You all know I left my job last week. Well, I’m here to tell you what my new project is, and how you can get involved. In short, I’m building a virtual city.
You heard that right, a virtual city
It’s called Forward Thinking City. The concept is to help bring the serendipity of the Bay Area to the cloud, so everyone can experience the magic that occurs when you get thousands of smart startup people in one small area. The way I am accomplishing this is by literally recreating a city online. The city has tons of different attractions.
There are happy hours at the local pub
Every Friday, residents take a load off and meet someone new at the Forward Thinking Happy hour.
 |
There are office hours at the Blue Bottle Networking Lounge
Every resident is able to book time with me and other residents, to get feedback on their startup. We can usually help most with fundraising, go to market, growth, and product development.
 |
There are Founder AMAs at the Radio Station
We have AMAs with all sorts of people, and good company always shows up. In this one picture, we have:
The cofounder of Cointracker (Backed by YC and Initialized)
The founders of AirGarage (Backed by Floodgate and Founders Fund)
The Head of Marketing at Crash (Backed by Floodgate)
The founder of a startup backed by 1517 Fund
And plain old me
 |
Yet, you don’t need to be a venture backed founder to join the city. You just need to be someone with an inherent interest in startups and have a will to get involved with them. For example, this AMA with Mark Lutter attracted people who weren’t founders, yet we had a very lively conversation about Charter Cities for 45 minutes.
 |
And our upcoming AMAs are 🔥🔥🔥
We have a 1-3 AMAs a week. Here are just a couple of our upcoming AMAs. Recognize anyone?
 |
Kristen Tyrell - Cofounder CEO of Catch ( Raised $16.2M in venture capital)
Austen Allred - Cofounder & CEO of Lambda School (Raised $122M in venture capital)
Sara Mauskopf - Cofounder & CEO of Winnie (Raised $15.M in venture capital)
These are people you can be in the same Zoom call with and ask them questions. It’s hard to get this type of access anywhere else, regardless of where you live.
So how’s the city coming so far? Short answer is pretty well!
So far, resident growth has been pretty steady
 |
And the feedback has been incredible
So, want to get involved? First, there is one more point we must discuss.
Is it free? Nope!
As you remember from earlier this week, I quit my job to start this, so it’s not free.
Just warning you, I am about to ask you for money.
 |
The cost for entry into the city gates is $7/mo.
$7/mo to ask a venture backed founder a live question in a Zoom AMA
$7/mo to get an hour with me to help you with fundraising or sales strategy
$7/mo to meet other people around the world, and maybe work with eachother
If you’re sold, you can sign up for Forward Thinking City below, and you’ll hear from me on Sunday night with the big bulletin for the next week!
FAQs
Why did you start Forward Thinking City?
Breaking into SF took me 5 years, 8 rejections from YC, and drilling through this thick wall that insiders put up that make it nearly impossible for outsiders to break in. Well, this 3.3 GPA Communication grad from Arizona State University DID break in, and I didn’t like what I saw. So instead of trying to join the old system and be a part of it, I’m creating a new one…by founding a new city! :)
Why $7/mo? Isn’t that way too cheap?
Yes, $7/mo means I am leaving tons of money on the table. With that said, I wanted the city to be accessible to anyone. Even $15/mo is out of reach for so many people. I’ll trade short term profitability with resident accessibility, so I can help more people get access to brilliant minds in tech.
Is this city only for startup founders?
As Brad Feld talks about in his Book Startup Communities, startup communities have leaders and feeders. Well, the same goes for the city. Entrepreneurs will be the leaders, but we will always need investors, lawyers, employees, enthusiasts to join as well and help make the city what it needs to be. So, if you’re here to get involved deeper with startups (working with one, investing in one, partnering with one, learning more about them), then this city is open to you. If you’re a founder of any sort, you’re of course welcome too.
I don’t want to join the city, but I do want to support you as a creator. How can I do that?
Thank you for your generosity! You can buy me a coffee (or 50 coffees) here.
So, ready to join the city? Our AMA with Austen Allred is on Monday so hope you join before then. See you in there!
