But back to the mission at hand...I'm here because my good friend Matt Mason recommended me for the event. Matt spoke at BIF last year and says it has had a great impact on his career as a speaker. If you've never heard Matt speak before I suggest buying him a beer and preparing for painful laughter. I'd also keep an eye out for his pirate tales performed live in a city near you.So what's BIF and who's speaking?
From their website, "The Business Innovation Factory brings partners together to collaborate across traditional boundaries on experiments that deliver transformative, systems-level innovation and address the most pressing problems of our time."
For me this will be a place where I will get to share the SeeClickFix story on stage alongside people I hold great respect for such as author Don Tapscott of Wikinomics fame and Start-Up legend Tony Hsieh of Zappos. I will also get to reconvene with some old friends that have come-up in the start-up space alongside SeeClickFix such as Jacob Colker, of beextra.org. Jacob and I first met in Miami 2009 when we competed for and both won the WeMedia Pitch-it Competition. Since then we have looked to each other for advice as well as friendship in the sometimes chaotic start-up environment.
At Bif6 I will share the founding story of SeeClickFix and how the timing of our business has been positioned well within the rise of an open government movement, a hyper-local news movement and increasing desire by citizens to participate in their communities in a more actionable and meaningful way.
I may also take the time to report a few SeeClickFix issues in Providence alongside our other users in Providence. Check out the SeeClickFix Providence page here: http://seeclickfix.com/providence
Hopefully Providence is ready for New Haven...I'm tempted to wear my favorite t-shirt on stage.