Hackers & Hustlers: 1 Year Later
About a year and a half ago I got invited to an event in Ann Arbor called the “A2 New Tech Meetup”, and I was really nervous. I drove from MSU to Ann Arbor by myself, walked into a room full of smart, unfamiliar faces, and sat down in the front row next to a guy who introduced himself as Jeff Epstein. He was there to pitch his startup, Zferral. The lights dimmed and a guy with a braided ponytail came out, explaining that we were going to watch 5 startups pitch and it was our job to ask really good questions.
By the end of the night I’d met some great people, heard some great ideas, and knew that I loved the authentic startup culture in that room. I drove back to East Lansing obsessed with the idea of starting a similar meetup at MSU, so we could grow our own startup culture. I wanted to call it Hackers & Hustlers.
I started talking to people about the idea and heard that Betsy Weber and Blake Nyquist from TechSmith and Nick Kwiatkowski from MSU were also interested in starting a similar meetup. So we joined forces and put on a few events that spring.
Before the first one, I was so nervous I almost puked. All my friends were going to be there, and I had managed to convince some really cool people to come talk about their startups. One of them was Zach Steindler, a cofounder at Olark. We ended up talking afterward and, well, one thing led to another :)
(He hired me)
I decided it might be useful to start a Facebook group for the meetup, so we could announce new events and post interesting links. I invited a couple people, and right away there was just an energy there. People started posting and things picked up steam rather quickly.
And then we just kept talking. New people started finding out about the group and joining the conversation. It’s grown from 0 to nearly 500 people in just over a year. But the quantity of people isn’t what matters - it’s the quality. I am incredibly thankful that the best hackers and hustlers in Michigan come to talk in an open forum every day. I love hearing what they have to say. We’re creating a ruckus, making things happen, and moving things forward.
One of the reasons Hackers & Hustlers has exceeded all of our expectations is that no one owns it. That’s what a community is all about. We’re just here to help each other, to encourage each other even if we’re nervous and unsure of ourselves. If it weren’t for the people that helped me, like the folks at the A2 New Tech meetup, Hackers & Hustlers would have never existed.
I think Henry summed it up best:
