Brian — April 9, 2009 @ 7:20 pm

I wonder if a lot of this communication couldn't happen via the upcoming website comments?

I prefer the organic nature of the events allowing folks to come and go without their being too much pressure.

Comment by Shannon Barrett — April 9, 2009 @ 7:26 pm

The happy hours have been great and are a valuable resource to the startup community. The format of just getting together and chatting should not be messed with in my opinion. There can be other more formal events for presentations, etc.

If they are getting too big, my suggestion would be to hold 2 per month, limit the number of attendees and make RSVPing required to attend.

Or people can start coming over the Startup Happy Hours we're having in Fort Worth! :-) next one on 4/20 at The Flying Saucer!

Comment by Bradley Joyce — April 10, 2009 @ 5:23 am

It was my first time there and I liked the format, I was able to talk to different peope for as long as we wanted and about what we wanted and that was nice. I think having an agenda or presentations of some sort is good but like William mentioned above, presentations should be short. Maybe a list of attendees visible to everybody (on a board or the wall) with a role (Investor, Developer, Attorney) and a short "Interests" columns could help. A Ning.com site would not hurt.

Comment by D. Omar Villarreal — April 10, 2009 @ 4:47 pm

Also, I find it hard to believe that having a bigger group would hurt, in regards to cost, you could have a maximum budget give tickets or coupons to people that they can use to get their drinks. After posting my last comment I saw that Randy Nguyen suggested a Facebook group, I would encourage you to check out Ning.com before making a decision if you decide to create an online community. I use both.

Comment by D. Omar Villarreal — April 10, 2009 @ 4:52 pm

Leave it the way it is - Don't try to make it too formal with presentations, etc.

As far as the drinks go, I don't think you'll have any fewer people attending if we had to pay for drinks. It's a nice gesture Alex, but not the real reason for the event.

People should bring their biz cards though…

Comment by Robert Johnson — April 13, 2009 @ 1:27 pm

I've been to every happy hour since Oct 2008. No matter whats going on I always make it a priority to attend. Since coming, I've met my business partner, formed an LLC, have released one product to the market ~ a2b (and it's doing quite well http://www.cyrket.com/package/com.froogloid.andro... ) have 2 other prototype products built, and have generated numerous app ideas by talking to folks.

So yeah, I'd say these happy hours have been very beneficial.

To get the best out of the experience, I recommend the following.
1) Don't be afraid to talk about your ideas. Believe it or not people are not aout to steal your ideas. Get feedback and adjust your strategy accordingly.
2) Having trouble meeting people? Don't be shy ~ find a group of people, walk over, extend hand and say Hi my name is _________ , what brings you here? Works like a charm :)

Chris Fagan
Froogloid, LLC
<a href=”http://www.froogloid.com” target=”_blank”>www.froogloid.com

Texas Startup Blog written by Alexander Muse

Startup Culture Update

SpringStage Startup Blogs

Sponsors

Startup Jobs

Network Blogs

Archives

Navigation

Categories

Archives

Links

Subscribe