Tag: Students

August 31, 2015

This guest-blog post is by Arif Ahmed, who goes to school at Dougherty Valley High in San Ramon, California, having just started 11th grade. He enjoys creative reading and writing as well as playing basketball in his free time.  Arif volunteered as an AlligatorZone Ambassador at Sunnyvale Public Library, Sunnyvale, California.  ‘AlligatorZone Ambassadors’ is a new initiative aimed at seeking greater community-engagement by youth through celebration of local entrepreneurship and innovation at an AlligatorZone, the program where kids meet cool startups.  AlligatorZone is a series of family-friendly tech startup events, aimed mainly at youth aged 7 to 17, held in various cities in close cooperation with local public libraries.  The startups featured were Mise and DogTV.  For more information on AlligatorZone, visit AlligatorZone.org. 

                                                                                        August 30, 2015

Even though the room wasn’t full yet, you could feel the excitement and buzz in the air. People congregated in various parts of the room, discussing their expectations and sharing their ideas for this event. Even though the AlligatorZone hasn’t started, people were eagerly waiting for the presenters to show their products to the audience. As time clocked down to 3, many people became interested in the Mise presenters, who were preparing their favorite dessert, a chocolate mousse as a special treat for the event today. Many people became interested in their food, which they would have a chance to taste later.

Kids from all ages as well as adults were in attendance and everyone was eagerly listening as 10 year old Keshav introduced the food startup known as Mise and gave a short description. Ben London, one of the cofounders of Mise, took the stage to discuss his startup and what his company exactly does. He revealed to the audience that his business helps out local Bay Area food restaurants including food trucks and restaurants. He showed that Mise helps out by making the financial stress on startup chefs easier by hosting an online market where chefs share their best dishes, creating personalized packaging and labels for their customers, as well as free local delivery throughout the Bay Area. Ben’s friend and fellow cofounder, Yishan, then took the stage to explain that their food is not only healthy, but also cheap and locally made. The room buzzed with excitement as Mise opened up the room to questions and adults and children alike asked great questions. 10 year old Keshav asked how much does it cost to open a restaurant where Ben responded that it takes 3 quarters of a million dollars, on top of other expenses, which can be extremely tolling to fresh chefs. They explained that they wanted this business to relieve chefs of their stress, and just focus on what they love — cooking. Another question posed was how did the cofounder’s get the idea for this startup? Both Ben and his cofounder agreed that it was by having an open mind and brainstorming together. Yishan explained that he came from humble beginnings. He said that he took a year off before heading off to college, and worked in the food business as a dishwasher. It was there that he was exposed to the challenges and trials of being a chef. Yishan was then inspired to help chefs across the Bay Area start their business and achieve success by helping people taste their good food. What was even more amazing to the audience, as Ben explained, was that they have delivered over 170 boxes of “happiness” in just 2 weeks of the company’s existence. They explained that they spread word through social media and only expected the best of the best from the chefs, and amazed the crowd by explaining that they have already started partnerships with 11 local Bay Area chefs. They then turned to presenting their website, which was simple and elegant, which they explained was because they wanted to let the images of the food shine. The website showed a diverse range of cuisine at affordable prices, while also displaying an origin story for each chef and dish. Moderator Isabella asked a great question in what was Mise’s advertising strategies. Ben explained that instead of spending unnecessary money on commercials, they enjoy talking at events just like AlligatorZone to spread the word to potential customers. What a great idea! Throughout Mise’s presentation, more people walked in, and they were instantly drawn and engaged to the idea of the food startup.

After all the questions had been answered, 10 year old Keshav introduced the next startup, DogTV, the first TV programming channel for dogs. The founder Ron Levi, explained that the purpose for his company was to entertain the poor dogs who were alone at home while their owners are away at school or work, which can make them stressed, scared, bored, or all three. He showed clips that showed popular television hosts like Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Ellen talking about DogTV on their shows. Ron explained that his company is currently in 13 countries, and on DirectTV in the United States. He told the audience that this company originally started as a way to study dogs and the way they see things. After a short quiz on the different breeds of dogs, he then showed a short YouTube clip of dogs being mesmerized by DogTV. Ironically, he got inspiration for this idea from his cat, who would always beg Ron not to leave work or the house. He revealed a very impressive number that he has 20 million subscribers, and challenges in making DogTV succeed vary from country to country. After being asked the costs of the company, Ron explained that he spent over 8 years to start this company and has big investors including Discovery’s Animal Planet to finance his company. After a long experimental period in which he studied dog’s reactions to DogTV, he explained that he learns every day by removing things that dogs do not like from the program such as barking sounds, loud noises, and most importantly, cats, from the program. He explained that it took a lot of hard work and patience for this business to grow, and in the beginning it was very hard as he had no advertising. However, within a short period of time his revolutionary idea was on many major television shows like David Letterman, which led to nationwide publicity. He explained that DogTV was originally launched in San Diego, where it was a huge hit, which brought on major television networks like DirectTV and the Discovery channel.

A thought-provoking question, “how can young entrepreneurs try to create a successful startup”, was asked. Ben and Yishan responded by saying that you should take risks, execute your ideas very well, have an unrelenting passion, and believe in yourself. As Isabella announced the end of the event, the audience’s attention turned to the back table where Mise was saving their savory chocolate mousse. Even though the event was technically over, the majority of the audience was still excited as they tried the delicious mousse, made by Mise’s Chef Natalie. Ben and Yishan were eagerly serving out the dessert as interviewer Anisha asked questions to DogTV’s founder Ron.

Not only did both founders give insightful advice on the world of business, but they also were very approachable and friendly. After both startups gave their on-camera interviews, the AlligatorZone ambassadors and startup founders posed for a picture, a lasting testament to new friendships made. As the event came to an end, everyone were excited about DogTV and Mise and the prospects that local startups can bring.

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

Bookmark www.AlligatorZone.org, follow updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone and like us on www.facebook.com/AlligatorZone.org.

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, or direct-message at @siliconglades.  AlligatorZone, is a program by 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.

This happens over and over again at AlligatorZone — startup founders who stand up to present stray into the pedagogy of entrepreneurship or the description of the problem they are addressing with a long winded story, losing precious time and attention, by not hastening to show their product.  Kids love making and makers.

This happens at almost every session of AlligatorZone despite our 31 tips on how to present a startup to kids and families, our several introspective blog posts (linked towards the end of this picture-essay), video clips, a great blog post with tips by Vinit Patil of The Pricerie, our last-minute emailed reminders, and last-second whispers in the founders’ ears.  We tell the startup founders, “Get to the point where you start showing your product at work, as soon as possible”.  In yesterday’s AlligatorZone, one of the kids asked a question after 3 minutes of talk by a founder describing the problem being addressed, until interrupted by a question from a kid, to which the simplest answer was by actually showing the product.

Startup founders at AlligatorZone literally have only 5 minutes to show their product.  Then they start a discussion with the young audience.  The sooner the better.  After that they’ll still have 25 minutes to weave their untold stories in response to the questions and suggestions that come from the kids.  For startup founders, going through the AlligatorZone seems to invariably help them hone their skills for keeping a restless audience inspired and engaged before they lose interest.  It’s like the sales person on a board walk trying to grab your attention as you are passing by.  It’s like the opening improv act by a newcomer in front of an impatient audience, right before Jerry Seinfeld is scheduled to perform live.

Here’s another picture essay from the April 13, 2015 AlligatorZone held in Tampa Bay, Florida.  The turnout was a contrast to the relatively big audience we pulled in last month, probably due to school tests and the tax filing deadline.  Note to self: While having a regular 2nd Monday of the Month schedule is good for entering in the calendars of families, remember that the young audience of AlligatorZone has little influence over its own schedule and transportation arrangements.  If the parents are busy or consider something else more important (because either they have paid to be in a team sport and can’t let the team down, or they have to get caught up on sleep or studies prior to a mandatory test at school, or a tax filing deadline is looming for the parents), then the kids simply can’t show up.

It took a while for us to figure out how to get the iphone to display at the right resolution on the big screen.  This seems to be an issue in most libraries where we run an AlligatorZone.  We need to find a simple solution for this, that will work regardless of the equipment in the library.

After a young member of the audience introduced Daniel Mall, the founder and CEO of Borrowd, the session began with questions and suggestions from the kids and even the parents.

However, the audience started drifting until Daniel started showing his product on the screen.  Borrow’d’s COO helped scan a book and upload it to the app.

The kids were very busy with poking around with the app, while the grown ups were asking other questions and providing suggestions.

The kids had thought-provoking questions such as:

It was time to introduce the second presenter, Rosanne Clementi, the developer of PadGoRound.

The kids waited patiently to lay their hands on the product.

Look at the 6th grader in yellow, with his hands crossed …. still waiting for a tactile experience of the product.

… and waiting …

until he gets it in his hands….

“This feels like it’s been made on a 3D printer”, he finally said.

In AlligatorZone, hands are raised for questions, opinions, suggestions, and sometimes in response to a raise-of-hands poll.

As Rosanne pulled out more accessories that would work with PadGoRound, a selfie stick caught the fancy of the young members of the audience.

They all got to pose for a selfie with the startup founder.

AlligatorZone is a celebration of local entrepreneurs in a community gathering.  Business cards get exchanged between some of the parents and the passerby spectators who stopped to watch the proceedings in the library.

  It gave us time to get a few words from the featured startups about their experience at AlligatorZone.

Here’s a video from Borrowd founder Daniel Mall: https://youtu.be/LvDohQXMxiI

Here’s a video from Rosanne Clementi, Developer of PadGoRound: https://youtu.be/lwW7R7vqEn4

The program ended as always on an upbeat note.  This morning, we received an email forward to us by the librarian, from one of the parents in the audience.  Here’s an extract: “I am writing to say “thank you” for letting us know about AlligatorZone. David and I really enjoyed our conversation with the presenters last night.  What a nice group!“

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

Bookmark www.AlligatorZone.org, follow updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone and like us on www.facebook.com/AlligatorZone.org.

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, or direct-message at @siliconglades

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.

On July 10, 2015, startup strategy guru Sean Murphy (@skmurphy) was kind enough to do a podcast interview of Ramesh Sambasivan, designer and founder of the program AlligatorZone, where kids meet cool startups.  Here’s the transcript.

Sean:    The thing … I guess the thing when you first told me you were doing the AlligatorZone, it seemed interesting but I didn’t get it. It wasn’t until I attended one that things came together for me. The idea that entrepreneurs come to a library and they talk about their product to an audience primarily of children, maybe 10 to 15, or 8 to 17, that the introduction was read by a child and that there were questions from the audience. It’s maybe a 5-minute presentation and then 5 or 10 minutes of questions. It seemed kind of different. You had a lot of very specific ideas for the format that seemed to just come to you as a package, right? How was it that the package idea came together for you? That the whole cluster of features came together?

Ramesh:    The various elements evolved and I was literally improvising, tweaking things on the fly in the middle of various sessions where each of these ideas came to me. The primary idea was just to get my own kids to meet with startup founders and get them to share their opinions. In the process they would be learning a lot.  It would also help the startup founders simplify their message.  Their conversations would include rephrasing sentences so that it conveyed their messaging with greater clarity.  You’d hear them say things like “that’s not what I meant, this is what I meant”. Or, “that’s a good idea but, what do you think of this possibility based on your suggestion?”   It made for a very interesting conversation between 7 year-old, 7 to 9.  The age-group that I aimed this program for is  7 to 17 and above, and then of course parents, grandparents, everyone shows up and joins in the conversation.  They’re all welcome to be a part of the conversation.  What I realized was, putting very complex products in front of children who have very different view of the world, a world that they’re trying to figure it out, required a lot of improvising and adaptation even as it was going on. I did not have children introduce startup founders in the first session. That came about later on because one of the founders brought his child along, which is also something we encourage, and I wanted to keep that child engaged … feel like he was also a part of the program, and not be left out.  That’s when I said “why don’t you introduce your dad” and I think that’s how it came about. A lot of these things were almost solving some problems at each point in time.

Sean:    To me, lucky or smart, the genius of that is that it forces the entrepreneur right in the beginning to think about how to put together an introduction that a child can read and understand.

Ramesh:    Very true. When inviting the entrepreneurs and startup founders I tell them to send me a bio, and I say “strip it off all jargon, so that even a 3rd grader can understand it”.  But they struggle with that. We go back and forth with trying to find a happy compromise because entrepreneurs really want to include some of their favorite jargon in their bio and in how they describe their business.  The perfect example was Grabit, Inc., he has an electro-adhesion technology. We went back and forth until he finally he came up with this really simple explanation of how a balloon sticks to things when you rub it, and how clothes coming out of a dryer grab each other when you pull them out or, how they make your hair stand when you pull them out of the dryer.  It did force him to think differently.  There is a little bit of coaching, if you will, that’s involved in trying to get them to that point. I think seeing the world through the eyes of my own children helped a lot. It helps a lot.

Sean:    The other thing is, I was at a Alligator Zone out here, I think in Sunnyvale, and there was a company that had a social media product where we were going to have to give them permission to inject Tweets into our timelines and, what impressed me was that the children in the audience were very sophisticated about social media and had a number of suggestions for how to improve that product. What was also interesting of course was that as the children suggested potential problems of the product and ways to address it, the entrepreneur kept saying, “No, no you don’t understand, it works this way.” Which I thought was …

Ramesh:    He seemed to go on the defensive often.

Sean:    Yeah, as opposed to … So some of the concerns were – I don’t want to let you have an unlimited number of Tweets. I want to know what the contract is in terms of how many Tweets you’re going to make on my behalf. Can this look like a donation, where I say I’m going to give you 10 Tweets in July? It was a very insightful conversation back and forth, where the entrepreneur didn’t really benefit from it because he was so committed to explaining his vision for the product as it stood.

Ramesh:    Later on he told me that he got a golden nugget from one of the teenagers in the audience. I think that session also made him re-think some of his strategies. It happens a few times. I’ve seen that happen in some of these sessions where they really had to go back and re-think some of their messaging of course, but strategies as well, because these kids seem very savvy with how the internet works.  I think you were the one who mentioned the phrase digital natives.

Sean:    Yeah. It’s not phrase. It’s a buzz word or whatever, but it’s definitely the case. I forget who the quote is by. It’s by Douglas Adams that, the technologies that you grew up with are natural, and then the technologies that get invented between the time, I think, you’re like 8 and 15 are new and revolutionary and you can probably get a career out if it,  and everything else is a bad idea. For these, for the 7 to 17, a lot of these technologies, I mean Twitter is not new. Twitter is part of the landscape, right?

Ramesh:    Right.

Sean:    I guess I’m being too hard on the entrepreneur. I guess what you are saying is that in the moment … What you’re hearing is you follow up with these people, that they sleep on it and they tell you a day or two later – “you know I actually did get a fair amount out of that session. I got more out of it than I realized.”

Ramesh:    It’s not after they go and sleep on it.  You know I record a video immediately after the session asking the startup founders what their impressions are. That’s when they tell me.

There’s one thing that I struggle with all the time. Should I record the session or should I do it after the session. I had very interesting results. When you have a camera running during the session, the startup founders have their guards up. They are more measured in their responses to the kids. They’re not always themselves. I have consciously tried to stay away from recording the session while a session is going on, even though it means that very valuable content is lost for posterity in the process.

What I think that preserves, though, is the quality of the actual session.  It is unparalleled.  Almost like a confession box sometimes. The kids ask all kind of questions. I have a list of 31 tips on how to present your startup to children and families. For example,  I would remind the startup founders never to put a child on the spot. We had a session recently where one of the kids asked a question and the startup founder said “unless you are investor I am not going to answer that.” “Ask your mom or dad to keep their checkbook handy and then I can answer that”, he added, amid laughter from the grown-ups in the audience. You don’t expect those kind of responses, because it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of, not just the kids, but the parents too. That’s is what makes AlligatorZone a very tough environment to present a startup.  It is tougher to present to this audience than any other.

One of these startup founders in Palo Alto blogged about his experience at Alligator Zone. I think I sent you the link. It was titled, The Toughest Audience to Pitch?  It’s Not VC’s’.  Fortunately for him he was the second presenter of the evening, and this is another thing that I see – we have 2 startup founders every time typically – those who go in 2nd do better.  Those who are not the 1st one to present they do a little better, because they … the startup founders by nature are a quick study and know how to improvise. They learn from the first presenter’s stumbles.

This happened a few times. This happened with Grabit Inc.  He had come with his powerpoint presentation. As soon as he saw the first founder presenting and the intensity of the questions that she was getting he asked me, “are you okay if I switch around the presentation a little bit?”. I said, “Go for it”. He changed it around completely. He did not even go near his computer except to show them some pictures and a video.

Sean:    I think that … A couple of things, you hit a bunch of stuff in that. I think there’s this Heisenburg effect, where observing something changes it. Or observer effect and maybe it’s a Hawthorne effect, I don’t know, but we don’t record the Bootstrappers Breakfast. If a speaker comes we record the speaker, but I think that the activities of recording the interactions somehow makes people much more self-conscious.

Ramesh:    Right. It might not be an issue for the new generation.

Sean:    Yeah. Possibly.  The two guys that I saw that I think did the best job were … there was a legal start up that was like Lexmark or that was doing …

Ramesh:    Yeah. Casetext.

Sean:    Casetext?

Ramesh:    Yeah, Jake Heller of Casetext.

Sean:    I thought he was mentally prepared to talk to an audience of children and he did it in a way that he also communicated with the adults. I thought, he thought he did a good job and I thought Allistair Hood of Verdafero came to present. Those 2 guys mentally were flexible enough to …

Ramesh:    Go with the flow.

Sean:    Go with the flow, well and I think part of the challenge is that … I think it’s actually a really … It’s a good audience for people to prepare for because it’s actually what gets repeated out of your message. So the electro-adhesion startup, I think what he doesn’t ‘realize is that when he gives the big jargon answer, most people he’s trying to reach they don’t repeat that, right? Because they don’t’ understand it. The balloon thing, that’s a story I’ll tell because people understand that.

Ramesh:    Right.

Sean:    I think there’s something about and I don’t’ know how what the metaphor is but … it’s not like cooking necessarily but it’s … What to me appeared to be a polished format from the get go, you’re saying was the result of several things happening in several meetings and you continuing to refine, and adapt, and improvise what you were doing.

Ramesh:    I keep refining it even now for every session. Even during the planning stages I refine it. Then while the session is going on I improvise. Then I take notes of those. Lately more mental notes than written notes. I used to blog about everything, but what I realize that this is becoming a very valuable brand. I’m trying therefore to make sure that before I publish anything it has some structure to it. That’s where it is right now. A lot of these observations are in raw formats … I have some 2,000 pictures and about 55 videos of startup founders of which I probably have published only 40 videos. It’s very time consuming. There’s a lot of knowledge being gained at a very rapid pace. The program changes often.  It has not just evolved from one iteration to the next. It also adapts to different locations, different cities, their cultures, different layouts in the room, the lighting, so there’re a lot of variables that I’m trying to juggle while taking it to a new city, and saying “alright, this is how you could do in the your location. This is how we do it traditionally, I think this is what will work.”  There is a lot of learning going on. I’m glad it appears as a package. I’m glad it does look organized when it’s all coming together.

Sean:    That struck me as some of the challenges we’ve … Maybe challenge is the wrong word but the iterating on the breakfast format has taken a while as well. It didn’t really occur to me how many subtleties there are in planning for an interaction like the AlligatorZone or Bootstrappers Breakfast where you actually want to have a format or a structure to it and, it matters. Small things make big differences.

Ramesh:    I think you’re right, absolutely. I think having a framework helps and giving each location some wiggle room to adjust for what will work best in their setting, I think is important. Where I have struggled and still am struggling with is that until somebody actually comes and attends one they don’t know what part of it appeals to them. There are so many parts of it. It’s like trying to describe the taste of Coca-Cola.

Sean:    Yeah, you know for the Bootstrappers Breakfast I’ve tried to explain it a couple of times. Most people have been to a round table format discussion of some idea of what that’s like. In some ways … I think your format is much more innovative then the breakfast format. I think the challenge of describing it is harder. At least having experienced it a couple of times and reason I encourage entrepreneurs to take part in AlligatorZone now is that if you got … If you’re selling a piece of medical instrumentation to Life Science Researchers that’s … You’re in a niche market, highly technical, the process of going through the AlligatorZone is probably not going to be helpful in what you’re trying to do.  But if you’re selling a product which is more mass market or consumer I think it’s a fantastic venue to force you to realize how hard it is for people to understand the message and how important it is to boil it down.

Ramesh:    I think it will apply to even niche markets that are highly technical. The reason is this what I saw in companies like Grabit, Inc., he sells to manufacturing companies that operate on a large scale in assembly lines. Were you there at the session? I don’t think you weren’t.

Sean:    I missed Grabit.

Ramesh:    You missed that one. That was a good one. One question that came from a kid was, can this be used in the defense industry? The founder asked the kid how. He then allowed him some time to think through it because he said they were already doing some work in that space.  The kids are pretty aware of what something can do and where it could possibly be applied. The startup founders manage to come away with something that they did not think of.  There’s a video of this founder afterwards where he said that there was one of the parents in the room who talked about a killer application for his product they’re working on and he really would have liked to talk to him later on, but this parent had already left.  Even if they are hard core business-to-business startups, or even in a very highly technical scientific field, I think it’s worthwhile for them to, if nothing, at least show it to the common person. For example, when they are in the mode of raising capital. Or say, they are in the mode of trying to explain this to somebody who is non-technical, such as training their own sales force, or training their own administrative staff or HR people. I think all those experiences in talking to children and teens will help them a lot when they come out of AlligatorZone.

They’re always go away surprised by the insights they gain. I never seen one session where they are not surprised about what they get asked and how they have to pause and think, how to answer a question in a manner that is not nonsense. They get called on things like that … There was a company that was showing how he had a recycling process. As he was speaking, one of the kids in the audience goes to the EPA website does some fact-checking and calls him on something that he mentioned. They can’t simply bluff and get away with it. They probably can do that in a grown-up meeting where people might save all of those things for due-diligence later on.

The same thing happened with a startup founder was trying to talk about a picture indexing app. A kid in the audience tried finding it, called him on it, saying “you said it’s free but it’s $0.99 cents”, and it just happened to be a competitor’s product.  That brought up a good point of how do you ensure people actually find your product. Very important questions like that show up. You never know what will come out of it. It’s a one hour very well spent for a startup founder. Just show up and actually show the product.

Lately I’ve been calling it a product show-and-tell, because startup founders keep asking me what do they expect me to do there? And I tell them “get to the product as soon as you can”. Using the term product show-and-tell seems to make it easier for them to remember what they’re expected to do when they come in.

Sean:    I’ll take you word for it on the niche market. I find it difficult enough working with those guys to get them to boil it down to where other people in the industry can understand it. I think if they’re motivated to go for children that would be great. I think …

Ramesh:    When they’re raising capital from angel investors, not all the angel investors are from the industry.

Sean:    No, that’s true. Right. … Yes, I agree with that. This would be good practice for raising capital from angels.

Ramesh:    It is, it is yeah. Even sometimes the Angels investors will maybe from a completely different field. They might be hotel owners. You will not always find strategic money coming in. You take what you get to survive sometimes, right? Having a pitch down as a simple way to explain it or changing some of the strategies so it makes sense to a child who is just trying to figure out the world, helps.

One thing that I realize is that children have a very simple need. They’re just trying to understand the world around them. There is no other agenda that I have noticed so far. In the 55 or so start ups that I have showcased so far in AlligatorZone they only want to know what problem the startup founders are trying to solve. Why are you doing this? They ask. They make the start up founders address a very basic question. Why bother doing this thing? Why are you doing this? If the startups can get that answer right, I think they are doing themselves a favor, but along the way the children learn a lot.

Sean:    I think this is good. I think that’s a good point, that the forcing yourself to really look at your product with newcomers’ eyes is a hard problem. I think if you wanted to talk a little bit about the format if you wanted to share some of those 31 tips … What would be the most useful thing you can get out … You think we can communicate some of the core value of AlligatorZone?

Ramesh:  The core value of AlligatorZone is that it is an incredibly engaging experiential learning environment in a community gathering, both for the young, and for the young at heart, in the audience.  AlligatorZone helps young people learn about problem solving by seeing living examples.  The kids and teens are emboldened to ask the startup founders any question that comes to mind, or share any opinion they have, and know that they would be taken seriously.  The parents who bring their children also participate in the conversation.  Families make an impromptu community gathering at the end of each AlligatorZone session, while celebrating local entrepreneurs and local innovation.  From the perspective of the startup founders, even getting prepared mentally for AlligatorZone brings greater clarity in their minds about their own offerings.  Not only do they learn to communicate their raison d’être, but sometimes they also revisit their raison d’être.

Sean:    Is there a place that people apply. Is there a central website for the Alligator Zone?

Ramesh:    Yeah, it is at Alligatorzone.org.

Sean:    Okay.

Ramesh:    Right now people find me through Twitter or through email when they read contact information on the website. I want to, sometime soon, develop a process where start up companies can request to present and then submit it online directly. At least in Silicon Valley I’m getting people contacting me through Twitter. Which is just fine, too.

Sean:    Okay.  I thought the stuff about refining the format was interesting. I think talking about the format and the reason why each element contributes to it might be useful for people. I think for me at least, thinking about all the effort that goes into talking about what is the 13 slide pitch tech for investors, right? We honed down this one kind of model and I think with Alligator Zone there might be 6 elements that you could also get people to think about, preparing for.

Ramesh:    Right.

Sean:    Without necessarily giving away … I think at some level you got to give away enough of the format so that people know how to prepare for it and decide to take part, right? There maybe aspects of it you didn’t want to talk about.

Ramesh:    It is pretty open source. I mean I’m not hiding anything. I think the challenge is to have entrepreneurs and startup founders realize that they are not doing the kids a favor by showing up. It’s the other way around.

Sean:    That’s a good point.

Ramesh:    Kids have better things to do, trust me.

Sean:    To me the thing that was interesting about it was that you actually accomplished something. You’ve created a new kind of experience. I think you created something that could be a way we think about diffusing technology into our lives in a more thoughtful way. To be able to talk about that would be interesting.

Ramesh:    You mentioned the Hawthorne effect.

Sean:    Oh, Hawthorne Effect. Very briefly in physics there is a thing called the observer effect where if you try and measure light like a particle, it looks like a particle. If you try and measure light like a wave, it looks like a wave. I think one of the risks with … if you get successful and you start recording sessions, that formats changes the dynamic … It’s no longer a conversation between a couple of kids in the room and the entrepreneur. It’s people looking at the audience that is not there, right?    I think one of the things that works in the Bootstrappers Breakfast that builds trust is, people can look around the room and see who’s in the room. They can hear introductions and they can make a decision about, I’m going to share in this bounded context what I’m going to share, but if you start recording that then there’s this unknown element which I think puts a lot of people off.

Ramesh:    Yeah.

Sean:    Your thing maybe different on the entrepreneur side because they’re trying to get the word out but they may not want to … Although Shark Tank is very popular, so…

Ramesh:    Startups in AlligatorZone aren’t trying to get the word out as must as giving back to the community.  I’m trying to go with a different purpose.  So it is completely different from Shark Tank,

Sean:    Yeah, that’s what … Ramesh:    There’s the element of winning and losing in Shark Tank.

Sean:    Right.

Ramesh:    That’s more of a game show. It’s how I look at it.  AlligatorZone is not a game show.  Everyone’s a winner in AlligatorZone, so that makes it very uplifting and joyous.

Sean:     Yeah. No, it think yours is actually … I don’t know, there’s something you’ve got there. You definitely have accomplished something.

Ramesh: With AlligatorZone my dream is to make local innovation and inspiration accessible to kids and teens in every small and big town as a part of their learning experiences.  If you think about it, factory tours are really exciting for kids because they are innately very curious makers.  As grown-ups, our responsibility is to stoke those fires of curiosity and learning in the kids so that they learn how knowledge is applied to solve real-world problems, or to make things better.  Why companies would not allow kids into tradeshows I will never understand.  Kids have brilliant insights.  However, startups who show up at AlligatorZone believe they are doing the kids a favor.  To change that perception will take a lot of time or money, or both.   Making AlligatorZone a necessary refueling stop along every entrepreneur’s startup journey, for topping up their teams with some high-octane inspiration will take time – one library at a time.  The one tradeshow which could really benefit the most by welcoming children onto its show floor, but does not, is the NY Toy Fair.  AlligatorZone hopes to gradually change that culture.

Sean: To the extent that you’re able to explain to entrepreneurs what they will get. I think that would be interesting. Well, is it okay to break here?

Ramesh:  Yes, this is good.  I am hoping this will help get the word out to more cities. I’m hoping to eventually find parents who would encourage their teenagers to volunteer, to build leadership skills by becoming AlligatorZone Ambassadors in their own cities.  Thank you for making the time for this conversation!

Sean:    Thank you Ramesh.  Onto your next adventure.

Ramesh:  Thanks a lot, Sean. On to the next adventure.

I was on a podcast recently to capture thoughts on AlligatorZone, and heard the word ‘magical’ mentioned a few times by someone very knowledgeable about startups who was once unsure of what to expect at AlligatorZone and had later experienced a few sessions in Silicon Valley libraries.  On Monday July 13th, 2015, we had yet another session of AlligatorZone in South Tampa at the Jan Kaminis Platt Library.  It was magical.  What is also magical is that communities need not travel far to find such powerhouses of knowledge and inspiration right in their neighborhood, to inspire the next generation of leaders.

The local entrepreneurs who presented at this session of AlligatorZone were Jack Kennedy, Co-founder & CEO, KiteDesk, which helps sales people to prospect, connect & sell to their customers more effectively, and Frank DiLorenzo, President & Founder, RnR Games, a manufacturer of games and toys.

In case you have been under the impression that kids and teens (the audience is aged 7 and above) don’t mean business, here is a sprinkling of topics and concepts you would have heard, had you attended this session of AlligatorZone:

KiteDesk co-founder Jack Kennedy had to bring up ‘Sentiment Analysis’, the concept of ‘Eating your own dog-food’ on whether they used their own product to help their own sales-people in selling, how they started off differently and then ‘pivoted from selling general organizational tools as originally intended’, the ‘kind of information they keep’, whether ‘schools could use tools like this’, a  question on design about ‘why social icons are in a particular color’, a question on ‘how long he has been at this’, and one that made a smiling Jack wonder aloud if the kids were planted there by his investors, which was “Do you think this company is going to go on?“ R&R Games founder Frank DiLorenzo faced a different set of questions such as branding (‘Why is your company named R&R Games’ – there’s an award for guessing), product-discovery and distribution channel questions, (”Where can we buy your games?”, “Are you on the Internet?”), manufacturing question (”Do you have a factory?”, a product-line question (”Do you have interactive games online?”), a volume question (”How many games do you sell a year?”), important questions such as “Do you have fun in your job? – (Yes he said, because he gets to spend a lot of time to play as head of R&R’s Research and Development), questions on promotion revealed that ‘Hide and Seek Safari broke HSN record’, and that they are known as ‘The King of Party Games‘.  The one question that came up as Frank rolled up his cart with some of their products was, “Are you like Santa Claus?”  Scroll down and enjoy this photo-essay to find out if he is.

Jack Kennedy, Co-founder & CEO, KiteDesk, is a serial entrepreneur.  He used the example of the process of selling girl-scout cookies to explain his software.

At AlligatorZone, it doesn’t take long for presenting entrepreneurs to realize that they have a very short time before they lose their audience’s interest ….

… and the sooner they show their product, the better … however …

… if the big screen projection technology arrangement fails to work, then they have to really resort to strong story-telling skills.

The analogy of girl scout cookies was great, but the kids went off at a tangent discussing their favorite flavors.  Those always make for interesting challenges for startup founders who have to gently bring the kids back to showing their product.

Jack faced some interesting questions on his product, and some existential ones on his venture and on his entrepreneurial journey, including which of his 3 ventures was his favorite.

Even as Jack was navigating the world of girl-scout cookies, the next presenter, Frank DiLorenzo was preparing, what he would soon tell everyone, is a product display.

It was time for the second presenter of the evening.  It didn’t take much time for us to know why Frank DiLorenzo’s company R & R Games is known in their industry as “The Kings of Party Games”.

At AlligatorZone, kids own the show.  We had a young girl from the audience introduce Frank DiLorenzo.  She had shied away from reading the introduction to the previous presenter.  Interestingly enough, towards the end of the evening, she said to me “Excuse me, are there any more speakers I can introduce?”, and seemed a little disappointed when I told her that Frank was the last presenter of the day.  Kids learn in an empowered environment in AlligatorZone, which makes it very different from anything else I have seen.  I have seen only a couple of entrepreneurs flat-out refuse to answer a question or give a smart-alec response, which changes the tone of the remainder of their session.  Kids, and soon their parents don’t usually bother with founders who may thus come across as being unapproachable.  Our goal with AlligatorZone is to make inspiration approachable.  Startup founders who leave their halos behind do extremely well in AlligatorZone.

Almost every concept and thought presented by Frank included an element of gaming, a quiz, or a treasure-hunt.  Frank addressed two early questions of “Are those games for us?”, and “Are you like Santa Claus” deftly by saying I wanted to show you what we make, and maybe we can play one at the end.  Once those questions were out of the way, the kids focused on learning the business.  Some interesting questions came Frank’s way.

When asked how many board games he sells in a year, Frank made a little game out of it and had the kids guess his sales volumes (and even gave interesting tidbits such as which country buys the most board games).  It is a very delightful way of addressing what could be an awkward question for some.  What made Frank’s talk very endearing to the kids was when he mentioned that he used to hand-make games as a child, and that they too could do it.

Frank had asked me to alert him when we had 10 minutes remaining in the session.  And then the party began.  He led the crowd in playing a game called “Smarty Party”, and encouraged everyone to join in, even the parents.  The product-display now became the prizes.  Scroll down to see what ensued.

She got it right!

High-fives!

A parent asked for a group picture.

As is usually the case in most AlligatorZone sessions, teens prefer to wait for quiet one-on-one conversations with the presenting entrepreneurs towards the end.  I am told these moments hold imminent promise for both businesses that seek new talent, and also the teens looking to get into the working world.

As part of our quest to perfect AlligatorZone, we ask presenting business founders for their feedback after their session.  Jack Kennedy had to rush to his next appointment, but Frank  was able to give us a post-session interview (see https://youtu.be/chGG3kmqpL8), for your viewing pleasure.

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

Bookmark www.AlligatorZone.org, follow updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone and like us on www.facebook.com/AlligatorZone.org.

PREVIOUS POSTS:

For your reading and viewing pleasure, here are links to previous articles about AlligatorZone, some of which also contain embedded videos:

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, or direct-message at @siliconglades

This report was posted by the moderator, who’s 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.

On June 8, 2015 the AlligatorZone session in Tampa Bay featured entrepreneurs Robyn Spoto of MamaBearApp and Bryan Andersen of 3G1V.  For the first time in it’s year-long history, we heard at AlligatorZone, a kid ask a startup founder if he can break a sample of the product.  It was a picture frame made out of recycled Styrofoam.  Kids aren’t beyond stress-testing your products if you bring it to AlligatorZone, so you’d better be on alert.

The session started in time on a weekday evening even as more kids and parents kept trickling in.  Enjoy the picture essay of AlligatorZone held at the Jan Kaminis Platt Library on Monday, June 8, 2015 at 6:30 p.m.

Bryan Andersen of 3G1V and Robyn Spoto of MamaBearApp have a conversation with the library manager Melissa Falvey during setup.

Robyn Spoto, cofounder of MamaBearApp.com gets introduced by a young member of the audience.

At AlligatorZone we try to remove all barriers between the kids and the startup founders, and their products.  Robyn chose to sit close to the kids and start showing the app.

The mediascape device worked this time to be able to project Robyn’s phone on the big screen.

More kids and families trickled in.  We interrupted Robyn and requested her to help some of the late-comers get caught up with what she was talking about, without putting the kids on the spot.

As we plan to expand AlligatorZone through a network of teen ambassadors and their parents, we want to ensure that these soft skills and nuances (of getting the kids comfortable to have a conversation with the startup founders) are baked into the training that we will offer the teenagers.

We want to retain the magic of AlligatorZone, where it is a fun and joyous occasion, and an informal gathering.  We want to retain the element of surprise when a kid asks a question that really makes a startup founder perk up before responding.  The magic gets diluted sometimes … especially when we have a moderator walking around with a microphone and sticks it in front of a child in larger settings such as a room of 77 people as it happened in Santa Clara, California recently.  The trick is to find ways for the kids to know that they can ask any question and not be ridiculed for it.

Next up was Bryan Andersen, CEO of 3G1V.  Bryan brought samples of raw material and the finished products made of recycled material.  He was introduced by another young member of the audience.

“Can I break this?”, asks a kid in the audience, showing a sample product made out of recycled styrofoam.

AlligatorZone sessions are usually very animated, with several discussions and active participation by kids and parents in the audience.

Before you know it, the hour has passed.  People like to linger and have conversations.  This is also one of our favorite parts – it’s an uplifting gathering of like-minded people from the community.

We also had some esteemed visitors from another county to observe the goings-on.

The conversations between the startup founders, the kids and the parents often continue.

Often the best insights for startup founders come from these post-session conversations that they have with some of the most engaged kids in the audience.

Both presenters, Robyn Spoto (https://youtu.be/CfhZWDCqzUg) and Bryan Andersen (https://youtu.be/D4iDB0BjlM8) obliged us with a post-session interview, shown below for your viewing pleasure.

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

Bookmark www.AlligatorZone.org, follow updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone and like us on www.facebook.com/AlligatorZone.org.

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, or direct-message at @siliconglades

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.

May 25, 2015

When we launched AlligatorZone in June 2014, we started with 3 startup founders presenting back-to-back for 20 minutes each, spread over an hour.  We learned that this resulted in an experience that not as immersive as we would have liked.  Kids and teens in the audience did not have a chance to reflect upon a startup founder’s words or products.  What was missing was those moments of silence in the middle of the conversation that resulted in a pregnant pause, only to be broken by another brilliant insight from a young member of the audience.  We decided to limit it to 2 founders being featured during each session.  We often have to say we’ll take only one more question and that kind of abruptly ends the learning for the audience.  That is not an ideal situation.  The morning of Monday, May 11, 2015, which was also the morning of AlligatorZone, one of the two startup founders had an unexpected conflict in schedule and had to cancel.  The whole idea of having two startups lined up is so that if one of them has to cancel, the show still goes on.  This time we had only one startup founder presenting.  It was eye-opening in that we reached a point close to the end of the hour, when the audience had run out of topics to discuss, thoughts to explore and opinions to voice.  It was deeply satisfying.

Does that mean we will feature only one startup in future AlligatorZone sessions?  That would be our goal, but we will continue lining up 2 startups for each session as long as possible.  If, however, a startup founder cancels on us, we will make the most of it, and enjoy a fully immersive experience.

Please scroll below for a picture essay of the incredibly engaging session presented by Tony Selvaggio, founder & CEO of ScrapOnSpot.com, a business for recycling end-of-life electronics.

Laura Doyle from the Library and Tony Selvaggio helping him get set up to for displaying his laptop on the big screen.  It’s the one thing that seems to be consistent in its inconsistency across libraries in every city where we hold AlligatorZone sessions — 8 cities to date.  We usually ask the startup founders to come in a little before the start of the session and get set up.  Parents and kids are usually busy talking with each other at that time, proving that AlligatorZone is after all a community gathering.

We had a kid in the audience introduce the startup founder.

Kids being kinesthetic, we prefer when they bring a tactile experience to AlligatorZone.  Tony found a way to engage the young audience with products that his company recycles.  It helped them make the mental connection with the business…. and that helped pave the way for an engaging conversation, with polls, questions and opinions.

Even the accompanying parents get polled.

Apps get tested immediately, and startup founders often get called on claims they may make.

A couple of parents obliged with being interviewed by the good folks from The Hive who kindly offered to test out video-taping a session.

As always, AlligatorZone wrapped up as an uplifting gathering of the community.

Before we called it a day, we had a chance to capture Tony Selvaggio’s thoughts in a video-interview after the session, made available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MjigiPC6BE.

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

Bookmark www.AlligatorZone.org, follow updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone and like us on www.facebook.com/AlligatorZone.org.

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, or direct-message at @siliconglades

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.

Alligators in Philly?  Yes – Coming to the Philly area for the first time on April 8th, 2015, is AlligatorZone, the free program where your kids can meet cool founders of some hot Philadelphia startups.  We’ll be at the Radnor Memorial Library at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, 2015.  The session lasts for a little over an hour, and families continue to network after every AlligatorZone, making for a very uplifting community gathering that celebrates local entrepreneurship and innovation.

AlligatorZone is perhaps the only startup networking event for kids and teens, where grownups can join in.

The alligators in AlligatorZone are metaphors for the troubles that can take a startup down.  The kids and families in the audience help the startup founder not only refine their pitch by forcing a simpler explanation of their offering, but they also provide eye-opening insights that the founders may never have thought of.  The public library is also a place for learning.  Thus, like baseball, soccer or basketball games, AlligatorZone has since become another activity for families to drive their kids to and join them in the experience.

Since its launch in June 2014, AlligatorZone has expanded to 8 cities in both coasts, and continues to enthrall kids aged 7 and above, teenagers, moms, dads and even grandparents.  AlligatorZone is now coming to the Philly area at the Radnor Memorial Library in Wayne Pennsylvania, thanks our request to TechGirlz.org for an introduction to a library in the area that would be welcoming of this unique and uplifting program.

Here’s what to expect at an AlligatorZone:  It is a program for kids (typically 7 years and older) and teens.  However, parents and accompanying family members often can’t resist joining in the discussion because entrepreneurship has such an infectious enthusiasm that one can’t avoid.  There have been instances in which passersby in a library stop what they are doing and watch in wonderment at an entrepreneur doing a show-and-tell of a startup product.

See videos of what parents say about AlligatorZone:

The presenting startups in every AlligatorZone include some well-funded startups as well as startups that are very early in their launch.  Regardless, the founders show up with joy and humility, delighted at the opportunity to pay it forward to the community that has enabled their success.

If you like watching entrepreneurs on TV as a family, then you will absolutely love AlligatorZone.  On April 8, 2015, the program starts at 4:30 p.m. and you will get to talk to two fascinating startups from the Philly area.  Each founder talks for about 5 minutes and then kids get to have a conversation, ask questions and voice their opinions.  Usually, after the entire hour-long session is over with both startups presenting, the founders hang out and spend time with the families, and it turns into an uplifting community celebration of local entrepreneurs.  Often founders come to the session with their own families and kids, making AlligatorZone a family event for startups.

Here are the startups you will be meeting at Radnor Memorial Library on April 8, 2015.

Marvin Weinberger, Founder & CEO of American Certified, a shopping website where you can buy the best American-made products. American Certified sells everything from clothing, to toys, pet food, jewelry and more.

Daniel Cabrera, Co-founder & CEO, BioBots, a device that can build 3D structures out of living tissue.

Sign up at http://bit.ly/1zq0u6Z and come with your kids and teens and entire family.

AlligatorZone thanks TechGirlz.org for their support in bringing this program to the Philly area!  Hope to see you Wednesday April 8, 2014 at 4:30 p.m. in the Winsor Room at the Radnor Memorial Library at 114 W. Wayne Ave, Wayne, PA 19087

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

Bookmark www.AlligatorZone.org, follow updates at http://www.twitter.com/alligatorzone and like us on www.facebook.com/AlligatorZone.org.

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, or direct-message at @siliconglades

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.