How can we make Saratoga Springs a leading city for software development and innovation? Asking tough questions can help us push our limits, conceive new ideas, and think outside of the norm. Here is the story of how this question came about…
The novel A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger is a book that explores “The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas”. As Berger described at the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce luncheon two weeks ago, the ability to ask the right questions lead to the creation of successful companies like Gatorade and Netflix.
When Todd Shimkus, the president of the Saratoga Chamber, received a copy of A More Beautiful Question from Northsire Books he was excited to read it. Little did he know he would go cover-to-cover in one day on his couch, and be prompted to tweet at the Author:
My Q 4 Chris Morrow @TogaNorthshire is how soon can we get Warren Berger @GlimmerGuy to #saratoga? Thx 4 recommending this grt book 2 me!
— Todd Shimkus (@ToddShimkus) March 15, 2014
Berger replied, a meet and greet luncheon was arranged, and the rest is history! After Berger’s captivating speech with questions and answers, a number of members of the Saratoga tech community met with Berger in a round table discussion. To goal was to learn from Berger’s philosophy of inquiry to find a way to continue growing Saratoga as a desirable place to live and work in software. We were graciously hosted by Laura Kelley at The Saratoga Arms, a beautiful hotel on Broadway in Saratoga.
There was a great turnout, and I was honored to meet and converse with Shimkus, Berger, Craig Skevington from Flow Management Technologies and Saratoga Technology Accelerator, Tony Lombardo from expex, Joe Tyler from Informz, Greg Magin from Garnet River, Marcella Jewel and Ezra Levy from Open Campus, Theresa Agresta from Allegory Studios, Travis Bullard from Global Foundries, and of course our close friend Steve Wilcox from Fingerpaint .
As a group, we discussed “How do we encourage new companies to come to Saratoga?” and “How do we encourage existing companies in Saratoga to stay?”. One way is to highlight all of the amazing things that Saratoga and the Capital Region have to offer in terms of quality of life. Companies cannot survive without the skilled employees they need, and Saratoga is a great place for these workers to live and build families. This will lead students who are learning business and computer science skills at RPI, RIT, UAlbany, SUNY IT, St.Rose, and Skidmore to stay in Saratoga rather than leaving for NYC, Boston, or San Francisco. Another part of our solution to these questions was to showcase and promote success stories in the area. By looking at the large influx of jobs from Global Foundries, and companies right in downtown like Fingerpaint, and MadGlory, we can show the area is growing in number of skilled software workers.
This lead us to our next question… “How do we showcase and promote success stories from Saratoga?” One way is by having networking events for companies that are currently growing to meet and share experiences with other entrepreneurs and companies doing the same types of things. One example of this is the Saratoga TechOUT, an informal gathering and networking event that rotates between different restaurants and pubs in downtown Saratoga. This event allows local tech people to become familiar with other firms in the area working on similar problems, products, and software solutions.
With help from the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce and The Saratoga Convention and Tourism Bureau, there have been more and more reasons to do business here. Events like Saratoga TechOUT and StartupTechValley give local tech workers and entrepreneurs a way to connect. Software and tech companies in Saratoga and the Capital Region are all being successful and growing today.
For these reasons, it has been MadGlory’s ambition (with the help of everyone listed above!) to organize Level Up Conference, a creative tech conference that explores the process of creating and shipping modern software products. It will take place October 8th and 9th at the Saratoga City Center, on Broadway. The conference will feature practical experience by industry experts, over two days, covering four themes; ideate, design, build, and launch. Join us there to meet interesting people, make new friends, and learn new skills you can show off at home, or at work right away. Level Up Conference will give all those who have been working to grow the tech community in Saratoga an opportunity to show off their hard work to the rest of the country and the world. We look forward to seeing you there!
