What we’re about
The purpose of this Meetup is to provide a place where people with ideas for tech business ideas can discuss their concepts (whether they are very basic or well developed), get feedback, and possibly get assistance in their project. The focus (to start) is primarily on efforts like social media applications, as well as more hardware oriented ideas - like those you might see on Kickstarter.
This group is different in that it is somewhat like an idea incubator, a "safe zone" where people can discuss their ideas - crazy as they may be - with others and get valuable feedback. Is the idea viable, need refinement, ready to go, or the next "perpetual motion machine" and thus not really going to go anywhere?
When we come up with or "create" new ideas, we don't always have good ways to get honest feedback. We aren't all business experts. We may not feel comfortable going to a bigger start up business or tech group at first. And we can't always discuss these ideas with people from our work (due to possible conflicts.)
So, with this group, we can have the place to discuss these ideas and see how "real" they are and how (or if) they are worth pursuing. There are only a few guidelines and one main rule. The guidelines are to come in with an open mind, don't be belittling or overly negative, don't be unwilling to take constructive criticism and be willing to participate in the discussions. The rule is that you can't steal someone else's idea discussed during the meetings. We need to be able to have open and free discussions. If that means creating some kind of agreements, we will.
The people who should join are those with innovative and creative ideas (or that plan to develop such ideas) that might possibly even be the next Instagram or Pebble watch. Remember, they should also be willing to take constructive criticism and give the same advice to others. We all should want to succeed with our ideas (if and when they are ready) and to not want to waste time on impossible (at least for now) ideas.
We will also be looking at and discussing the mechanics of the Kickstarter (and similar) processes. This may start out being the "blind leading the blind" but we'll either find the knowledge to leverage or develop it. Ideas are great to have, and great ideas are even better. But if the idea isn't presented in a way that can gather funding (or that grabs people's interest so they want to use the app, etc.), then success won't be achieved. We should put the appropriate focus on doing things the right way so we do achieve success.
We live in a very innovative area. There are probably untold numbers of ideas that people in the area come up with but don't pursue. Then, a few months later, the idea (now a product or app) becomes a commercially available product from someone else. Maybe with this group, the "someone else" may be one (or several) of our members.
So let's get started!
