December 2014 – AlligatorZone®

December 11, 2014.

AlligatorZone is where kids meet cool startups. So far it has been held in library locations in cities such as Tampa Bay FL, Pinecrest (a suburb of Miami, FL), Sunnyvale CA, and Mountain View CA. That’s where children are most comfortable, and a place that is associated with joyful learning. This week on December 8, 2014, we tested out a new library location for AlligatorZone in Tampa Bay Area. The Seminole Heights Branch Library reopened not too long ago after a $3.9 million renovation. AlligatorZone was held in one of its glass walled meeting rooms.

Here’s another audio-visual report on the AlligatorZone session where startups Lilypad and Shootrac presented to a gathering of kids, teens and parents. These reports tend to take an introspective approach as this AlligatorZone is a unique and new program with no script. The kids define AlligatorZone’s evolution. That’s how we like it.

A teenage member of the audience introduces the first presenter of the evening, Eric Rabinovitz, founder & CEO of Lilypad (http://www.lilypad.co), which is a software for spread-out teams that are far away and out in the field to come together in a fun environment online – or in business-speak, a gamified collaborative work-space for distributed and field workforce.

More kids joined the audience a little later, but Eric was kind enough to start over so that they knew what he was talking about.

Kids and teens in the audience were able to relate to it using metaphors of school teams and school project work, and seemed to really enjoy knowing about the use of such tools by grown-ups in a business environment.

More questions and suggestions poured in once the kids were able to understand that this was a tool to get some healthy competition going between teams and team-members in a business, to improve the overall productivity of the organization.

Eric paid attention to all the questions and suggestions from the kids, and also made himself available for later by staying back for the rest of the evening.

It was time for the next presenter. Omar Garcia, founder and CEO of Shootrac, a software for businesses to keep track of their assets

One of the younger members of the audience introduces Omar Garcia to everyone, and his presentation begins.

AlligatorZone sessions are highly interactive, and the kids’ opinions are valued. The sessions also turn out to be a time for parents to interact with their kids as well as with the startup founders.

Omar invites the youth in the audience to test-drive the Shootrac product with their iphones.

AlligatorZone, is an inspiring and uplifting family-event, and the vibe is unlike any other startup-related event. All the while, the entrepreneurs learn a lot from these digital natives. Startup founders often bring their own families along to sit in, and interact with the other members of the audience.

All the rules that apply to story-time in a library typically apply to AlligatorZone. After all, the startup founders are also story-tellers.

After every session of AlligatorZone we notice the people like to hang out and talk to the entrepreneurs. Lilypad’s Eric Rabinovitz is seen above enjoying a conversation with a youth from the audience.

Other families gather around Shootrac’s Omar Garcia.

AlligatorZone sessions allow a community to celebrate local entrepreneurs.

We got great feedback from a dad (http://youtu.be/V1XJYP9t1DI) and a mom in the audience (http://youtu.be/TspLewFYg6Q).

The takeaway from this session of AlligatorZone was that it simply can’t be scripted, so there’s no way to ‘coach’ a presenter to talk about a startup to children and teens.

Here’s a video of feedback from the presenters, Eric Rabinovitz of Lilypad (see http://youtu.be/GQrgYEhY274) and Omar Garcia of Shootrac (see http://youtu.be/jih523Y–ts)

Hope to see you soon at another session of AlligatorZone. Check out the running calendar at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com

Follow AlligatorZone on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AlligatorZone. Join us for the next session of AlligatorZone. A running schedule and reservations are at AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com. AlligatorZone is one of several impact-programs being designed at SiliconGlades. If you know of startups that would make for interesting presenters to an audience of kids, teens and families, please send your suggestion to events [at] siliconglades [dot] com.

This report was posted by a volunteer from SiliconGlades, an innovation firm that designs, among other things, hyperlocal social impact programs such as AlligatorZone. In other words, SiliconGlades designs programs that bring communities together for a common uplifting purpose, right in your neighborhood.

December 3, 2014

AlligatorZone, is the free program where kids meet cool startups. If you have been following the leaps and lunges (as against a slither) by which AlligatorZone has been growing since it began in June 2014, and following the startups featured, you might be under the wrong impression that at AlligatorZone the kids only meet cool software startups.

At the AlligatorZone of October 11, 2014, held at the Jan Kaminis Platt Public Library in South Tampa, we had one inventor who was a startup founder show us glimpses of his artistic side, and it took the kids and their families pleasantly by surprise. His invention BriefSkate has a lot of technology hidden within for a high-performance skate board that doubles as a briefcase.

Please scroll down to enjoy this audio-visual report of yet another session of AlligatorZone, where kids meet cool startups.

The startup founders presenting were those of WaZINIT (http://www.wazinit.com), and the founder of and LooshesLabs.com, creator of BriefSkate.com.

Brian and Christina Di Vito, two of the 3 cofounders of WaZINIT arrive early and start laying out empty food cartons on which the kids would soon test their app.

Parents and kids start gathering as WaZINIT’s Brian prepares the app to get started. Saturday morning is one time-slot being tested in South Tampa, among the various locations where AlligatorZone sessions are being piloted. It takes a very dedicated parent with a commitment to give their kids this unique opportunity to meet with startup founders, to wake up on a Saturday morning, clear their schedules, and show up with kids in tow. When they do show up, we know they are keen about the learning opportunity, and that they a very discerning audience.

Parents are equally engaged as WaZINIT is attempting to solve a problem of managing food allergies through better informed consumers.

It was time for the next presenter, Alexei Novitzsky, founder of LooshesLabs.com and inventor of SkateBoard (see www.SkateBoard.com).

Kids are naturally makers, so a product like BriefSkate.com resonated early with the eager kids.

Alexei, who goes by Looshes captivated the young audience with more pictures of his various skatecase designs. The fact that he hand-makes each of them spurred the kids to ask even more questions.

As the session wrapped up, Alexei offered to recite a poem he wrote.

Alexei showed the audience the cartoon character Ollie born out of his product’s mascot.

The audience moved out to the parking lot where he had his ‘marketing vehicle’ (the writer’s interpretation) that he uses at various skating events to promote BriefSkate.

Alexei patiently answered more questions that the kids had, regarding his product.

Alexei even let audience members autograph his vehicle. I believe he calls it Ollie Mobile.

As with every AlligatorZone session, parents and families hang out for a little while after the sessions, and they turn out to be impromptu community gathering of like-minded people. We also take the time to interview the presenting startup founders to get feedback on what worked and what did not. Here’s a video of WaZINIT founders talking about their experience at AlligatorZone.

Zac, the 3rd co-founder of WaZINIT was able to join the presenters before the session ended.

Here’s a video of LooshesLabs.com founder Alexei Novitzsky talking about his experience at AlligatorZone.

For December, we are testing out a new day and timing and a more central location at the Seminole Heights Library in Tampa Bay. After an outstanding debut there last month, AlligatorZone is now going to be recurring program at Mountain View Public Library in Mountain View, California. Hope to see you soon at another session of AlligatorZone. Check out the running calendar at http://AlligatorZone.eventbrite.com

Month: December 2014

There’s No Script When A Founder Presents A Startup To Kids and Teens at AlligatorZone

It’s Not Just Software Startups at AlligatorZone — Founders Who Are Artists and Makers Get Kids Inspired Just As Well!