Reinvigorating the DFW Startup Community: Phase 1

Reinvigorating the DFW Startup Community: Phase 1

by Bradley Joyce 10. Oct, 2011 3 Comments



Last week I posted a few of my thoughts on building a better startup community. It was sort of general, high-level stuff and not terribly actionable.

So today, I’d like to talk for a minute about some specific stuff I plan on doing to try to improve the scene.

We all know and recognize that the geography of the metroplex is a huge problem in trying to build community. Brad Feld recently posted about “entrepreneur density” as a key ingredient to success, and it’s something that we lack.

While it’s the hand we’ve been dealt, I certainly don’t think it’s time to fold. We just have to work within the reality of our situation.

This is exactly why I started LaunchDFW. The DFW Startup Community needs an online home. A hub that all of us can congregate at, even though we’re physically spread out.

I believe LaunchDFW can be that home.

I’m currently working with a few community members to expand the vision for LaunchDFW as we work towards reaching that goal.

Phase 1 of the new LaunchDFW will be building out a completely brand new site. I hinted at this back in my open letter to the community, and things are finally getting started.

The plan is to build an integration of 3 open source projects that will serve as the foundation of the new LaunchDFW. They are:

  • Citizenry - an open source community directory. See http://epdx.org and http://weworkinphilly.com as examples
  • Calagator - an open source calendar platform that makes it super easy for anyone to add/import events. See http://calagator.org
  • Refinery/Locomotive - we’ll choose one of these open source CMS platforms to integrate as the News/blog portion of the new site

While there may be some additional features, these will be the 3 pillars of the site. Directory, Calendar, News.

The project will be a pretty big undertaking and we need the support of the community. Whether you’d like to contribute your time, development or design skills, or money, we would love your help, so please reach out if you’re interested! You can always reach me via bradley [at] launchdfw [dot] com



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  • Gab

    Looking forward to the new site!

  • http://twitter.com/jamesstolp James Stolp

    Bradley, given the geographic limitations of the metroplex, I wonder if the community might participate in a once or twice monthly (or more often) Google+ Hangout series… perhaps free-for-all, but more likely a series of Hangouts covering particular topics, highlighting startups in the area, or just giving those that attend a chance to talk about what they’re doing, the challenges that they’re facing, what they need, etc.

    If I’m not mistaken, Hangouts are limited to 9 active participants, and then unlimited spectators. The small active participant count could be a good thing, striking the perfect balance between big enough to be lively and diverse, without being too big for the remote format.

    I think the community needs to “step into the punch” of the fact that our geography is not good, that our density is not what it should be (and may never be), and that there are quality people scattered all around the metroplex that may find it difficult to always make a trip downtown or uptown (although they absolutely should, when they are able).

    Technology is readily available to help bridge the gaps, it’s just going to take creativity and persistence to reach critical mass of participation.

  • http://twitter.com/czbond Christopher Bond

     An ambitious undertaking. Before doing all the integration, maybe a quick Google Doc (for the directory), Google Calendar, & launchDFW could be a good simple start. If it is used, then build out?