Where Do You Innovate?
As we say hello to 2017 we reflect on 2016. Over the past year our team has met with and interviewed over a dozen prominent entrepreneurs based in San Diego, one of the most innovative cities in the U.S, as our part of reviving Startup Grind San Diego.
This privilege has afforded us the opportunity to learn a great deal, and being Chapter Directors of Startup Grind has empowered us to share this knowledge with you. We reconnected with some of the past speakers and asked them the very question that we get asked by our own ideators quite often: Where Do You Innovate Most? Below we hear from leaders in the Marketing and Advertising, Commercial Real Estate and Internet Industries:
“Innovation stems from creativity, and I find the best creative energy comes from doing things totally non-work-related. Whether it’s surfing or taking my dog on a long walk, the time spent thinking about other things frees my mind to come up with new ideas. After that, innovation is a collaborative process, involving our entire team. The hardest part of innovating is building the innovation, and since many people are usually involved, it is critical to get feedback and buy-in from the team.” – Lars Helgeson (GreenRope)
“I get my best ideas when I travel internationally. When I’m challenged to look at the world differently, I gain the perspective I need to see my business and life in a new light.” – Felena Hanson (Hera Hub)
“For Rev – I am currently focused on how our customers prepare and use our end products in their workflow. I am constantly trying to build new features to reduce work or add incremental value before or after Rev orders are placed and received.
For Startup San Diego & general startup mentoring – I am trying to think of new ways to help aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs to validate their ideas faster. Each new concept has many, unique ways to approximate the idea with little to no technical work. The trick is coming up with the best possible tests that best represent and allow you to confirm the underlying hypothesis.” – Austin Neudecker (Rev.com and Startup San Diego)
“My most creative times are first thing in the morning. The world is silent and calm; there are no interruptions and I’m free to focus on a single item that needs reworked, fixed, or transformed. I don’t check the news, or emails, or my stock portfolio. Instead, I devote this time to thinking through my most critical challenges.” Steven Cox (TakeLessons.com)
From surfing to traveling to testing and morning rituals, our entrepreneurs show us that innovation comes from all around us. Lars, Felena, Austin, Steven and many more shared numerous life lessons, insights, and expectations of the future that you can catch in their videos. Navigate to the Startup Grind San Diego page to watch their fireside chats.
And with that we’d like to say thank you to our members, sponsors, and volunteers over the past year: Google for Entrepreneurs, Intuit Developer, Ideator, The Vine, Union Cowork, and San Diego Date Ideas.
Can’t get enough of Startup Grind? Neither can we. Two of those very volunteers stepped up and will now lead Startup Grind San Diego into 2017. We are more than happy to pass the torch to dear friends, and fellow die hard startup grinders: Brandon Christopher and Mia Mian.
We’ll see you at their first event of 2017! Secure your tickets here.
