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Start-up: The Journey

Moving into a co-working space was one of the best things we could have done for the Pass the Plate business. In Winston Salem there are a few options, and we choose to work out of Flywheel. There are several reasons why.

  1. Energy – Being around other start-up companies and other entrepreneurs makes for a good environment. Throw in a few people that work for larger companies but do so remotely, and what you have is a stew of interesting people with many different skills and backgrounds.
  2. Mentors – It is good to be abound people that have been around the block, we can use their experience to help solve a few of our problems.

    Flywheel Coffee bar with community wall in the background

    Flywheel Coffee bar with community wall in the background

  3. Coffee – In my office that means Krankies Coffee fresh brewed… all day…
  4. Community – There are more than 30 different companies that work out of my location. A few of them are larger and have 4-8 employees, some are start ups, others include several attorneys and an accountant or two, a few web developers… you get the picture.
  5. Conference Rooms – While some businesses do not require meetings, others do.  Just having the access to conference rooms that are equipped with white boards, projectors or screens etc. is a nice thing.

In the next post, we will talk about the many different ways that Pass the Plate has become more involved in the community.  If you are reading this and you are a start up, then it may give you a few ideas of how you can become involved in your local start up community. If you are reading this and are not a start up, and are just wanting to learn more about the folks over at Pass the Plate, then great!  These posts will hopefully let you know that we are people too. We are just a group of guys who decided to together to try to make the world a better place one donation at a time. This is our story.

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Startup Weekend – Winston-Salem, NC

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My Startup Weekend began with a trip to Washington DC. The day before I had driven to Washington DC to meet with the  programming team at OmniTi.

We needed to re-evaluate our scope and focus on the next release of the Pass The Plate. With the “Launch itus” issues experienced with the first release, it was important that we have a clean transition into the second build-out.

Friday morning, I had a meeting in Washington DC called Ask a VC DC.  This was an event where there were several venture capital groups. The idea was that startups could ask them questions in an open round table format. When the event ended at noon, I drove back to Winston Salem.

Oh yea… when I drive, I listen to Audible (books on tape) this trip the selection was ScalingUp by Verne Harnish. This is a book written for the Gazelle training group and part of which included the Rockefeller Habits.

This background is to help frame my mindset as I was entering into the Startup Weekend. I had spent the past 2 days in intensive meetings relating to all things Pass The Plate and was looking forward to 54 hours of insanity. -lol

To cut to the chase, first things first… Startup Weekend is a great experience for anyone that wants to learn more about the Startup process.  Even if you are a seasoned entrepreneur, this experience is worth the time and effort. I recommend everyone to go through a Startup Weekend as a participant. Chances are you will come back, either to participate again, or to coach.

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I took away several items from Startup Weekend. First and foremost, I learned how to compact a learning curve from hypothesis, to test, to results to MVP. This will be very important as Pass The Plate goes through future iterations. Second, I learned that there is lots of talent in my own backyard.

It was a pleasure to see two North Carolina A&T students banging out their project. They outworked everyone else and stayed the night Saturday working on their project. It was exciting to see a Wake Forest grad student propose an idea that he had been brainstorming – he got teamed up with an experienced bio medical professional to put a project in motion that could speed up drug trials using computer science.

To make things even better, a member of my own team was a IT recruiter, and one of the coaches that worked with our group ran a local design and marketing firm.

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At the time of this writing, Pass The Plate has contacted the two seniors from NC A&T and has an interview with them next week for them to work on a small project as in interview. We look forward to hiring a few talented individuals, and the Startup Weekend provided great contacts in that area.

– Graham Treakle

 

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For God so loved the world he “gave”

For God so loved the world he “gave”.

We serve a giving God. We reflect his glory when we ourselves participate in giving. Sacrificial, heartfelt and genuine giving will make everyone around you better and bring great honor to God. In fact as a Christian broadcaster, I’ve thought about starting a Christmas radio format to run all 12 months of the year. Not just November and December, but all year round-to highlight the greatness and Godliness of giving.

Do you know anyone that doesn’t want to receive a gift?

Furthermore, everyone always says it’s the ‘giving’ that brings more enjoyment then the ‘getting’ – especially at Christmas time. But one may ask, what about motives? Do you give to get? The Bible says clearly, ‘The Lord loves a cheerful giver’. A true giver gives unconditionally from the heart and expects nothing in return.

Take a moment and think about giving from the perspective of the Divine. What do we have to offer God in return for is amazing gift of salvation to us? How can we ever repay Him? In His giving to us we have the essence of the Gospel. What a beautiful picture: A holy God pouring out lavish grace on undeserving, guilty sinners-Romans 5:8. Now that’s the gift that keeps on giving! Ultimately we’re compelled to be givers to experience God’s grace, to reflect His giving to our selfish, ‘taking’, self-serving world to our great and giving God & His wondrous gift of salvation.

So this year, 2015 & beyond let us be consumed with giving actively,proactively randomly. Remember, God gives to you so He can give through you.  Let us Pour everything we have and everything we are into the kingdom of God and the lives of other. Let us demonstrate and model the very God who loved us so much that he “gave”.

– Stuart Epperson Jr.

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