Its been a number of months since my last cheerleader post and frankly, you guys were missing them. 😉
Don’t give me the aw shucks shoulder roll. You have come to expect a little “yea team” every few posts.
Would it help if I couch this in a “what am I thankful for this fall”? Well, here goes my smiley, cheerleaderee, thankfully post for the fall. Enjoy!
Last week I attended a monthly dinner in Washington, DC. This is an invite-only, everything off-the-record, group of nationally-known VC’s, startup mavens, experienced entrepreneurs, and me. I feel lucky to be invited and I have made half so far. (The drive up I-85 kills me and I am too cheap to fly.)
The November social was my favorite so far. There were 17 people gathered around a private room with an open bar. That is enough to get me smiling. The dinner was sponsored so there were free steaks from a high-end steak house. Now were talking. But most of us have been lucky enough to be in those situations. Why was this my favorite so far?
Raleigh/Durham. I had a couple private and even more public (in the room) unsolicited discussions about what is happening in good ole RTP. Everyone wanted to know what the heck was going on down here. The talk track started like this, “I hear unbelievable things about the startup scene down there. It must be very exciting.” It became one of the open discussions among the group.
There are two take-aways for me.
First, that the awareness of what is happening is going viral. For all of the hard work by so many to build great companies and the marketing/PR we all try to execute, that despite those efforts the word is spreading. A rising tide floats all boats so hang on!
Secondly, we should feel grateful. Grateful for all the little things that so many are doing that together add up to something very special.
GOOOOOO TEAMMM!