April 2011
Fresh from a BarCamp Rochester event last weekend, this Follow Friday edition is very tech/startup themed. There are a lot of great people and organizations in this area working very hard to make this a great place to start a business and life. Below are just a few that I’ve met in the last week or so. I know there are more out there so please don’t hesitate to share their names with me so we can meet!
UNY Startups (@UNYStartups)
Julian Baldwin only founded UNY Startups about a month ago, but it’s been a busy month and he’s hit up conferences and seminars all over Upstate NY since. I met him recently at a BarCamp Rochester event and we’ve had a chance to chat a little bit since then. His passion for startups and entrepreneurship is evident and UNY Startups is all about fostering communication and cooperation between groups to reinforce the entrepreneurial spirit in Upstate NY. He’s working very hard at consolidating information on all the tech/startup related events being put on by different groups across the region so be sure to follow them for a convenient place to get the scoop on what’s going on in your city.
Dan Magnuszewski (@magnachef)
Dan and I have been following each other on Twitter for a while but only got a chance to meet in real life this past weekend at BarCamp, which he and some fellow Buffalonians drove in to attend. Dan is the Chief Data Architect for startup My Favorites, a great way to share your favorite things with friends. In his “spare” time, Dan works tirelessly on the Western New York Open Data project to make data compiled by civil organizations available to the public (in a usable format).
Terry Martin (@tzmartin)
Terry is another member of the Buffalo contingent that drove in for BarCamp and it was our first time meeting, although I’d heard his name mentioned quite a few times before by mutual friends. Terry is the founder of Semantic Press. He’s also a mobile developer and advocate for Appcelerator’s Titanium platform. His presentation at BarCamp has me sold on Titanium and I’m looking forward to pestering him with endless questions about it.
Justin Groden (@justingroden)
Justin and I were introduced online through a mutual friend when his startup, Stampede.it was looking for a designer. Stampede.it offer deals on digital goods like web and mobile apps, traditional software, digital content, and social gaming. Justin would love to see an event like Hack Weekend Boulder happen in this area, so if that’s something you’re interested in, get in touch.
Todd Clausen (@ToddJClausen)
As the Young Professionals Editor for the Democrat and Chronicle, Todd and I have had some interesting conversations about the challenges and opportunities for young people here in Rochester. Todd’s column, both online and in print, is a great resource to the young professionals community and he works hard to profile and raise the visibility of local individuals and businesses who serve as examples of success for the rest of us.
Rob Speciale (@RobSpeciale)
Rob and I met for lunch a few weeks ago and had a great chat about the events he’s working on for the Rochester Young Professionals. As chairperson of their Professional Development committee, Rob is organizing some upcoming events designed to connect younger members of our community with role models within the local startup community.
March 2011
I’ve been “stalking” these two for weeks and all my hard work finally paid off this week. I was able to have a long Skype chat with Boston-based designer and web developer Jen Strickland from Ink Pixels Paper and a great lunch with Mike Gastin, president of Bob Wright Creative in Rochester, NY.
Designers should check out my chat with Jen. While awesome in general, there is a gem there regarding how she deals with project content. I’m curious to know if there are any other designers with the same policy. Please comment and let me know!
Jen Strickland (@inkpixelspaper)
I met Jen briefly at a Refresh Rochester event back in November 2010. Unfortunately I was leaving early the next morning for New York so we didn’t get a chance to talk for very long. We’ve communicated regularly on Twitter since then and I had a chance to have a long Skype chat with her this week. Jen is the creative force behind Boston-based Ink Pixels Paper. In addition to web and print design, Jen is also a musician and visual artist. Her work overflows with creativity influenced by those mediums. And her background is as colorful as her work; including an offer to work for Ian MacKaye (Fugazi) at Dischord Records and a stint at Aerosmith’s Boston club, MamaKin. One of the things I found most interesting about Jen, relative to web design, was that she doesn’t begin design work on any project without all the content up front. I don’t know how many other designers work this way but it makes SO much sense. If a designer’s job is to communicate an idea, how can they do that without content?
Mike Gastin (@mikegastin)
I really enjoyed getting a chance to finally sit down and chat with Mike. Particularly because although our lines of work are somewhat different, we both came to entrepreneurship in roughly the same manner. After a series of jobs, we both realized we didn’t like working for somebody else, that there would never be a “perfect” time to forge our own path, and that the best time was now. So in 2003, Mike’s entrepreneurial drive kicked in and he bought Bob Wright Creative, where he uses years of marketing and sales experience to expand the business through strategic development and to foster a culture of blessing. Check out the packaging design work they did for Wegmans. I love their use of color and texture, particularly on the BBQ sauce bottles. Just looking at them makes my mouth water. So you know their work is effective.
February 2011
Lexi Rodrigo (@lexirodrigo)
I started following Lexi on Twitter because of the great resources she provides for freelancers. Her blog, The Savvy Freelancer, has great articles and videos on topics like finding new clients, getting health insurance, tracking income and expenses, tax tips, etc. In addition to these resources, Lexi regularly holds free webinars, bringing in industry experts to present and do Q&A sessions. Lexi wasn’t always a freelancer however, and the knowledge she shares on her blog comes from experience. After 16 years working for Unicef helping others’ children, she wanted a career that let her spend more time with her own. So she struck out on her own, putting her experience copywriting and marketing to work for her own clients. Improving the quality of the copy on one client’s site so much, their average daily visitors increased ten-fold! Be sure to check out her blog and signup for her email for tips to help your freelance business and your clients’.
February 2011
While these Follow Friday guys have pretty different backgrounds, they all have one thing in common, they’re well connected and know how to hustle (in a good way). I’m really pleased with how things worked out this week. Timothy is someone I’ve wanted to chat with for a while, but working and attending classes full-time keeps him pretty busy. So I’m glad that finally worked out. Nick is someone I wanted to feature here but getting together in person didn’t seem likely since he’s relocating soon. I couldn’t believe my good luck when I found out John was meeting with Nick just prior to my scheduled meeting with John! And that Nick could stick around and chat for a while. It’s such a small world. Although I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that these two guys are connected.
Timothy Whalin (@TimothyWhalin)
Timothy and I have been following one another on Twitter for a while now but we finally managed to catch up and have a chat on Skype this week (he’s based in Colorado Springs, Colorado). During that chat, Timothy revealed his sinister plan to dominate the Twitterverse (ie: being followed by every web developer and designer). And he’s well on his way; tweeting quality web development and design related content about every 15 minutes. All day. Every week day. It won’t surprised me a bit when he pulls it off either. Timothy is motivated. Taking full-time classes, working full-time, and racking up some impressive design, branding, and marketing experience for such a young guy.
Nick Rovisa (@NickRovisa)
I met Nick a few weeks ago through the Rochester Twestival planning committee, which we both volunteer for. In the short time I’ve known Nick, we never got a chance to have a really in-depth conversation but he immediately impressed me as a very sharp, well connected, ideas guy. Nick has so many great ideas in fact, I think it’s going to be difficult for him to pick just one and roll with it. Nick is relocating shortly to New York City to work on social media for public relations firm Ruder Finn. Although it’s a great opportunity, I’m sorry to see him go before we got a chance to work on one of his great ideas.
John Exley (@JohnExley)
John and I met earlier this month at RIT for Brad Feld’s “Do more faster” book tour focused on startups. Like Nick, John immediately impressed me as a super bright guy with great ideas. So I was psyched to be able to sit down with him over coffee this week and chat. He’s currently working with Syncables, marketing their new product called LivePlay which will allow people to access their important files everywhere they go. John is startup obsessed, snagging amazing, insightful interviews with startup CEOs from around the globe for his personal blog, The X Factor.
February 2011
It seems like this week was pretty busy for everybody. But I did manage to catch up with some old friends already featured here, including Amber Rampino, Clark Dever, and the guy who kicked this whole thing off, Paul Gebel. And also meet one new one:
Stevan Stipanovich (@thestip)
Steve is a Buffalonian living in Rochester that I never would have met if it weren’t for a Rochesterian living in Buffalo who is now living back in Rochester. If that makes any sense. Steve is a project manager at Excellus who’s been involved in Voice of the Customer initiatives as well as social media and employee development projects. But his formal education and real passion is urban planning. In that capacity, he’s been involved in various improvement projects in Buffalo, including the Artspace/Midtown Neighborhood plan and Black Rock Riverside Good Neighbors Planning Alliance. The Black Rock project won an American Planning Association award and construction on that park (called Black River Canal Park on the Niagara River) will begin this summer, 2011. Steve’s pleased to be living in Rochester whose government he says, “truly ‘gets’ urban design”.
