A Letter to the People of Columbus, OH by Luke Murray - Lexington Ky entrepreneur

(Ben's note: Luke is a Lexington Based entrepreneur who owns a runs Awesome Inc. a coworking/entrepreneur business accelerator colony in Lexington Ky.)

Awesome Inc. exists to establish, grow, and connect the hi-tech, creative, and entrepreneurial communities in Lexington, KY.

We are a hi-tech lab, a creative studio space, a coworking space for entrepreneurs, and a venue to host meetings and events for these three communities.

by Luke Murray


Dear Members of the Hi Tech, Creative, and Entrepreneurial Communities of Columbus,



I visited your fine city a couple weeks ago in order to attend an Innovation Series Event put on by Ben & Sandy Blanquera about Local iPhone and Mobile Innovation & Development . I’m planning on bringing a mobile phone technology conference to Columbus in January, so this seemed the perfect opportunity to meet the folks in the community that would know the most about this scene. Being that I own a collaborative workspace for engineers, artists, and entrepreneurs I also wanted to see what I could learn about those in your city that live at this intersection of technology, creativity, and startups. Often we become so accustomed to our own environments that we don’t realize and appreciate their unique and admirable qualities. I’ve written this letter to remind you of these quirks and qualities of your great community.

The ‘hotspots’ of entrepreneurship in your community are simultaneously isolated and integrated. When I first arrived at the Dublin Entrepreneur Center (the DEC) I was surprised at how little there was surrounding it. It wasn’t on or near a commercialized strip or even restaurants. At first this struck me as a particularly undesirable thing (since my organization - which is my only frame of reference - is on Main Street in downtown Lexington), but as I walked through the space and met some of the thriving companies inside, it began to make much more sense.

Parking was plentiful and not crowded, the lack of ‘distractions’ surrounding the building set it apart as a place where you come to do value-creating work, and the space inside allowed companies to move grow much more easily than if they were having to jump from one office to another around downtown.

Avitae, a startup that makes caffeinated water, took advantage of this exact situation and slowly expanded its operation one office at a time on the 4th floor until they had outgrown the remaining space on that floor and had to move…down to the 3rd floor. How convenient!

At the same time, despite this apparent ‘isolation’ when I walked inside the DEC there were people in your community working together openly and connecting with each other. I had no trouble meeting people, as many of them were coming up to introduce themselves to me (Kevin Dwinnell of Brand Thunder introduced himself to me right off the elevator)! Also, I quickly found out that not only were they physically connected in how everyone seemed to know everyone, they were also incredibly networked digitally. Super connectors like both Ben ( @bblanquera) & Sandy ( @sblanquera) Blanquera, as well as Rocky Vanbrimmer ( @rockson), Jody Dzuranin ( @jodyncolumbus), and Jon Myers ( @jonmyers) are all connected via social media and seem to really be able to pull together a social gathering of any kind. Also, the physical layout of the community is connected to each other as well. I visited the TechColumbus incubator and the coworking spaces in the area and they all seemed to be right in the heart of the action.

The city is really supportive of what’s going on financially and logistically. Willie Neumann’s 14ninetytwo program (a ycombinator-esque bootcamp/investment fund for entrepreneurs in the mobile and/or web space) is being supported on all levels by local government and community members. At the event he talked about 14NinetyTwo’s Weekend of Discovery that was scheduled to begin the next day and it sounded like he had put together a great program.

Your community is thriving, both in size and energy. The DEC is HUGE! The number of companies in there, the average size of companies, etc. are all impressive. Also, the number of places that house these communities is much larger than I realized. As I mentioned, I stopped by TechColumbus and all three coworking spaces in town on my visit. I spent a considerable amount of time at Sandbox with David Hunegnaw ( @hunegnaw) and Tina Goodman ( @tinagoodman) and was really impressed by their enthusiasm and genuine care for the creative and entrepreneurial community of Columbus as a whole (not just of their specific coworking space).



I also stopped by Indiehouse and Qwirk to see how they were setup. Everyone was very welcoming and it seems like the coworking ‘environment’ on a whole is rapidly trending upwards, as each shop has similar stories and timelines of growth.

The energy of your city also shows itself in the turnouts it has for its events. Jon Myers’s launch party for his his company’s first iPhone app Cornhole Allstars was well attended, and both Columbus Startup Weekend events had some of the highest turnouts I’ve ever heard. Hats off to all the people that have contributed to and been a part of this growing, welcoming, and energetic community. A special thanks to Ben and Sandy Blanquera, & Rick Copland for their help in making sure I was able to get as thorough picture of the Columbus technological, creative, and startup communities in 24 short hours!

- Luke Murray, Awesome Inc.



Rule #17 Bring the fun.



P.S. A blog summary of the Local iPhone and Mobile Innovation & Development event, as well as a video interview of Jon Myers, Adam Winter (Joe Metric - great idea, btw), and myself can be found here courtesy of Sandy. http://columbustech.blogspot.com/2009/08/local-iphone-innovation-cornhole.html