1-Dimensional.

It used to be that my greatest fear would be that — to be this 1-dimensional “being” that is known for one thing only and when that thing hits the skids the game is over. 1-Dimensional, 1 Trick Pony, Being the Guy who played “Potsie” on Happy Days, Being Andrew Dice Clay.

Look, when I come out from behind my little “humorous” trite things its really something I worried about. Note “worried.” While that is a concern, my concern now is that I’ve spent my time as an entrepreneur/consultant/small business owner doing things that I like.

Those of you that know me understand that I am now involved with a new venture, Turnswing. It is one of the most interesting things I have done in 10 years. I am finally doing something that I like to do. The plus is I am now doing it with a tight network of people that “work” with me very well, respect where I’ve been and want to help us all take things to the next level.

Where I transitioned from was a successful consultancy that I built with some partners over five years but, in the end it got messy and we parted ways very, very painfully — in a way. The exit was cathartic, it drew me closer to my family and those that could understand what I was going through. It forced me to revisit every move (oh and now THAT sounds fun) in my business career and think about it not from the perspective of someone just going through the tactical bit of it, but from someone looking at it from the sidelines.

I will hash through that in another post. Here however I wanted to share a simple epiphany.

I just moved to the Providence area and I was so excited to be so close (relatively speaking) to Boston’s high-tech corridor and metroplex. It gave me a chance to get close to the movers and shakers on this side of the country. I have gone to a great number of Boston Startup Meetup sessions and even sat in on some great startup-meetup venture capital sessions.

More on my comments about what I saw in another post (I need to keep on message in this one — one of my failings on which I am working)

I didn’t like one thing. Mohammed had to come to the mountain. I forgot to mention how much I’ve grown to hate driving and traffic, didn’t I? I had to drive to Boston, Waltham, etc. It blows (for me).

So while I was cleaning my garage with my kids, it occured to me how conceieted I was. “Why” I said to myself, “Self, what about a startup community in Providence?” “What about a startup community where you can be involved and drive only 15 minutes in crappy traffic?”

So I spent the afternoon A.G. (after garage) looking for startups in the area. I must say, it looked a little slim but I have some interesting starts for gatherings and meetings.

  • First I saw providence: ~geeks$. Yes that is what the title of thier site is. and it had a lot about their series of “Geek Dinners” which was a cool way to “form” some meeting situations. (a lot of lawyers are sponsoring these events. My fear is that there are probably more lawyers than startups in Providence).
  • Second I saw the Brown Enterprise Forum. I joined on the spot. $30. That’s the ticket. Now if my online registration really worked that’d be even cooler. Somehow I feel I just joined the website of some Phisher in Nebraska buying a case of beer and Slim Jim’s wiith my credit card tonight… I’ll call Master Card in the morning. Regardless, my analysis of their site found three things (1) their benefits are to offer some very, very elementary startup business information (so it must be for students and recent graduates) (2) they have a focus on life sciences as well as others but life sciences is key (3) there are even more lawyers and real estate people on here than actual companies (or venture capitalists). Regardless, I think its the beginning of a rocking relationship (when my ID is activated I’ll know more)

    • So I am playing “all politics is local” card and looking into this. I hate going far, I love participating in a local scene, and I think I will be of some help to these companies.

    The search for “Providence Startup” is slim, so is the search for “Providence High Tech“

    I hope I don’t have to buy a commuter rail card for the MBTA.

    Later,

    V