A Tour That Never Ends
Summers over...not even a bummer
Do y’all know that I have an MFA in Creative Writing? It’s true - despite your thoughts on my grammar and spelling - I spent most of my 20s trying to write the “Great American Novel.”
During that time - especially in grad school - I had all sorts of opportunities to do readings, meet visiting authors, or go to conferences, and I’d mostly turn them down because I thought I was better off spending the time at my desk “doing the work.”
I think about that idea a lot.
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Yesterday Brendan Sullivan from Stellar AI reached out to me and asked how I was feeling about Rally two weeks after that fact - because, as he said, “distance brings clarity.”
My brain immediately went to the event with Founders n’ Funders pictured above.
That night we had 9 VCs from 5 states on stage reverse pitching their funds to an audience of nearly 400 folks from 24 different states and 6 different countries. Included in that audience were 15 founders from 4 states that we were able bring to Rally thanks to our partnership with World Business Chicago, and who later that night had a spectacularly cool private dinner at the offices of Sixty8 Capital where they got to spend time with some of the folks who are making Indy’s startup ecosystem one of the most vibrant in the region.
I thought about all that, and I thought about the buzz of connectivity in the room. It’s a sound I’ve grown to recognize over the years and it includes the sounds of people meeting for the first time, people getting introduced, people reconnecting, people pitching, people explaining, people asking questions, people laughing, people exchanging contact details (i.e. doing some version of the awkward LinkedIn dance), and people talking about what comes next.
I’ve learned to know that sound because for what we do it is the sound of a success. Unlike the Great American Novel - innovation is not born out of a solitary figure sitting at a desk doing the work. A great idea might be. Even great tech might be. But world-changing innovation takes a community of divergent skills and experiences all rowing in the same direction. That buzz we had in the room that night at Rally is the only way those kinds of communities can reliably get started.
And so I told my friend Brendan, “I’m feeling pretty darn good about Rally.”
We believe that the Midwest needs more rooms like the one at Rally. We believe we need more of that buzz.
With that in mind, even as the days grow shorter… the tour continues:
Midwest House (Endless) Summer Tour 2024:
Tech Week GR - Grand Rapids - 9/16-20 (Startups at Sundown, Start Garden 100 Demo Day, Morning After Brunch, Giving Day Launch Party)
A2Tech360 - Ann Arbor - 9/20-27 (DJs & Desserts at Bamboo A2 during Tech Trek)
Future of Fintech Chicago Venture Summit - Chicago - 9/23-27
MICHIGAN TECH WEEK - Detroit - October 1st-4th (Midwest House “We Can Build Big Things” Party on 10/2)
We’ll be cruising all of the above over the next 3 weeks. Give us a shout for discount codes or if you just want to find time to say hey. Get on board!!!