‘Stay Focused & Keep Shipping’
About the Author: Geoff Wood is the COO and main connection point in Iowa for Silicon Prairie News, the co-founder of VolunteerLocal and founder of Eggcrates. For more on Wood, see the note that follows this post.
On Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg shared a photo of his desk at Facebook's headquarters.
On the day that Facebook filed its intent to to go public, Mark Zuckerberg shared the photo above on, well, Facebook.
It had me thinking that though we're not all looking towards $5 billion IPOs for our startups, we may have something in common with the soon-to-be-über-rich Californian: the need to keep from being distracted.
The startup community in the Silicon Prairie is growing. It's starting to mature but it's still early – one founder referred to it as "puberty" – and our current stage is one where more and more events are being planned and executed. It's a really exciting time and on some days you can schmooze, network and learn during every meal and have two or three choices of where to spend your evening. On Tuesday, for example, Omahans had the choice between the L5 event at House of Loom and Cornstalks at CAMP Coworking while those of us in Des Moines were enjoying the Iowa Startup Fair in multiple cities. For me, that was on top of a speaking slot over lunch at the Business Growth Summit and hosting PrairieCast.
The flurry of activity is great but sometimes it can be overwhelming, even for someone like me whose job is focused on being part of the startup community. I haven't yet had the chance to make it to one of StartupCity Des Moines' frequent educational workshops and I can't remember the last TechBrew that I had the chance to catch. It's not that I don't care about the events, see value in them or I'm not trying to be supportive, it's just that it's hard to find the time to be part of everything and still build your business.
Don't believe me? Check out our curated regional event calendar or StartupIowa's new all inclusive calendar. There is a lot going on.
Nevertheless, the focus for entrepreneurs must always be on shipping product, and I want to see more of that here in the Silicon Prairie. I want to see the level of "shipped product" activity equal the level of event activity. That's what I see as the next step in growing our community.
And this from a guy at startup with event production, like tonight's SPN Meetup with Hatchlings, as a major part of its business model.
"Stay Focused & Keep Shipping"
Image credits: Photo from Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook.
About the author: Geoff Wood is the COO and main connection point in Iowa for Silicon Prairie News, an organization working to increase the notability of the Silicon Prairie region – Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City and surrounding area – as an innovation center and startup hub. In addition to a daily news blog, the Silicon Prairie News team also produces events like Thinc Iowa and Big Omaha. When he has time, Wood helps organize some of the exact same things you'll find on those event calendars like like Barcamp Des Moines and DSM Startup Drinks.
You can contact Geoff at geoff@siliconprairienews.com or find him on Twitter, @geoffwood.