Jason Wong

Fruits of the Pier 38 Rally

Pier 38 is home to over 150 employees and 40 small businesses.  The space is vitally important - not just because of current businesses, but because it generates over 20 *new* businesses a year in San Francisco. It is the home of multiple business incubators, a collaborative workspace to share ideas and experience, and generator of many new jobs.

On September 6th, the Port Authority issued notices to evict all tenants from Pier 38, due to safety issues. Most of these issues are easily correctable, and we have commitments from multiple Pier 38 businesses to repair issues.

Yesterday, September 14th, a rally was organized, retweeted, Facebooked and made the news to Save @Pier38 (yes, there's a Twitter feed). Many small business owners spoke before the Board of Supervisors, to tell their story, and the impact of an eviction.

Results:

Press coverage, thanks to @xo - http://www.ktvu.com/video/29177091/index.html

We've lit a fire under the powers that be in San Francisco. I spoke with Jane Kim, District 6 Supervisor briefly after the rally. The Port Authority got wind of the rally, and knew heat was coming from press coverage, so Port started calling Jane's office often. Mayor Ed Lee spoke before the Board of Supervisors about his commitment to addressing the issues Pier 38.  David Chiu, President of the Board of Supervisors, told me that he would do anything he could to support us.

Brad Benson introduced himself to us as the new liaison between Port and the tenants of Pier 38 at the BoS meeting, and provided us with relevant contact information. 

Joanna Hayes-White, Chief of the Fire Department, 2 inspectors from Port, 2 inspectors from the City performed a new set of inspections at Pier 38, while we were rallying.

The best news is that a meeting is being scheduled between Jane Kim, Malia Cohen (D10 Supervisor), representatives from the Port Authority, the Mayor's office, and the tenants at Pier 38 to discuss issues on Friday. Everyone will be at the table.

Last week, things looked extremely bleak, but a little attention goes a long ways. Port is finally feeling pressure to act.  I'm amazed at the effort of everyone who came to the rally, so thank you for all of your support. If we keep up the effort and momentum, we might just come out of this with our Pier.

Rally to Save Pier 38 today at City Hall - Please Re-Post, Tweet and Share!

About:

At the end of the month, over 40 businesses and 150 employees will be evicted from Pier 38, the majority being technology startups. There are qualities unique to the Pier that foster innovation and over 20 new businesses every year: location, an open atmosphere, and a history of success.  Pier 38 is one of San Francisco's premiere tech hubs.

What:

We would like current and past tenants or anyone interested in saving Pier 38 to come to the Board of Supervisor's meeting at City Hall, Room 416 to show support and keep Pier 38 open.

Agenda:

Tuesday, September 13th

3:30pm Meet in front of City Hall.  We'll discuss talking points and give a general overview.

4pm Enter Rm 416.  Anyone wishing to speak will be allowed two minutes at Public Comment. 

SF finally gets some broadband, phone, and TV competition


This is HUGE for San Francisco.  The Board of Supervisors finally approved AT&T rolling out hundreds of utility boxes so we can have fiber to the curb.  The fight centered around urban blight vs. competition.  As we're a technology hub, I've been quietly supporting this in the background. 

Along with the benefits of competition, such as lower overall prices, there are huge swaths of San Francisco (I can name my old downtown office at 450 Geary) that don't have access to anything faster than 3mbps DSL, unless you pay hundreds of dollars for a T1.  Unacceptable.

6 Week Recipe - How to Get Your Startup Started

This was sent to a friend, and has been sent multiple times, so I thought it would be valuable to just put it out there.  Just change restaurant to customer x, and go.  This mix is for people with a full time job - if you have no job, you have no excuse, get it done in 2 weeks.

You've got a good hypotheses, and I want you to run with it. Buzz me whenever you get blocked, need feedback, more details, need someone to crack the whip, whatever.  A coach can do a world of good - I know I've been blessed with incredible advisors.

1. Google customer development/lean development.  Eric Ries and Steve Blank have decent video talks. That's where I got started. Do this over the next 2 days, let it sink in.

2. Talk to your customers.  Both restaurants, and people who go to these restaurants.  Talk to 6 of each.  You might choose 2 of each type of restaurant (fast food, high end, whatever), so you can find problems in different parts of the market.  See if your hypotheses is correct, or if there's more lucrative problem to solve.  2 weeks to git 'er done. 

3. When you figure out what people want, start with simple mockups for your solution.  Keynotopia is a great place to start.  You can build mockups, get feedback, change it up, get feedback again and then build it.  Find the bare minimum they need to be happy to use it.
Two weeks.

4. This is where you have a choice of doing it yourself, or you can start looking for a technical cofounder.  Either way, at least you've got a problem, customers, and the start of a solution.  Find someone who's as energetic about this problem as you are, that you like, and do it with them, or do it yourself.

Take those mocks, and slam it into a framework.  Padrino is far less daunting than Rails, and can do what you need.  Get the bare basics of what you need to function.  Iterate.  Often.  
6 days to your first demo that sorta halfway crappily does something.  Just make sure it does something.  Keep iterating and making it closer to your keynotopia mocks.

You'll have something pretty quickly and surprise yourself.   The most important thing is to get through this process, so you can rinse, wash, repeat.  It doesn't need to be the next Google, AirBnB, FB, whatever. Get the juices going, get into the practice of solving problems, and get out of the rut.