Hey everyone! Happy monday, and happy first day above 32 degrees!
As Director of Startup Grind Buffalo I asked several of the team members to write guest blog posts regarding what they like (or dislike) about Startup Grind.
The first guest blog is by Peter Cimino, who works on Startup Grinds social media, community relations, and is involved in A LOT of other Buffalo organizations. Peter is one of the funniest, hardworking, and most genuine people I have ever met.
I hope to see you at our next event March 25th, 6 pm at DIG (640 Ellicott Street). Adrian Dayton will be our featured speaker, and he has a great story to tell. Adrian went from lawyer, to social media consultant, to startup founder. Along the way he has raised over $400,000, and has 10 of the nations largest law firms using his software!
Details can be found at: http://bit.ly/MARCH25TH
Thanks Peter for these excellent thoughts!
My Reasons for Loving Startup Grind Buffalo
I love meeting new people, and I love seeing Buffalo grow! I have been here all of my life, 44 years in fact. And recently, I have seen many changes in Buffalo, with the HarborCenter, new hotels, bars and restaurants, Canalside and even Riverworks and so much more. Buffalo has shown that it has finally turned the page to a new chapter, from being the old Blue Collar “Rust Belt” city it has always beenknown for. A large part of the change came in the form of the 43North competition, which put Buffalo on the map as being a “Startup City”. But little did anyone know that there was a movement afoot,before 43North, that developer’s, programmers and designers along with others were trying to make a difference with helping Buffalo becomes a “Startup City”. There were Hackathons, and Startup Weekends and Barcamps to help people meet and grow an idea, in a short period of time, but those were the people who were already in the know and were already connected. For most people there wasn’t a forum that was available where individuals who had ideas or needed help to start something could learn from other successes . Well in March 2014, one of my friends from 43North came back from New York City, and he had attended a Startup Grind there and said this is something that needs to come to Buffalo. I jumped at the chance to be a part of it. 1 year ago this month is when it all started. After bringing a group together that was ready, willing and able, and a leader, Eben Piazza, emerged to take on the challenge of starting the Startup Grind Buffalo Chapter. We are about to put on our 10th event, and I can say we did what we set out to do. We have created a forum where people can come and meet successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, and support systems like Startup CEL,Launch NY and VCAMP, Z80 labs, legal help and so much more. I go to many different events here and one thing that I can say is different at this event is that it is a very engaging event. That means if you want to meet the speaker on any given night, you can! I have seen many meaningful conversations, and in some cases our speakers have been the last person to leave the event as they wanted to talk to anyone that came to meet them. I have seen many relationships grow, new ideas come from these meetings and different faces each time we put them on. This event highlights what is great about being entrepreneurs in Buffalo and I am happy that we worked to bring this excellent event to Buffalo!
Peter rocking Startup Grind as usual: