Micropreneurial Magic

I attended a great meetup earlier this week hosted by the Los Angeles Lean Startup Circle at CoLoft in Santa Monica.  The guest speaker was Rob Walling, a well-known Solo Entrepreueur aka “Micropreneur”.  Despite the fact that the pizza delivery guy was over an hour late, Walling saved the day, providing colorful insight and helpful tips to a crowd generally comprised of coders and business guys.

So why was I there?  I don’t write code, though sometimes I speak in it.  I am not hawking my latest app, but I like to use them.  I was there to meet the crowd and learn about what makes this up-and-coming tech hub tick and, of course, to pimp CALinnovates and the great work done by our organization.  Besides free beer, pizza, t-shirts and a few of Walling’s books (and e-books loaded onto laser pointer pen thumb drives (how’s that for innovative?), this youngish crowd was convinced that it will undoubtedly create the next big thing with the right revenue model, great code and brass knuckles marketing.

At the end of the day, Walling’s words of wisdom will undoubtedly help the next set of entrepreneurs make their mark (and their money) if there is wider access to their products.  How can we help these guys succeed?  Well, right now, too many potential consumers are being left out in the cold due to limited or no connectivity.  If we continue to implement common sense policies and encourage private sector investment in expanding access to high-speed mobile broadband while increasing spectrum to meet (or, better yet, EXCEED) data demands then many of these micropreneurs will succeed.

I’m going to continue attending meetups and conferences as often as possible to meet as many tech innovators as I can.  They’re the ones at the forefront of CALinnovates’ mission of creating new jobs and spurring investment in tech-friendly policies across the state.

Thanks to @coloft and Rob for an awesome evening.  Can’t wait for the next session.