We have met a lot of experienced technology talent here in North Carolina lately that are on the sidelines. Some are leaders. Some are developers. What they have in common is that they are all thinking about what they want to do next. Of course, we want to be supportive. A few weeks ago David and I were talking and recognized the chances of them connecting with each other at a conference would just be luck.
So today we hosted a small version of that group at our office for two and a half hours. It included former execs and developers from companies like Red Hat, Google, Yahoo, Blackboard and a few others. I appreciate all of them making the time. The goal was for that group to meet, exchange ideas and with my fingers crossed, maybe a new company will emerge from it? Who knows. Its worth trying.
We kept the format very informal. We started by going around the room and everyone spent a couple of minutes talking about their background and what they did in 2009. A few talked about projects they are working on with some of those having gained some nice traction so far. They talked about interesting business and technology trends that they see. They also talked about what they need to start a new company. Of course, capital was talked about, but it is clear that a lot of them were also looking for a business partner. In the end, we made sure everyone on the list was connected with contact information.
The feedback that we received so far has been positive. I think we had a nice mix of people in the room. A couple people knew each other already, but for most, it was building new relationships. I know a few of the people in the room are planning to follow up and get together on their own tomorrow. That's great! We'll see what happens. And, I think we will do another one of these again soon.
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