Chris Dima, Author at Walnut St. Labs

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
wsldivi4.kinsta.cloud

“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

Bergwall On Demand Office Hours Testimonials

We’ve asked Cofounder of Bergwall On Demand, Travis Bergwall to share his feedback after participating in an Office Hours session. The benefits of meeting with a specialist that can save you time and other valuable resources is better shown than told.

“Office Hours is an exceptional resource for any entrepreneur looking to have questions answered by knowledgeable professionals. I met with Chris Dima and within a 20 minute conversation, he understood my business and was helped me generate unique ideas. I highly recommend Walnut St. Labs’ Office Hours and plan on utilizing the program in the future!”
— Travis Bergwall, Cofounder of Bergwall On Demand

Advance your Idea. Faster. Book Office Hours!

Bergwallondemand

Bergwall on Demand is a social enterprise with the aim of closing the skills gap. As a social enterprise, one of their objectives is human well-being and improvement. In definition, they are a company that allows anyone to master a specific subject. One of the biggest problems people face in their job search is the lack of expertise or necessary skills. Not having a vocational skill disables them to get careers in the field they want even when employers can’t seem to fill jobs fast enough. This is what is known as the skills gap and this is one of the problems Bergwall on Demand plans to help.

Advance your idea. Faster. Book Office Hours!

Creating the Future of Sustainable Growth in Philly w/ Michael Riley

Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

ContentBoxter.com
@ContentBoxter
@itsatechworld

“Theres nothing better then getting out there and actually interacting with successful people, who are doing things they care about, and do it well.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“Not having a large budget, SEO was a great way to do marketing, back in the day.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“Different fads that come and go, and things change over time. SEO is one of those things that we’re seeing now in Boxter that’s changing. ROI on SEO is really changing.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“The easiest way to stay profitable in starting off is just keeping the overhead low.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“Focus on what’s working. Instead of being stubborn and stuck on one vision from the beginning, just adapt!”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“A big lesson I learned is to get rid of bad clients. Oftentimes, the companies you’re dealing with can be a net loss, even if they’re paying you. It’s something that could hold you back and really stop your growth.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“Its an overall good investment for you and your company to build a strong reputation. At the end of the day, as an entrepreneur, that’s all you have! You have to personally build that capital on its own.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“Years ago, I wanted to do something big. And the thought was, ‘What if we rethought the entire UX UI paradigm of the system, so that it would be easier to post content?’ SimplPost solved some technical and scaling issues at the time.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“The issue nowadays is just standing out online. Anyone can build a website. Its easy. But, how fast can you grow your web traffic became the leader?”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

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“In our current market, having an incredibly fast site is a competitive advantage”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“Put it in front of people first and then build it. Don’t just build it and expect people to flock to your product. Inside of building the app and hoping people come, get out there and verify with paying customers.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“I’m a fan of bootstrapping, and Philly is a great place for it! There’s a strong startup community here, and there’s a lot going on.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

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“We’ve been actively involved with PSL, and I founded Philly Startup Tech. We have 50 of us now to help the community with specifically tech problems.”
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

“RJ is a good example of an overnight success, that took seven years!
— Michael Riley, Cofounder of Boxter

Building a KickAss Startup w/ Satyajeet Shahade

Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

@sshahade
@hootboard

“Hootboard was encouraged to enter in AngelList by Gabe Wineberg.
He recommended us and it stays on our profile forever. It’s based on that type of social proof validation that their (AngelList’s) founders were interested in.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

“Professionally, I come from a big data background. I worked with big companies like Teradata, Oracle and HP. I worked with a lot of financial service companies”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

“Our mission is to build a smarter, more connected network of communities with HootBoard. It’s part bulletin board and part digital library. It’s a community-based platform.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

“I think the best the way to get good feedback is to piss people off, because those are the only people who will come back and give you anything that you can learn from.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

“Along the way, we’ve come across a lot of of opportunities where we could go extremely niche, but we have since avoided an extremely niche market, in order to appeal to all sorts of communities.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

“Lately, we’ve been working 7pm to 5am with our offshore development team. It allows us to bootstrap and not take in any funding, so we work crazy hours!”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

“If you’re thinking about it, or you’re in a position to startup something its really important to just get started somewhere. Don’t hesitate!”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

Office Hours Demo

officehours.wsldivi4.kinsta.cloud

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.

Walnut St. Labs & i2n Releases Office Hours

How do you ignite innovation?

The way you ignite innovation is to connect innovators with that “right person”.
And then do it again. And again. And again.That’s what we’re doing starting today.

Fact: 20 minutes with the right person can save you weeks, months, perhaps even years of time.

Walnut St. Labs and the ideas x innovation network (i2n) have partnered together to create an easy way to make the right connections happen, propel projects and accelerate forward progression in our region.

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“I”ve met with Chris a couple of times to discuss go-to-market strategies and business models for my startup. Not only did he provide practical advice around basic startup worries such as domain names and getting your first customer, but he also pushed my strategic thinking, encouraging me to think outside the box in terms of building out an expert marketplace. I’d definitely reach out to Chris again. He’s a great thought partner.”
– Asha Rangaraj, Founder of ResearchMole

So What Is Office Hours

Office Hours connects innovators with Innovation Advisors for face-to-face networking and advisement at three locations in the Greater Chester County area. Innovation Advisors are domain experts from the region who are willing to offer advisement for free. Here are the areas of expertise we have so far.

Government
Legal
Real Estate
Technology
Management
Financial
Startups
Marketing
Life Sciences

And here are the advisors we have for our launch.
Interested in becoming an Innovation Advisor?

Chris Dima
Kevin Fleming
Mary Fuchs
Dave Mann
Terry Kerwin
Raymond Sarnacki
Craig Schroeder
Eamon Gallagher
Mark Rybarczyk
Stacy Martin
Paul Prestia
Denise Smart
Wilson Chu
Lars Knutsen
Jim Lauckner
Leo Daiuto
Ben Bock
Jim O’Brien
Ilya Lehrman
David Chopko
Guy Fardone
Clay Zug
James Watkins
Andrew Brenner

Begin with the End in Mind w/ Jeff White

Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

@IMSReport
imsreport.com

“Be conscious of what path you will take when you hit the fork in the road. Know what NOT to do and be willing to admit it to yourself when you hit a dead end.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“Your innovation can have a life on its own, so make sure you pay attention.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“A lot of times entrepreneurial spirits don’t play well in big companies.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“I didn’t want to be part of that cookie-cutter experience. When a company gets that big, you become dependent upon it.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“Be flexible, nimble and follow the money.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“Build your product. Make sure the product works, and make sure that your customers like it. Once you have those three things, then you really have something of value.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“We knew our end game. We knew that we wanted an exit. I told Apple that it might just be cheaper for them to just buy us and it turned out that it was, so they did.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“Keep the team small because you’ll get in your own way. Knowing which direction you’re heading in is very important!”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“Im a big believer in not leaving things to chance. Control your own destiny!”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“What do all entrepreneurs have in common? They understand where they want to end up.”
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

“If you’re not growing organically and not being valued, then make a change!
— Jeff White, CEO of Media Analytics

Tips for Business and Career Pivots w/ Chris Cera

Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

Arcweb.co
@Arcweb
@chriscera

“If you’re trying to figure out what you’re going to do in life, you have to recognize that all possibilities come through new people. It’s pretty much a necessity that you meet new people to create new possibilities. You have to set yourself up to meet as many people as possible, and in the process of building a number of relationships, you’ll meet the hustlers; the people that you want to partner with in your next company.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“A lot of people, especially entrepreneurs, have experienced building features of little value, or perhaps the first iteration of a product that has little value. I try to focus on methods for minimizing risk and prove viable business models using the minimal amount of money possible.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“I think the first person to mention the entrepreneurial career path to me was Gabe Weinberg, who’s been very influential to me in my career.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“When you’re telling your partner or your family that you’re going to go work on this startup; what you really should be telling them from an expectation management perspective is, ‘I’m taking the plunge! I’m quitting my job and I’m never going back!'”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

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“The whole reason why communities and coworking spaces exist is because it gets people out of their houses and into areas where they can be with likeminded people. I remember Indy Hall‘s original slogan use to be,’Because working alone sucks!’. I felt like that was a great slogan.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“What I found to be unique at Philly Startup Leaders was that everyone there was trying to hustle and build their next thing. It was something that was really special to me and something that I hadn’t encountered at other events during that time.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“Organizing an event is a great way to actually meet people and work with people that you wouldn’t otherwise work with.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“Many of the people that I had organized events with and hung out with at PSL are now people that are buyers and ultimately customers of my company, as well as entrepreneurial peers that I have close relationships with. I know Bob Moore spoke here recently. I actually met Bob at a PSL event.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“The community piece has been huge for me in terms of life pivots, and I would never underestimate the value of a places like Walnut St. Labs.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“In the Philly scene, you don’t want to shut the door on someone because, who knows; that person could be your next customer.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“I never seen a college class that teaches sales, which is amazing to me because selling is so important. Sales training even changed the way I dated girls.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

“The Awesome Pipeline: I built a list of everyone that I knew who is awesome, and even some of people that I wanted to know. And, the idea is to get in front of them and pitch them something, in order to test it out what you want to do.”
— Chris Cera, CEO of Arcweb

Instamour Demo

Kristen LaSalle, Cofounder & VP of Sales

@instamour
instamour.com

What was the problem that Instamour is trying to solve?

“At Instamour, our team has been using dating websites since the late 90’s and the newer mobile apps for years now. We have been carefully testing and diagnosing what the most common problems are. And, we keep finding the same problems over and over again. In a nutshell, they just aren’t personal enough because pictures and text don’t cut it anymore in this world of technology.”

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What’s the solution that you came up with?

“Our Mission is to solve the headaches of online dating with new functionality that has until, never been possible before! We’ve made our app available for both android and iOS.”

“Our solution is the world’s first real video relationship platform!
We’ve created a new opportunity to see real personalities by browsing video profiles, engaging in live video chats, virtual phone calls, and instant messaging. We are shifting the paradigm for online dating profiles and experiences.”

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What’s your vision for the future of Instamour?

“Well, we’re raising funds right now. So, we are interested in adding on more developers and configuring some persisting issue that are specific to the nature of these new online dating functionalities yield. We’re also in the process of demoing our products at other spaces and looking to gain as many more users as possible.”

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