« Movable Type 4.0 Transition is Complete | Main | Online Marketing Looking Strong: $61B in 2012 »
Starve Ups: An Entrepreneurial Group with Meaning
October 16, 2007
My hat goes off to a Portland entrepreneurial group called Starve Ups that I have been involved with for the past 7 years. John Friess, our leader with unbelievable entrepreneurial passion, wrote a really meaningful email to the group just now and I copied my response below his email.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: John Friess
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2007 10:35 PM
To: List
Subject: Starve Ups 7 Years Later
Everyone,
Seven years ago this evening 7 companies met at the offices of Rumblefish in downtown Portland and founded Starve Ups. The founders of these companies (AssetExchange, Versation, eROI, viaLanguage, CoolerEmail, Rumblefish and wired.MD) met for about four hours that day as we discussed exactly what Starve Ups should be, what it should accomplish and where it should go.
That evening we decided that the group should be about providing one another feedback, resources and networks to propel our businesses forward. We decided that what it should do is make success the only business model worth pursuing and that eventually we should all get to our exit or existence strategy as defined by our teams.
Well since that time all 7 founding companies, though some have had name changes or have undergone corporate restructuring, have survived and have made it to profitability. One has been acquired and more are sure to be acquired within the next two years. We have collectively employed hundreds, we have sold product to tens of thousands and we have earned tens of millions. We have built two Inc. 500 companies and have provided viable business solutions in 6 of the 7 continents.
To date we have had a total of 32 membership companies, 27 of which are still in business and building or selling products and solutions. This is an 84% success ratio amongst our membership companies, where the national average after 7 years is approximately a 16-18% success ratio. We have built a brand with a single purpose and that is to ensure that we all succeed in our businesses through paying it forward. We have done exactly that as a group, as a team as Starve Ups.
Thank you all for a great 7 years.
John
------------------------------------------------------------
My response:
This is awesome! And the cold, hard truth of it all is that Starve Ups would not exist if John Friess wasn't driving it forward each and every day - you've done far more than you give yourself credit for.
With that said, congrats collectively to everyone on this list - we need to appreciate and celebrate our accomplishments - John's email above shows all of us that we have legitimate things to be proud of with our companies.
Cheers,
Ryan
Posted by ryan at October 16, 2007 1:14 AM
Syndicate this site (XML)
