It started with an innocuous Tweet from Victor Hwang, former Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation.
What if people hosted “start-warming parties”? Like housewarming parties but for startup ventures or projects.
And what if everyone brought a gift to help it get launched?
— Victor W. Hwang (@rainforestbook) January 23, 2020
This simple concept soon exploded on the #EcosystemBuilding Twitter-verse (in relative terms, the Ecosystem Building Twitter-verse is still pretty tiny). Other Ecosystem Builders began to respond to Victor, sharing their experience trying something similar.
We actually did something like this, called it a kickoff party & invited friends, colleagues, past mentors and professors, basically anybody who was a well wisher. My alma mater hosted us and we presented our MVP. We planned this for 30 days from the launch of our idea…
— Startup Space (@startupspaceapp) January 24, 2020
It was an amazing experience. We were able to share some customer validation and we had a “safe space” to get early feedback and support from our community. The early days are the hardest and this get together have us some much needed moral support.
— Startup Space (@startupspaceapp) January 24, 2020
Soon, people were adding new ideas to the concept. @paigehewlett asked, “What if that gift was skills, like email marketing set up, or foundational bookkeeping skills?”
@steven_m_coen asked, “What if everyone brought one introduction, preferably of a potential customer or power user over a potential investor?”
@ajshcolz in Portland chimed it to share that “There’s a woman doing business showers, like baby showers, but for startups.”
@marazepeda clarified the details
Yep yep! They are called “Business Showers” (I think?!) with a focus on women of color owned businesses. And the genius behind them is @AJMcCreary! She’s just starting up. Ask her all about it!
— Mara Zepeda (@marazepeda) January 24, 2020
Further action on the thread revealed that there are even startups with products and services that support the concept.
@rainforestbook That’s the business model for founder @zclarke‘s startup, Business Gift Registry. It’s like the baby shower gift registry for startups. She’s a @GoogleStartups alum, check her out.
— Doug Speight (@DougSpeight) January 24, 2020
Let us know if you do! We’re a platform for founders to post registry style lists of what they need, recently worked with the city of Stockton, would love to talk more about it! https://t.co/s6BrZRtFPJ
— Shine Registry (@shineregistry) January 24, 2020
It has been fun to watch this thread on Twitter and see how Ecosystem Builders are connecting (ala ESHIP Goal 4 – Connected Networks), to share ideas and successful programs.
Intrigued by the idea or have experiences with the concept that you’d like to share. Follow the thread on Twitter and join in the conversation.
