Last time I used AirBnb, their system (posting, messaging, etc.) censored all instance of Google (case insensitive). At first I thought they just block all links but after some trials, even the word itself is censored.
The hacker community being built in Kansas City is truly remarkable. It's a great place to ignite new ideas and reform old ones! Nothing compares to midwest community.
I'm visiting Cincinnati for 2 months (I grew up here before moving to SV 5 years ago).
I am visiting some of the startups and related services and while visiting at one named the Brandery the person I was talking to said "you know how it is in Cincinnati, everyone wants to help".
And I thought to myself, really? Then I realized. In Cincinnati, and probably the midwest as a whole, people do generally have more a sense of community and are more forward about "helping".
But this doesn't apply to business or startup ventures. They'll help you pick up groceries that you dropped or hold doors open for you. But when it comes to providing support for someone that's doing an entrepreneurial venture it's almost non existent.
The support is there at first, but when things get really tough the fact of the matter is most people haven't gone through that and can't relate.
It's frustrating as I believe we'll eventually end up back here to be close to my wife's family.
I talk to a lot of people here who speak of it being a great place for technology entrepreneurship. I'm just not seeing it. I really wish I did though.
Hey - this is Dave Knox and I'm actually one of the co-founders of The Brandery.
First off, I'm glad you had a chance to stop by our program. Hopefully you saw the fact that we're trying to not just talk about it being great for technology entrepreneurship, but actually deliver against that as well.
Now, in terms of your point on support for business / startups, that is the very reason we started this program in 2010. We are at the beginning part of the journey but there is a real change happening in the town. If you ask any of the companies that have gone through our program, they will tell you that our support of them doesnt end when they graduate from the program. We can't help all of the companies in town, but we're there for the 26 that have gone through The Brandery and are making a real go of it.
Give me a shout (dave@brandery.org) and lets grab coffee. I'll share whats made me decide to make Cincinnati my home and a place where I really believe in the technology opportunities. We have a long ways to go but we've taken the first steps that I am confident will get us there.
I grew up just outside of Cinci. I've lived in New York, and it's nice. Lived in Boston for a while, always a lot of fun activities and good food. Currently living in South Carolina, and the weather is great and people are pretty friendly.
But my heart will always be in the Midwest. Wide open spaces, friendly people, affordable <everything>, tolerable seasonal patterns.
I don't have any experience with the startup scene, I imagine it's not fantastic =/
My wife can definitely relate to that. Different places offer different things for sure and there's no one place that's great for everyone. Thank goodness.
I lived in Cincinnati for a while and I don't have any good things to say about its technology sector. Most of the companies there attempt to foster a 'faux startup' attitude, but fail at it marvelously. You will see people go on and on about being accepting and looking for 'hackers', but if your anything out of the usual mold your not going to have any luck.
One good example of a Cincinnati startup is http://gigaom.com/2012/05/30/from-cincinnati-to-silicon-vall... they seem to be really fostering that ol' Cinci spirit. They send you a codility test and thats it, you don't get much worse than that. I am a little bit biased here as me and my friends went through this experience, but that is just my two cents.
I love the city though, its in a perfect spot. You have great neighborhoods like OTR and Northside. Easy access to stuff across the river in Kentucky. And a lot of college kids coming out of UC and Xavier. If you ever looking for a place that is small enough to have a yard, but big enough to have things to do Cinci is a great place.
I agree with you on the 'faux startup' attitude. I don't believe it's intentional though. I think it's the result of executives and managers from P&G, Kroger, etc. taking their experience and making that work for start ups. I've talked with these folks and I always leave a little bit dumbfounded.
I just don't see how that works though I'm always happy to be proven wrong.
I'm not saying nothing great is happening in Cincinnati. I do believe there are probably some great start ups. I am specifically talking about the environment.
Living in Cincinnati and working closely with some of the groups from the Brandery, I have to disagree. However, I will say that the experience you likely had 5 years ago would definitely be reflected in what you've said here. The fact is, though, that things have changed monumentally in the past couple of years, and the startup scene is almost unrecognizable.
While you're right, it's definitely not Silicon Valley in terms of the kind of network that exists, you're comparing apples and oranges. The startup scene is vibrant. There are tech meetups with hundreds of monthly attendees. There are active groups for all stages of business, from ideas over beers to celebrating series A to burning through buyouts on starting new ideas.
I think you should be less frustrated at your eventual return to the Cincy area to hopeful and even excited. There are great opportunities here for all types of startups, and it's still small-ish enough that you get that midwest, hometown, half your network has a startup in some stage, feeling that you will never get in a large market.
That's a great question, and one I never really thought to think through all the way. It's one of those words you throw around without really thinking about. Kind of cliche.
But, it has made me think about it a little bit and I guess I do have an answer. I think it's that critical mass of having a large enough group of people and the support network to allow startups to actually make it from conception to profit. So, for example, we have a handful of startup accelerators, CincyTech and the Brandery, to name the big players. There is also Cintrifuse, which is run out of P&G now (not affiliated business-wise, mind you). There are also a lot of heavyweight dev and design minds in the city (due to big marketers) who host and speak at events. There are also investment firms bringing money into the city, and the state of Ohio has also invested a couple of hundred million dollars in seed ventures around the state.
So, as far as 'vibrant' as a descriptor, I guess I would say that the combination of these things creating a feeling of excitement and possibility is why I would use the word. Does that help? I feel like I just rambled.
I grew up in Michigan, and now live in Wisconsin. I've never considered Kansas City, or Missouri/Kansas as part of the Midwest.
Do most people in KC identify with the Midwest?
*Edit:
Now that I think about it, I guess I've always kind of considered the Midwest to be the Great Lakes Region, and from the Dakotas on South to be the Plains (with Missouri being more in the South than anywhere else).
I live in KC and did a Startup Weekend about a month ago. One of the guys on my team crashed at the Hacker House for the weekend and swore by it.
I believe one of the other teams all stayed there as well, and spent the nights hacking at their startup @ the hacker house. Heard nothing but good things.
yeah no idea why not but it specifically won't let you use the word google or Google Fiber anywhere. It switches the text to (website hidden) in the description and completely removes it from the title. So a description like this: "One of the first houses with Google Fiber!" becomes "One of the first houses with (website hidden)!"
They should get some nice desks and chairs for the rooms - the desk and chair they show in the room photo look uncomfortable to use for serious amounts of work.
Yeah I posted the link. (shameless self plug) the desk in that room is admittedly pretty small, but we have better desk space for about 8 people to work at throughout the living room and side room (although the city will only let us have up to 5 ppl).
The house is free for startups. We're putting the last room of the house on airbnb in an attempt to help pay the bills to let the everyone else stay there. We would need to rent out that room about 16 nights a month to break even. It's not realistic to expect anything as close as that, but every little bit helps.
If there's no demand on airbnb for the last room, we'll simply let another startup take it.
The energy is electric here in KC right now. The KCSV has stirred up quite the buzz. Finally, the old school nicknames of "cowtown" and "flyover" are being put to rest. Welcome to the 21st century frontier, y'all. Saddle up! Errr, make that Fiber Up! :)
Why is that?