If you’ve been to Pitchcrawl before or have heard of it, you know it’s a ton of fun and full of interesting and relevant people.

Here at Dishcrawl, our philosophy is [...]]]>

Pitchcrawl 3.0 in Downtown San Jose March 20th

Ah, a lovely new year.  2012 is shaping up nicely.  And so is the awesome serendipity in the air.

If you’ve been to Pitchcrawl before or have heard of it, you know it’s a ton of fun and full of interesting and relevant people.

Here at Dishcrawl, our philosophy is to perfect the serendipitous nature of any event, so we’ve made some more changes to optimize for awesome.

Below is a breakdown of what you can expect for the next Pitchcrawl.  Hope you join us on March 20th and let us know how you like it.

Wins of Pitchcrawl 1.0 and 2.0

• Intersection of interesting and relevant folks who wanted to meet each other
• Entrepreneurs practiced pitches and began building relationships with investors
• Investors were able to mentor a wide range of folks in the early stages of their startup

Pitchcrawl 3.0 Improvements

Sure, Pitchcrawl has added value to the startup community, but we want to make this event more amazing.  So we’ve come up with some interesting ways to improve your experience!

Checkout the twists we’ll be adding on March 20th.

Questions and Solutions

QUESTION 1:  How do you balance between coordinating so everyone talks to everyone (focus of 1.0) versus letting serendipity and hustlin happen by itself (focus of 2.0).

SOLUTION 1:  Kitchen timers.  All investors will be given a kitchen timer to improve the weird “I’m a founder waiting in line while this other founder won’t stop talking.. #awkward”

QUESTION 2:  How do you get familiar with all the folks in the room and identify the people you want to talk to?

SOLUTION 2:  Investors and founders will give 30 second intro pitches about themselves to the group as a whole before we begin.

Startup Founder Suggestions

We’ve collected feedback from the investors that joined for the Pitchcrawl, and here are a few notes if you want to stand out from the crowd.

1. Come prepared with a 60 second elevator pitch.

2. Do not ramble.  Practice, folks.

3. Do not come with a powerpoint.  Or force anyone to watch a powerpoint.  It’s like being trapped on a bad date.  You’ll be memorable, but memorable because it was horrifying.

Resources for elevator pitches done right.

• The Art of the Elevator Pitch (by Read Write Web)
• Elevator Pitch (by VentureHacks)
• How to Write an Elevator Speech (by SeekingCapital)

Sign up today

We are limiting this Pitchcrawl to a select few, so please sign up quickly at pitchcrawl.com if you plan on attending and begin practicing your pitches today.

Oh, and remember to practice being genuine and authentic.  We don’t like the douche-approach.  Neither does anyone else.

See you soon,

Tracy @ladyleet

Founder, Dishcrawl

I feel more connected to my roots, as is being pulled there because it was meant to be.  I just didn’t realize it was [...]]]>

There is something comforting I’m feeling about doing business in China.  It’s exciting, but it also allows me to explore a dimension of my existence in a way I never have before.

I feel more connected to my roots, as is being pulled there because it was meant to be.  I just didn’t realize it was meant to be so quick.

I love the culture, the dynamics of business so far.  Perhaps it’s my late-20’s urge to connect to my heritage, but something is so beautiful about being able to mesh the two worlds of US and China together.

The culture, the exploration of understanding the nuances between the different cultures.

It’s almost as if I’m dancing with the worlds.  Learning and success is inevitable.

PS, believe you can even when you can’t and you will always win the war.

xxoo

Tracy @ladyleet

So, let’s get down to business.  Twitter.  To get started with Twitter, go ahead and go here.  It’s a blog post I wrote awhile ago, but will give you a general idea of how to setup [...]]]>

Hey there!  I wrote this for our Dishcrawl Ambassadors and wanted to share the love with the rest of the world.

So, let’s get down to business.  Twitter.  To get started with Twitter, go ahead and go here.  It’s a blog post I wrote awhile ago, but will give you a general idea of how to setup a Twitter account, why you want to setup a Twitter account, and the nuancies of Twitter-speak.

Done?  Great.  Now for the good stuff.

Objectify Yourself

Everyone’s gotta have an objective!

Here is ours: Find people to engage with to create a presence in the market.  People I want to engage with are local foodies, papers, bloggers, restaurants, and the like.

Build Your Brand in 3 Simple Steps

The 3 steps in making sure you set yourself up properly are:

1. Find people

2. Manage people

3. Engage people.

Step 1: Find People

First thing you want to do on Twitter is find a good group of people to start listening to.

The best and most effective way to do this is to login to Twitter and use the search functionality.

Hunting Properly: Search

Let’s say I’m looking for foodies.  Check out the search column below.  I entered “foodie” in the search box.

As you can see above, a bunch of people talking about foodie comes up.  To drill deeper, click on the tweet, and a window will pop up on the side (as shown above).

Adding Easily: Follow

You can then click the the “name” of that Twitter person.  What should pop up is the profile (as shown below).  Now, you can figure out why this person is relevant, and click on the follow button.

Toki Underground is relevant because they are a ramen house!  I’d follow them.

Stalking Effectively: Add to List

The other missing piece of the equation- we know that not everyone is always talking about food, even if they are foodies and your audience.  So how on earth do you keep re-engaging the people you know are relevant?

Gasp! You can add them to a list to keep track!  Click on the little people icon and click on “add to list” (shown below).

Now you’re going to create a list.  I’d name it something relevant, like “Raleigh foodies” if you’re looking for foodies in Raleigh, NC.

Now, continue on searching interesting people.  If I’m trying to be specific about a location like Raleigh, NC, I would also search things like, “North Carolina foodie” “NC food” “NC foodie” “NC restaurant” “Checked in Raleigh” “Raleigh food” Raleigh foodie” etc.

Make sure to come up with a strong list of creative search terms and keep them handy for later.  Get creative.

For the first week, follow at least 50 people a day this way.

Remember: Search, Follow, Add to List.

Tweet these people too, of course, and follow guidelines in Step 3 below.

Step 2: Manage People

You should have about 350 people you are following now, and a lot of interesting people following you!

Now, to manage Twitter, I say install Tweetdeck on your Chrome browser.  It’s a plugin, and the best thing ever.

With Tweetdeck, now you can add lists from your Twitter account.  Additionally, you should set up at least 8 search columns with key search terms to see what people are talking about.  Setup an column for Dishcrawl and your specific Dishcrawl (DishcrawlPHL for example) so you can also see what people are talking to you!  Check out below.

Step 3: Engage People

Ah, the beauty of engaging your local community.

I love it!  This is one of my favourite things to do.  It’s so cool to watch y’all grow.  Joann @DishcrawlDC, for example, was stoked (as was I) when Thrillist (a publication) started following her!  Small wins like this make the day so much better.

For your first 2 weeks of Twitter, you should be tweeting at least 30 times every day.  Seriously.  It’s like showing up to a new playground.  You don’t want to play alone, you want people to get familiar with you!  Build your persona.

Now what to tweet.  Look through your new Twitter streams.

Find interesting things people are talking about.  You should already know these people are relevant because you followed them for a reason.

Now talk to them.  You can RT them, @ them, or tell them about Dishcrawl.  Remember- 30 tweets a day.  Then, you can do something like 10 tweets a day once you’ve established yourself.  But keep up with it.  Don’t lose your shine.

The people you are tweeting have something in common with you- they are in your city and they love food as much as you.

The conversation tone should be genuine, as if you’re talking to someone at a cocktail party.

You should not have the used car salesman vibe like the dude below.

Random Nuances of Twitter

You can always do a general tweet, of course.

Example of a general tweet: “Come join us in Raleigh on Jan 25th for our first Dishcrawl! http://dishcrawl.com/raleigh.”

What is an @? An @ is a way to ping someone.  So if I say “Hey @Thrillist, you should come to our first DC Dishcrawl! http://dishcrawl.com/dc.” With the @, Thrillist knows I’m directly talking to them and it will show up in their “mentions”.  The tweet will show up to all your followers, UNLIKE if you start a tweet with an @ (example: “@Thrillist, you should come to our first DC Dishcrawl! http://dishcrawl.com/dc.’) which specifically pings only the people following you AND Thrillist.  Not the best way to get your word out, but good if you want to mute your voice a little or just say thank you to someone.

RT (in quotations): I use this method exclusively.  I don’t really like the RT new functionality.  RT stands for retweet, btw.  Retweeting someone is simply echoing their thoughts and spreading it to your followers.  It’s appreciated, and engaging.  An example of how I RT is this: ” Great post. ” @Thrillist Best Burgers in the Bay Area www.link.com”.  See how I commented in the front, and then put the original tweet in quotations?

RT new: This is simple.  You just press a button and Twitter retweets the tweet to your followers.  Not my style.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this little Twitter lesson.  I hope I included everything in full.  If you have questions, you can always email me at tracy (at) dishcrawl (dot) com.

Oh, and one last note before I sign off, when people follow you, check out who they are and follow them back!

Best of luck and success,

Tracy @ladyleet

Just like dating, it’s in your best interest to use your personal network to be introduced to the right people.  But, if you want to get more proactive about it, [...]]]>

The Art of Investor Dating and Fail Points

Looking for investors is very similar to dating.  You run around in circles in hopes of finding the “one”.

Just like dating, it’s in your best interest to use your personal network to be introduced to the right people.  But, if you want to get more proactive about it, events are the way to go.

That’s why an event like Pitchcrawl is an awesome idea.  Just like a dating event, everyone is there for the same reason, meaning you have a higher chance of meeting “the one”.  And it’s less douchey than picking random people up at random times.

Events like Pitchcrawl have been inspired from Dave McClure’s Startup2Startup.  My desire for hosting Pitchcrawl came from that and a week of wasted time.

My week of wasted time: I decided I wanted to jumpstart my network and see what would come of going to events to find investor relationships.  Guess what?  There is a lack of investor/founder specific events.

I attended 4 “startup” events in 1 week, paid about $200 total for admissions, and met 3 investors.

Lame!  Cost of investor acquisition way too high and I don’t have enough time to wonder aimlessly.  I have a business to run.

If this was frustrating to me, I know it was frustrating my lot of founder friends.

So came the birth of Pitchcrawl.

Our startup Dishcrawl loves bringing people together over food, so creating experience for our extended startup family was natural.

The 3 Objectives of Pitchcrawl #1.

Objective 1. Event with only founders and investors present.  No random people.

We marketed Pitchcrawl as a founder/investor only event.

Objective 2. Encourage mingling and ensure founders are able to talk to as many investors as possible. (I always enourage fairness).

We came up with a 3 minute timer on pitching rounds so each entrepreneur could meet at least 4-5 investors.

Since we did the Pitchcrawl in the form of a Dishcrawl, we spend 45 minute at each venue, then walked to another location.  The very nature of this breaks up the flow and create new dynamics, which leads to more interesting relationships.

Objective 3. Add some stickiness to the event.

Food is the foundation of any strong relationship.  We made sure each stop had some noms to enjoy.

Successes and Failures of Pitchcrawl #1.

The energy was strong, vibrant, and very alpha that night.

95% of the folks attended were investors or founders.  There were a couple randoms that creeped in, but the ratio was satisfactory.

3 minute timers failed- massively.  By the 2^nd stop, we said screw it and individually announced so investors could get the opportunity to talk to another startup if necessary.

People would eat easy handheld things, but eating anything involved was of no interest.

I was pleased to hear that most startups there were able to talk to everyone they wanted.  If we had just accomplished that that night, I was happy.

The energy of Downtown San Jose’s vibrant startup scene was captured that night.  Bright individuals connecting with each other in hopes of sparking the next technology revolution.

The vibrance of the night was captured by Content Magazine, San Jose Business Journal, San Jose Mercury News, San Jose Metblogs, and CJ Brasiel.

Pitchcrawl Iterations and the Birth of Pitchcrawl V2

We have decided to nix the 3 minute timers next time.  I’m a fan of fairness, but as a founder you better know how to hustle and make things happen yourself.

We’ll still do the Pitchcrawl in traditional Dishcrawl format (originally created to prevent having to sit next to the same person for the duration of a dinner) to make sure we keep the vibe dynamic, but the rest is up to you.

Focus- Pitchcrawl SF on Jan 10 will be focused around consumer software products, greentech and the like need not apply.

Passed appetizers and water for the food.  Less involved so you can focus on those awesome relationships.

Smaller groups- 40/50 people a time versus the mass of 85 people.

Screen the founders to ensure they are not randoms.

Make the vibe chiller and more fluid.  No structure.

Upping the genuinity- the goal of Pitchcrawl V2 is not to give 3 minute pitches, but be able to meet and build relationships with a variety of investors and founders.

Pitchcrawl SF January 10^th

Join us for a Pitchcrawl through some startup hubs in SoMa on Jan 10^th!

Founders, get your serendipity juices flowing.

Investors, come to mentor and give feedback to a burgeoning founder community.

Tickets can be purchased at pitchcrawl.com and questions can be emailed to hi (at) dishcrawl (dot) com.

See you soon,

Tracy @ladyleet

Today was a good day.  I met with one of our advisors and we had a really good discussion.  Then again, when do I not have amazing conversations with amazing people?  It’s a benefit of doing a startup.

Today I look [...]]]>

I look forward to coming back to my blog day after day to reflect.

Today was a good day.  I met with one of our advisors and we had a really good discussion.  Then again, when do I not have amazing conversations with amazing people?  It’s a benefit of doing a startup.

Today I look back on the last 2 years, and my life in general and think, damn.

Damned if anyone can say I’m not a hard worker.  Damned if anyone can say I didn’t give (my career) my all.

And that makes me proud.  Because either way, the end result was me doing my best at what I do.  And it is truly amazing to see the results. :0

Thankful also, for the folks in my life who have stuck by through and through.  The tough times have been awesome, the good times better than awesome, and there is only more to come.

But for now, I’m just grateful to look back on my life and be thankful for the accomplishments to date.  Because damned if I didn’t give it my all.

xxoo,

Tracy @ladyleet

If you seek glory, you are looking for the wrong thing.  Especially in startup.

It’s not in the glory of victory that you find yourself.  It’s the times of darkness.  It’s through the trials and on that last mile where you build your character and become who you are.

That’s why I love the times of hardness. [...]]]>

If you seek glory, you are looking for the wrong thing.  Especially in startup.

It’s not in the glory of victory that you find yourself.  It’s the times of darkness.  It’s through the trials and on that last mile where you build your character and become who you are.

That’s why I love the times of hardness.  Because I know only greatness is to come.  And sure, the glory will be there, but I am more proud of the times I endured, I pushed through.  The hardest times make the best times worth it.

That’s why I love pushing my team to our limit.  Because if we don’t stretch our minds and attitudes, greatness is not possible.

And in those “dark” times, those times of preparation before the triumph, you have to believe.  Believe that the triumph is to come.  Know that the harder the times now, the more the success to come.  And the great times always come.  Believe and trust.  Push through.

It’s believing in balance, and it’s believing in rainbows.

I believe in balance and rainbows, and that belief has gotten me through the toughest of times.  I’ve emerged a butterfly many a time, and plan on continuing a beautiful rebirth of awesome time and time again.

It is for balance between awesome and hard work that thankful.  Cherish the hardest parts of life.

xxoo,

Tracy @ladyleet

Still doing these 15 minute brain dumps.  Because I want to, not because I have to (although that statement is to remind myself to have a [...]]]>

My 15 minute brain dumps daily- a process I’m adopting after talking to Patricia of Lawless Coach.  15 minutes of focus daily can do wonders. Enjoy mine. .

Still doing these 15 minute brain dumps.  Because I want to, not because I have to (although that statement is to remind myself to have a positive attitude and change my “I have to do this blog post right now” moment).

Have to vs. want to.

Ignoring the Demons

I used to work with this girl who had a sarcastic attitude.  She was just one of those, “I’m negative, but I’m joking and it’s cute” people.  You pretend like you’re negative, and you become negative.  And then it’s not cute.  It’s cute for awhile, but ugh when it rubs off.

I didn’t become negative, but since I enjoy what I do for work and it seemed she did not, I felt this need to automatically say, “I have to go do this”.  Even though when I had to do something, I really wanted to.  I did this so she wouldn’t feel so bad about her have to tasks.  I wanted to help share in her pain.  Fail man, fail.

The reason I illustrate this is because these small comments I made daily about having to do something (vs jumping for joy because I wanted to) actually changed my attitude on things.  I felt heavier, like I had to do the things I loved.  And then since I had to do it, I enjoyed it less.  I enjoyed life less.  And that is the suck.

Introspection is the Win

You gotta stop yourself before you become a lousy bum with a bad attitude.  And you better catch it fast.  It’s about being habitually awesome.

I did.  And I’ve gotten back to wanting do do things (not that that actually changed until I began faking that I didn’t enjoy what I did.)

Even words, the words we’re surrounded by, the words we put out into this world are so key in framing our actual lives.

Don’t get stuck in, I have to. Get back to I want to.

Your choice. No one elses.

This is our life. We make the choices we want.  We determine our success and failures.  We are the only people that we can hold accountable for our happiness, determination, passion, and drive.

It even goes back to this simple blog post, right?  I don’t necessarily want to write this blog post right now, but I have made it a have to.  Because I want to.  Not because I want a 15 minute brain dump, but because I know this contributes to a greater goal of balance, focus, and I know writing grounds me daily.  Which again makes it a want to.

Attitude folks. Thanks Patricia for amplifying this desire of want in my life.

PS if you haven’t signed up for a coaching session with Patricia yet, you’re only hurting yourself.  And that’s no fun.

xxoo,

Tracy @ladyleet

So, it’s almost 3am.  I was rather overwhelmed about 12 hours ago.  It was intense.  Blog post on it here.

I’m back from the Dishcrawl Oakland launch (pic of ribbon cutting below) [...]]]>

My 15 minute brain dumps daily- a process I’m adopting after talking to Patricia of Lawless Coach.  15 minutes of focus daily can do wonders.  Enjoy mine. 

So, it’s almost 3am.  I was rather overwhelmed about 12 hours ago.  It was intense.  Blog post on it here.

I’m back from the Dishcrawl Oakland launch (pic of ribbon cutting below) and have been sitting in the office for about… 4 hours now?  I lurvs it.

I finally got that advisor update out.  3 days late.  I tend to beat myself up for these things, and yes, I am the one that gives myself these deadlines.

Re: advisors and asking for help.  It’s an internal battle for me, knowing I need to lean on people but having a serious sense of independence in me that makes me want to take charge of things on my own.  But I do love my advisors, they are the best things ever and the feedback they give me is so darn useful.  It’s great to have awesome brains to lean on.

You’d think a launch of a new Dishcrawl city would stress me out, right?  Nope.  Dishcrawls are extremely relaxing for me these days.  They are all fun!  I love it so much.  Partially due to the fact that we’ve just refined our training to a science and our team is amazing at execution.  Maybe much due to that fact.

Balsamic mascarpone gelato with graham cracker crumbs from Lush Gelato helped too, I suppose.  NO IT HELPED A LOT.

Everything is a balance these days.  Even lack of balance has a balance.

So I’m balancing the unbalanced life I have, pushing the needle forward, beating myself up for no reason and every reason out there while keeping a smile on and covering these bags under my eyes with makeup.

In other news, I need to try and make a rule of no laptops in bed.  No more working from bed.  It does not help my sleep wellness.

Words of Wisdom

If I had to say one thing to help myself (or you) through the next day or two or three, it would be…

Have dedication to your goals.  Execute with conviction.  Beat yourself up because you suck, then pat yourself on the back because you’re a success.

“Excellence is never an accident; it is the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, skillful execution and the vision to see obstacles as opportunities.”

xxoo, ’til the next 15 minutes,

Tracy @ladyleet

WOW.  Wow wow wow.  It’s been 3 days since a brain dump and WOW.  Things have been moving at lightening speed and I’m trying to do 10 million things at [...]]]>

My 15 minute brain dumps daily- a process I’m adopting after talking to Patricia of Lawless Coach.  15 minutes of focus daily can do wonders.  Enjoy mine. 

WOW.  Wow wow wow.  It’s been 3 days since a brain dump and WOW.  Things have been moving at lightening speed and I’m trying to do 10 million things at once.  Of course, reality means I am only doing one thing at a time, but wow.  Throw that funding stick in there and all hell breaks loose.

http://tinysong.com/or0y <— this song is helping right now.

I feel like a stick in the mud.  Everything is moving, but nothing is moving either.

I *really* need to send out an advisor update.  I have half an hour before our Dishcrawl Oakland launch.  The next 3 months of planning is happening.  Followup is everything.  Everything is everything.

The reason I share this is because it’s something all entrepreneurs go through.

It’s all about finding your breaking point right?  And I’ve once again found mine.  It’s a lovely feeling, to get a grip on it, then focus, then let go and push yourself to the limit again.

But sometimes in the piles of postits, business cards, and action items, you just can’t move. You get stuck in nothing, right in the middle of everything.

The key is finding the determination and magic to pull yourself out of the ridiculous amounts of work and focus.

It’s lifting one brick after another, until you realize it really was easy.  It just seems like a lot.

This is where many get stuck.  Don’t give up in the middle of it.  Just do it.  Keep plugging away.  And success is closer than you think.  It’s the ones who push through and make it out the other side who make it to the finish line.  Are you going to make it?  I know I am.

xxoo,

Tracy @ladyleet

Ain’t it so?  I love being a strong, empowered female.  It feels damn good to be in charge of your life.

I get asked quite a bit why I’m [...]]]>

My 15 minute brain dumps daily- a process I’m adopting after talking to Patricia of Lawless Coach.  15 minutes of focus daily can do wonders.  Enjoy mine. 

Motivation is Everything

Ain’t it so?  I love being a strong, empowered female.  It feels damn good to be in charge of your life.

I get asked quite a bit why I’m so motivated.

Well… to keep a story short, I’ll just write a little thank you letter to someone that was once in my life.

Thank You.

Dear X,

I never thought I’d be so strong.

This morning, I was reflecting on the time we spent together.  All I wanted you to do was hold me, care for me.  But you couldn’t do that, could you?  At least, not until after you were done hitting me for the night.

I remember trying to keep the wounds open so you would heal them.  With love, I was hoping.  But in the end, it was just pain with you.

The daily fights, the daily abuse, your strong hands around my neck.  I loved those strong hands.

I wanted to be weak in your arms.  I was weak in your arms, but not like that.  It wasn’t how I ever imagined.

And now look at me.  I’m amazing.  And I must give small thanks to you.

I thank you for forcing me to be strong.  For giving me no other option than to get out and make it in the world alone.

Now look at me.  Aren’t you proud that you helped create me?

I love my life.  I live every day as a symbol of empowerment, thankful and grateful to have escaped from your strong hands, those strong hands I expected to care and comfort me.  Thankful that I can empower amazing women around me.  Thankful I didn’t skip out of life and live under your angry strength.

The leaves are falling around me.  The autumn rain has arrived.  The weather reminds me of us falling in love.  Those passionate moments I could not leave your side.  That desperation of needing to be together- the desperation that turned to hurt and pain.  But look at me now.

GOOD LORD I am thankful. Thankful for the lesson you taught me.  That I can handle anything in this world.

If I was able to get through 2 years of your abuse and isolation, I can do anything.  Truly, anything.

So thank you again.  I don’t really care where you are, but I do care that I’m okay.  Fantastic, actually.

Signed with gratefulness,

A Survivor.

Your Motivation is your Strength

It’s been 7 years since I fell in love with that man.

It’s been 5 years since I’ve escaped.

It’s been 4 years since I’ve normalized (you can imagine how situations like these fuck you up just a bit).

It’s every day that I’m grateful.

I keep the reason I am empowered and motivated close to me, just as I believe you should keep anything that motivates you close to you.

It is in the darkest moments of life you find the light.  I keep the moments of happiness, of freedom close.

It is the reason I’m grateful for everything.

What motivates you?  Don’t ever forget those moments.  Be thankful for them.  Be thankful for the trials the world has put you through.  For it is in those moments, those breaking points, you realize what you’re truly capable of.

xxoo,

Tracy @ladyleet