Tuesday Randomness: Insider Louisville highlights, the Big Four and Shakespeare

From the Big Four at night

I love my job. I can't imagine what I could possibly enjoy more than talking to inspiring people and then writing about those conversations.

Yes, at times, we at Insider Louisville refer to ourselves as "the Band of Misfit Toys." We're an odd bunch, but when you combine having the stomach to survive a startup AND being journalists, it isn't a big surprise that people willing to do both are a bit... off.

And lately– not to jinx myself or anything– things have just seemed to gel. Today when I finished an interview I, as always, thanked the subjects for sharing their stories with me. And one of the subjects responded, "I can't think of anyone better to go to with this." When I tried to postpone another interview until next week, the subject told me that the news was happening this week, and he said, "And I wanted to make sure you had first crack at the story." (Obviously, I canceled the reschedule.)

I've gotten emails from moms and dads thanking me for stories about their kids. I've gotten emails from moms (no dads yet) admonishing me for not writing about their kids (I'm working on it!). A subject's grandma wanted a "paper version" of a story I wrote (I had to say, "just print it out.")

Thank you, innovators and entrepreneurs and artists of Louisville for sharing your stories with me. I'm so lucky, and I am learning so much from you.

Some of my favorite recent stories:

YPAS and Walden Theatre alumn cast as second principal role in Broadway's ONCE... I haven't gotten to interview Adam Brown yet, but I'm working on it. Thanks to Walden's Isaac Spradlin for putting this news in my email inbox.

Roobiq reps Louisville in Silicon Valley... Adam Fish, who relocated his business, Roobiq, from Louisville to San Francisco came back for a visit and sat down with me and co-founder John Receveur to talk about his time at an accelerator and how the Valley was treating him.

Custom Rubber Composites: Lean manufacturing in Louisville... It's a dry business– manufacturing parts for heavy-duty conveyor belts– but fascinating to see a local manufacturer employing Lean Startup principals to their business. I also taught two of the co-founder's daughters, so it was nice to talk shop with a family I like.

GE announces new appliance line for Millennials by Millennials... This was the most popular post on the week it came out. I have to believe that it was because I chose to focus on the "this line was designed by a former intern" angle. All other local news focused on the appliances themselves.

Forest Giant puts teachers through a "mini-hackathon"... How could I not love this story? It brought me back together with Dave Durand, founder of Forest Giant and the big brain behind the startup team, City Anchor, that I won Startup Weekend with back in September. Dave remains a hero of mine.

To browse through more of my stories, visit my Contributor page for Insider Louisville.

Other cool stuff I've been doing:

The Big Four bridge is everything everyone says it is. It's a perfect 1.5 mile round trip walk almost to Indiana. The BF and I went late one night. I'll have to check it out during the day. I'm ashamed it took me so long, but I will be a regular.

I'm ambivalent about TWELFTH NIGHT at Shakespeare in the Park. It was long (we left at intermission around 10p) and kind of full of pomp. And non-Louisville actors? Unfortunate. But I am not ambivalent about the experience. There are few things nicer than watching theatre outdoors on a lovely summer evening. Bring snacks and non-alcoholic beverages. You can buy alcohol there. Don't believe the website when it says there's pre-show entertainment; there wasn't when we went.

On the same night I went to Shakespeare, I went to Burger Boy Diner. Yes, it's a greasy-spoon diner, but yes, it was also fantastic. Fabulous service, a reasonably well-appointed jukebox. I got a burger and fries for under $6 and couldn't have been happier with the experience.

CityAnchor Wins Startup Weekend Louisville

So last week, I told you about Startup Weekend, the first event of its kind here in Louisville.

I've been a little slow in getting this out on the blog because (a) I was so exhausted after the event that I spent Monday on the couch with my sick Guy watching a Wire: Season One marathon (b) I've been so busy promoting CityAnchor that I haven't had the chance to write about it on my own damned blog and (c) I will be covering IdeaFestival for WFPL this week, and I need to bang out a bunch of work before I can go and be smart for a couple of days.

The news in a nutshell: I was on the winning team for Startup Weekend.

I was the only woman at the 40+ person event.

Our team was the smallest team.

We were the only team to launch with a live product: a local arts, culture, and food blog aggregator.

We were the only team to launch having earned revenue.

The team: Dave Durand, the designer, is the CEO of Forest Giant. Shane Logsdon is a back end web developer with Blackstone Media and a freelancer. Ukiah Smith is a front end web developer for Power Creative and owner of Faction42, a company that creates websites. And me, of course... doing project management and networking.

But rather than reinvent the wheel, I direct you to the three articles I wrote for Insider Louisville:

Day One: The Woman-Problem

Day Two: Dream Team

Day Three: My wild weekend

Our story also got picked up by Business First, our local business newspaper.  Here's an example of why I adore my team so much... This story references Dave as being the "team leader" and doesn't mention the rest of us at all. At Startupapalooza, where CityAnchor managed to field a booth even though we'd only existed as a company for a couple of days, Dave brought up the article and said, "I am not the leader, and I hate that he did that. I'm sorry guys."

We're going full speed ahead with the venture. I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, follow us on Twitter (@CityAnchor), like us on facebook, and visit the beta website at cityanchor.co.

Startup Weekend Louisville

A few weeks ago, lured by the "early bird discount" and a sudden loathing for the job-hunt process, I signed up to take part in Startup Weekend Louisville.

Startup Weekend is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, but held events in over 100 countries in 2011 and its event facilitators are located in more than 200 cities worldwide.

I still don't really know all that much about the event. It basically runs from 630p on Friday night til 9pm on Sunday. It's a team competition, but it seems a little less cutthroat and more creative. Check out the schedule here. But here's what the website says:

All Startup Weekend events follow the same basic model: anyone is welcome to pitch their startup idea and receive feedback from their peers. Teams organically form around the top ideas (as determined by popular vote) and then it’s a 54 hour frenzy of business model creation, coding, designing, and market validation. The weekends culminate with presentations in front of local entrepreneurial leaders with another opportunity for critical feedback.

Whether entrepreneurs found companies, find a cofounder, meet someone new, or learn a skill far outside their usual 9-to-5, everyone is guaranteed to leave the event better prepared to navigate the chaotic but fun world of startups. If you want to put yourself in the shoes of an entrepreneur, register now for the best weekend of your life!

Back in the summer before my Junior year in high school, my economics teacher nominated me for a place in a nerd summer camp. It was called Business Week or something like that, and it was a gathering of Connecticut economics nerds at Connecticut College. There we were to live in the dorms, take business and marketing classes, and -- in teams-- create an imaginary ballpoint pen company, finance it, and market the pens. All of this took place over the course of a nigh-sleepless seven days. 

I was accepted, but the tuition was too much. Just as I was about to turn it down, my grandpa swooped in and paid it for me. 

It was the Best. Week. EVER! (at least to 16 year-old me). I made fast friends with a bunch of nerds. Totally fell in ooey-gooey love with the cutest guy on my team, Dave, who lived all the way across the state (he might as well have lived in California for car-less Melissa). 

We pulled all nighters (no, not for teen hanky panky, although there may have been a smidgen of that-- for planning and marketing). We made a commercial for our pen that was set to the tune of George Michaels' "I Want Your Sex" and featured me and a couple of other of my female teammates dressed up like the women in Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" video. Because even at that age, we all knew what sells.

I had a blast. My team won. Dave and I dated on and off through freshman year of college (more off than on) until he became an intolerable stoner. And my entrepreneurial spirit was born.

I hope Startup Weekend goes as well. I don't need to "win," and I don't need a "Dave." But I do need a little nudge and a lot of inspiration. There are still spots available for Developers, Designers, and Non-Tech types (like me). The cost is only $99 and includes 7 meals. It's a steal. Maybe you can come join us?