#ohours

Giving Back & Getting More: Office Hours

In the summer of 2012, I lost my job rather abruptly. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t think it would happen RIGHT THEN, ON THAT DAY.

Losing a job, whatever the circumstances are, can be excruciating for many reasons. For me, in this instance it was debilitating. It crushed me. I had been on this whirlwind ride for two years in the tech industry, and it never felt quite right. A lot of this…

As a digital marketer I spend a majority of my time online and I'm always looking for ways to bridge the gap from online to offline. I feel very strongly that we can use tools like Twitter, Tumblr, and others to make great organic connections online for our personal and professional lives. But what about getting offline to meet these people in person? It's hard to break that barrier. There's a stigma sometimes, like the early days of online dating. And for some people it's just weird and brings them anxiety.

One tool I've loved using for the past few years is Ohours.org. It's an online platform that facilitates one on one professional networking and conversations a la office hours with your professors back in college. Got a free hour? Setup a session and host people for quick 15-20 minute chats. It's way better than mass networking events, and the professional context takes the awkwardness out of it too. I've loved using it to meet people in the startup and advertising worlds in NYC and SF.

I've been a long time supporter from the outside but started talking to Nathan recently about getting actively involved in the future of Ohours. So as of a couple weeks ago I've come onboard as an advisor to help refine the overall user experience, grow the user base and attract new attention to the platform. I'm really excited to be involved and see real potential for the platform and community.

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I'm looking for a dose of serendipity this week.  I'm holding a set of Boston-based OHours this wednesday afternoon.  The blocks are 30 mins long and range between 1pm and 4pm.  Sign up here.

If you're a current or aspiring entrepreneur, I'd love to talk to you.  Also interested in talking to people that would like to pursue working in an early stage startup or are currently doing interesting research in academia.

I'm hosting some oHours sessions on 4/12 around Union Square, and would love to meet some of the local people from Tumblr.

Feel free to stop by and talk about marketing, startups, wine, bbq, or anything else under the sun.

Looking forward to hopefully meeting a couple of you.

If you're in NY Friday morning, come say hi during my office hours.

Book a slot here to talk marketing, startups, tech, wine, or all of the above.

At one of the meet-ups that I went to last week, a buddy told me to check out Ohours. He didn't tell me much about it, but said that it's a good way to meet smart, interesting people around NYC. Great, I'd check it out.

I went home that night and spent some time browsing the site. Ohours is meant to be similar to college office hours. There are members from VC, start-up, biz dev, marketing, and programming communities all willing to sit down for 15-30 minutes and talk about anything. I decided to get the full Ohours experience by hosting an office hours and attending one.

Hosting: I opened up my office hours at around midnight last Tuesday. The hours were to take place on Wednesday at 3pm. I thought the odds of anyone attending were relatively slim. However, at around 11am on Wednesday I got an e-mail from a technical developer who wanted to talk about the business side of his product. He met me at a coffee shop, and we spent 40 minutes talking about his project. I had a great time learning about his business. I also realized that technical entrepreneurs need business guys almost as badly as business guys need technical talent. I explained to my Ohours visitor that in order to get funding, he'd need to put together a business pitch. We then spent 15 minutes talking about relative slides he'd need in his pitch deck. We ended with him saying he understood what needed to be done, but it was basically that last thing on earth he'd want to do. Surprising, because I actually enjoy putting together plans and talking about strategy. So far, Ohours was working great for me. 

Attending: I attended an Ohours hosted by Frank Denbow. Most people in NYC will recognize Frank Denbow from start-up digest. He helps curate the start-up events in NYC. Frank and I talked a bit about how he chooses his events. He also told me about key events that I need to attend in NYC. I also talked to Frank about the minimum coding ability necessary to enroll in a hackathon. Unfortunately, I'm not at that point and need to cancel my registration for a hackathon this Saturday. Anyway, I enjoyed chatting with Frank and found our meeting productive.