Thanksgiving, Family, & The Process
Thanksgiving this year was about time to spend with family, reflecting on the exciting, fast pace of the past 6 months, and taking a much-needed short breather. In this reflection I realized we had something new to be grateful for this year: an application process.
Now, I have never been much for processes. When handed a form to fill out or a line to stand in I am usually the one driven crazy by the inefficiencies. But this has been different. This has been about being asked to push myself, receive constant feedback, and meeting a new sort of family.
To start at the beginning, nearly 3 months ago I hit “send” on our application to TechStars. Writing that application was one of the hardest things we had done up to that point in the development of Artsicle (we were in our infancy then). It forced us to debate every last detail of the business model (which all changed a month later) and answer that dreaded question, “why us?”. After that, I thought we were done.
It was just the beginning. Since then, we have had meetings with TechStars staff and alumni alike. Not one has felt like an interview. Never once have a left thinking, “man I wish I could have that hour back.” Instead I leave scrambling to make notes of follow ups and wondering when we’ll have time to see our new friends over a beer again.
As one example, after a coffee meeting we took the advice to reach out to Foodzie, a TechStars alumni company, who had similar experiences in building an e-commerce platform. A hour later we scrapped nearly everything we had built to work in Spree - some of the best advice we have received.
Throughout it all I have sensed something new growing in the NYC startup community. Energy is high, buzz is loud, but the feeling of family is increasingly strong. We are proud to be part of that family, to call fellow applicants and alumni alike truly friends.
So for the Thanksgiving holiday and as we get ready to hit “go” on our Beta product, I would like to give thanks for this journey. I look forward to seeing where the road leads us next.
