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Valuable Lessons, Celebrations and Philosophy

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The Barcamp Nashville Crew!

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Promise for High Growth Technology in Tennessee

Today I had lunch with Christine McDonnell, Vice President of Existing Business & Entrepreneurship - Economic Development at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, and Eric Cromwell, President and CEO of the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation at Bricktops to discuss PodCamp, BarCamp and how all of these organizations (or un-organizations in BarCamp’s case) could come together to improve the situation for technology entrepreneurs in Tennessee. They were both very passionate and enthusiastic about what is being done at BarCamp, and they both have some great ideas of there own on how we could utilize our strengths to really make a difference here.

I understand this plight all too well, as I was launching my fledgling company “Remarkable Wit” (which is now holding its own), I found it very hard to convey the essence of my company to potential funders. Now, I’m kind of happy it worked out the way it did because it forced me to get some real revenue and prove my model in order to survive, but I have a lot more credence in town than many other aspiring hackers/entrepreneurs and I can see why so many start-ups never start up. There really does need to be more communication between those of us in the know, and those who have the means to enable those in the know. I know of a few startups right now that should be off the ground, but they just haven’t gotten their funding secured yet. It’s a bit to frustrating to watch, honestly.

Having lunch with them really made me proud of the work that the BarCamp Nashville Crew has done thus far to promote and celebrate Internet focused communities and companies in Middle Tennessee. I think there may be very good things that come from this meeting, and I applaud the Chamber and TTDC for reaching out to us to seek a way to work together. I’m predicting more great events and forums in the future, held in our beautiful city of Nashville.

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24 January 2008 comments [7] TrackBack-URI

I’m really loving 2008.

I just want to thank everyone who believed that I could do this. 2008 is looking like an incredible year for business, and for every “good luck” and “we know you can do it” that I received I humbly offer a single “Thank You” in return.

I’m doing a few things in the next few weeks that I want to highlight:

- Making my first full time job offer to a great guy for the position of Senior Developer at Remarkable Wit. (Fingers Crossed!!!)
- Interviewing Andi Gutmans from Zend, again :) This time for a podcast Remarkable Wit is going to launch on all web technologies.
- Kicking off two incredibly cool projects with Remarkable Wit, and I’ll launch an official site for RW.
- Attending, Hosting and Enjoying “PodCamp Nashville”
- Visiting my new favorite place on Earth, Santa Monica, for the fourth time in five months.

I’ve also nearly doubled my Facebook friends with old high school friends that I am so happy to be reconnected with. Facebook really is fresh.

It’s just such a great time. 2008 is bringing the love.

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