Events Archives

1st Startup Meetup of 2015 w/ Yasmine Mustafa!

Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GirlDevelopIt Philly

“I was born in Kuwait. My mother had an arranged marriage and had to ask for permission to go outside. She didn’t go to college, women at that time never dreamt of that. My brother was born here and I went to college six credits at a time in the states.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

“When I started 123LinkIt, a referral marketing company, I was very naive and running a tech company for the first time didn’t quite work out as I planned.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

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“I realized really quickly that I had to at least learn the basics of coding, so that I could communicate with my CTO at the time.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

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“I started a learn ruby 101 code group, but I ended up getting overrun by my own group. I met two women who shared some similar experiences in tech groups and started traveling to New York to attend GirlDevelopIt.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

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“I would take the Bolt Bus up to NYC to take a two hour class, which was took way too much time, so I decided to start a chapter of GirlDevelopit in Philly. We are now the largest tech group according to meetup.com”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

“The name itself, GirlDevelopIt, is somewhat misleading. The group is geared towards teaching women how to code, 18 and up, not young girls. Our insurance restricts us from teaching minors.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

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“There are a lot of Frat-like cultures in tech companies. In order for culture to shift, change has to start at the top. Leaders have to figure out how to get buy in from everyone and make everyone feel welcome.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

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“iPad is a great example of a lack of awareness, leading too a gender-biased decision. There was a complete twitter storm about it when the iPad came out with its name. If there were women on that team, they might not of called it the ‘iPad’ because women think of the word ‘pad’ completely differently.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

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“I traveled around South America for six months and it open my eyes about violence against women. I saw it over, and over, and over again. I was really taken aback by it, so I decided that I would do what I could to help change it.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

“They key to ROAR is the software. Its a crowdsourced safety app. The challenge is
taking that data and working with the city to make the area safer.”
— Yasmine Mustafa, Founder of ROAR & Leader of GDI Philly

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Weekly Startup Meetup #52

#52: Round Table w/ The WSL Team

@walnutstlabs
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“We started Walnut St. Labs technically, about this time last year. I signed the lease and figured I would find a way to make it work. It was in large measure through a degree of instinct, and definitely not the lean canvas because there was nothing really concrete I could point to, no business model, etc.”
— Chris Dima, Founder of Walnut St. Labs

“Since the live events started, we seen more traction than I ever expected. I was blown away! When people talk about Walnut St. Labs they say we’re heavy on events, and I’m glad to be a part of that!”
— Sean Deminski, Live Stream Operations at WSL SUMU

“As far as projections for 2015, I would that if we grew steadily that would be pretty cool, but my feeling is that our growth over the next year will be exponential!”
— Sean Deminski, Live Stream Operations at WSL SUMU

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“I found that programming as a skill really began to take off when I situated myself with other programmers, in an inspiring environment. By surrounding myself with other talented people I got to see how businesses really operated, from business development to networking to technical development, and that turned into a life changing experience.”
— Henry Ventura, Head of Technical Operations at WSL

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“I put a sign on the window, scheduled an open house for the Lab. I didn’t know if anyone would come, but Kevin came, and he’s since been a huge help.”
— Chris Dima, Founder of WSL

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“I was running these massive campaigns with millions of monthly visitors, but it wasn’t very fulfilling. In the spirit of continuing to do new things, this (Walnut St. Labs) seemed like the logical next step for me. Becoming more involved locally has been incredibly fulfilling. I am so glad I did it!”
— Kevin Fleming, Managing Partner at WSL

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“I think its really tough to change or create culture. It’s tough to change peoples’ habits and get people to do things or think differently, and the only way to accomplish that is to stay consistent, until what you’re doing becomes the norm and the old way becomes passe!”
— Kevin Fleming, Managing Partner at WSL

“When I think about our progress here; I’d like to think that if we stopped hosting Startup Meetups this week that a lot of people would feel like something was missing in this area. For me, that’s how I know that we’re making real progress!”
— Kevin Fleming, Managing Partner at WSL

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“At first, and from the outside, I thought Walnut St Labs was a coffee shop!”
— Ben Bock, Community Evangelist at WSL

“I think its very common for organizations and people, human beings, to have the misconception that social media does more for their business than it actually does. Not placing too much emotional stock in it is huge. The truth is, anyone can like a page or share an event, but it takes actual energy, physical energy, to come in and contribute to these events. In return, taking my time to go into Philly and hand out my card when no one knew who we were, was to me, the most meaningful part of the process in building our community.”
— Ben Bock, Community Evangelist at WSL

“The first Night Owls we had was about three of four people, and it kept growing from there. Same thing with the Startup Meetups. I love that you guys are putting out the content, and I agree that WSL is destined to see some major exponential growth!”
–Mark Rybarczyk, Cofounder of Vuier (Sponsor of #IndieFilmNite)

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“When you have the right idea, things fall into place! You still have to work hard for it, but it’s crucial to recognize serendipity. I just love hanging out with all the fearless, shameless and incredibly bright people here! Walnut St Labs it magical to me.”
–Jesse Peirsol, Special Events Coordinator at WSL

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“Video production of the Startup Meetups was the exact continuing education I was looking for! It was brand new. So, I jumped in and did it!”
— Mike Luttermoser, Head of Video Production at WSL

“For 2015, I just want to keep on rocking and keep on growing like the Lab has been growing!”
— Mike Luttermoser, Head of Video Production at WSL

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“Through my work with MongoSluice in the incubator it’s been very rewarding to get feedback from clients on what to do next with my product. Talking with clients has allowed me add tangible features.”
— Brad Miller, Founder of MongoSluice (WSL Incubated Product)

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“The incubator model was really built around the experience we’ve had with Brad. There’s a lot of innovation in the US that might end up as a thesis, but why not let that thing live in the real world?!”
— Chris Dima, Founder of Walnut St. Labs

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“I was job hunting and I walked into Walnut St. Labs with a stack of resumes, handed it in, and it worked! I got hired.”
— Wilhem Barnes, Intern Developer at WSL

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We’ve had a jammed packed year in 2014, and we’d like to thank you, our community, for the love that you’ve shared with us!

Big things are coming in 2015, and we’re extremely excited, grateful and humbled to see what happens next!

Much Love,

Ben

Office Hours Demo

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Henry Ventura is Technical Operations Manager at Walnut St Labs and created Office Hours new scheduling platform. Henry has added a variety of functionalities that competing products have failed to do. In addition to working at Walnut St. Labs, Henry teaches a programming course at UArts in Philadelphia.

What was the problem you faced?

“We had Office Hours set up as a service to help aspiring entrepreneurs and businesses to grow, but the scheduling software we used to facilitate our advisement sessions. The previous scheduling software was not scalable beyond one location, advisors weren’t capable of editing their own profiles and their service team was unresponsive, in California. It essentially didn’t fit our need, so we decided to make our own.”
–Henry Ventura, Technical Operations at WSL

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How does Office Hours’ web app solve the problem?

“We build up our own product that was geared specifically towards our need. Our product is now scalable to accommodate multiple locations, our advisors can now edit their own profiles and alter their availability at anytime. We can now group our advisors via their ares of expertise.”
–Henry Ventura, Technical Operations at WSL

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What’s next for Office Hours?

“We’re in the process of adding more advisors, sharing it with other spaces that are interested integrating our product, drawing up our press release and planning our full launch. We want Office Hours to be huge, so we’re trying to appeal to others communities who are interested in offering Office Hours.”
–Henry Ventura, Technical Operations at WSL

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ABOUT OFFICE HOURS
Office Hours is a joint project between Walnut St. Labs and the Ideas x Innovation Network that offers innovators the opportunity to gain expert advice from industry and domain experts from Chester County and Southeastern PA.

It’s a joint effort between Walnut St. Labs and Ideas x Innovation Network (i2n) to ignite innovation in Chester County and Southeastern Pennsylvania. Office Hours connects innovators with Innovation Advisors for face-to-face networking and advisement. Innovation Advisors are curated “Pros” from the region who have expertise in a domain or domains. Office Hours makes it easy for innovators to access the rich knowledge base in this region.

i2n Board Members to Check Out the Lab

i2n Board Member and Companies Plugged into our Framework

Wednesday was an important day for us. Ideas x Innovation Network (i2n) came to visit and they brought some 40+ friends with them.

The Ideas x Innovation Network (i2n) is a Chester County Economic Development Council (CCEDC) program.

“Its mission is to support emerging growth businesses throughout their entire life cycle by leveraging the assets of our academic institutions and our partners to create a network of physical and virtual resources. Entrepreneurs are strategically connected with established professionals whose experience and knowledge become pivotal stops on an emerging company’s roadmap toward success.”

Simply put, they are looking to invest in organizations that will attract and retain younger professionals to live and work in Chester County.

When Chris and Kevin mentioned to us that the i2n wanted to cater an event at the Lab we were overjoyed. Seeing the food being brought in I thought, “Wow, this must be a legitimate gathering of people of honor and prestige, just look at all of the club sandwiches and finger food!”

But Seriously, our team is so personally invested in every nook and cranny of the place that we jump at the chance to share it with other people. It doesn’t matter if your confused, curious, or can fully appreciate our mission statement, values and culture, we’re excited to elucidate you regardless. We’re doing all that we can to stimulate the local economy and bring the West Chester area into the 21 century by creating a hub for the preexisting tech community to collaborate and create.

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Chris was asked to share a couple thoughts before the networking began. He pointed to our seemingly invisible dry-erase board and explained our overall progression. Its been a roller coaster, lots of ups and down. Some of them were more unexpected or celebrated than others, but it’s all part of our beautiful growing process. We’ve has recently been building to something big and i2n has been a part of it!

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As our founder, Chris has carried the brunt of the comprehensive responsibility and work hours its taken to bring WSL to our current standing. It was vindicating to see him explain the process we’ve been through the past five months, leading up our micro-grant funding provided by the CCEDC. Its inspiring to see that his resiliency, courage and faith have propelled our space forward, despite considerable odds.

It was great to catch up with some people that we hadn’t seen for a while. Some of our advisors were able to make it out to the event and provide their unique perspective on the lab to the i2n members. We also invited some of our speakers to participate and share their viewpoint on the lab.

As always, we covered our fair share of multi-media footage. When you have three or more cameras rolling or shooting in one room, b-roll shots are inevitable.

I noticed that some of the other i2n supported companies were also regulars at our weekly Startup Meetups events. Jonathan, from SparkNet was one of such people that I had seen in the lab before but hadn’t a chance to speak with. Jon really gets us, and we love him for that! Thanks for spreading the word, Jon.

In a region where phrases like ‘startup incubator, ‘business accelerator’ and ‘innovation hub’ don’t get thrown around too often, we’ve become pretty familiar with the looks we get when first explaining the concept. People like Jon really affirm my intrinsic motivation for joining a community of people that have the vision and planning to positively impact our local economic, social and technological spheres.

We’ve been planting lots of seeds and attracting people that resonate with our tireless efforts. Our future growth and innumerable success will not be considered in terms of individual contributions, but by community interest.

Chris Merkner Reads @WalnutStLabs

After leaving his family to tour the United States this past year, Author and Professor Chris Merkner stopped in the Lab to read “In Lapland” aloud and share his unique perspective of his craft. Despite Chris’ admitted hesitance or skepticism toward his own self-promotion, he mentioned how his mindset has shifted since the completion of his book: The Rise and Fall of the Scandamerican Domestic .

Below are some excerpts from “In Lapan”:
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(pgs. 30-31) “All day Sunday we’re on broadband scrolling over online paint resources. By sunset we have selected a Country Rill from a company in Pennsylvania and had shipped overnight to the house. We pay an ungodly figure to overnighted this paint, but there is no looking back: when it comes to paint, when it comes to everything at this point in our lives, cost is negligible. We charge it. We have no time for savings. All the saving we’ve been doing, all that’s over. For the first time that weekend, we eat dinner without rushing. We have even turned on the television. It’s our last supper.”

(pgs. 35-36) “She is def and she is dumb. She is swiping at the chair rail in long, reckless strokes. She’s made a speckled rill of Green Rill on our old berber. She’s crouching like a catcher, raking along the wall next to the fireplace walls. Paint is flinging and dripping. She strokes in those long, reckless strokes lavishing the wall above and below the rail. Her Muscles tremble and twitch. Her knees crack. I take a glob in the forehead and come to. The small of her back.
I have lost my breath.
I haven’t really ever seen her like this. She turns and takes my hand, yanks me toward her, kisses me, her tongue firing in my mouth. “C’mon,” she pants. “Get into it.” Those walls that had kept me up at night are done in thirteen minutes. In thirteen minutes I’m on my back panting beside my wife looking. We’re both breathing out of our mouths, leaning against the sofa. It’s a whole mess we have here. However, in the public sense, it is done.
Or, as my wife puts it, “It’s started.” The-Rise-and-Fall-356x535

(pg. 40) “Friday, the brush is frayed and starchy, limpid and stiff at the same time — caked in a sort of translucent lacquer and generally incapable of offering a stroke of Country Rill that does not somehow ruin a previous stroke. My whole rhythm is off. I’m doing harm. My wife just winces, says things like, “Oh, Guud.” I have covered the kitchen walls three times over. My arms ache, and my hands are blistering badly. I picture my shoulders as the inside of a rotting boat on a destitute beach. I drink water like a dog. I’ve taken to eating M&M’s again. I’m taking down the big bags of megastores that require paid membership.

Buy The Rise and Fall of the Scandamerican Domestic

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