Popcorn and Pitches at historic venue NOVA 535 in Downtown St. Pete
Every Thursday night, since 2009, we meet, most always at my historic venue NOVA 535 Unique Event Space, located in beautiful downtown St. Pete, Florida, for the Entrepreneur Social Club, aka the ESC. We spend the first 30-45 minutes drinking, socializing and schmoozing, in a fun, casual atmosphere, before we sit down for the meeting. Our rules are simple, NO religion NO politics, just come and enjoy a fun and productive couple of hours with like minded Entrepreneurs – from ideas and start-ups to Billion $ businesses. NO need to register, just check the MEETING LOCATION (most always at NOVA, occasionally offsite when NOVA 535 is booked for private wedding or event).
We always do dinner after ESC. This is time for more drinks and lot’s of deeper conversations, laughs, socializing and more tom foolery – especially when there’s an after party, or the rare yet EPIC after after party – of course no photos allowed then!
Dinner tonight, February 11, 2016 was at Acropolis located at 515 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. We visit here several times a year, as there are large group tables (important!) full liquor bar (also important!) good food and a fun atmosphere. Plus I’ve created a napkin throwing game that ALWAYS DELIGHTS the group. We Entrepreneurs need to blow of steam and laugh and relax. We’re the ones solving the world’s problems, so an occasional break is well warranted.
The octopus appetizer at Acropolis is amazingly delicious!
Sara “Always Smiling” MacQueen of Big Fish Mobile Apps. We finally understand what Sarah does (we helped her tremendously with her pitch, bravo to you Sara!!) =D
Lauren Russek (below left) was touring NOVA 535 for an event when Nick suggested she attend the ESC, to help with her start-up idea. Smart move Lauren! Next to her is Gina Tracy of Imagine Root LLC “Artful Design to Ignite your Brand”. Gina rolled in with an fabulously designed business card, bravo! The good looking gent below is my long time pal Darcy Raymond, who spent the last decade with the Tampa Bay Rays Baseball organization, plus teaching at USF, he’s now out exploring the marketplace – shopping his awesomeness! Darcy is amazing!!
Above is Sarah, Big Nick Mazeika and newcomer Kyle Labit. Welcome Kyle!
Yes I run the meetings AND act as club photographer, not too bad off of my Galaxy NOTE 5, no time for editing (so be kind!) =D
Below are 3 newcomers, from left to right, Miss Best Popcorn Ever Dee Spiegler (thanks for the delicious popcorn samples!!). Dee is passionate about helping others and has found unique and tasty ways to help charities raise $$. Next is local St. Petersburg College student Trenton Dobert, studying software, who Googled “St. Pete Entrepreneur clubs” and of course found us. Finally super mom Tabrisha Ruby, recently down from Kentucky. A warm and sunny Entrepreneur Social Club welcome to you all!
All of the newbies, except Gina Tracy, needed some to a lot of help with their pitches and business cards. Here is a previous post about the Books I Keep Recommending for the Beginning Entrepreneur, they are several of the ‘must reads’ for all Entrepreneurs! Also in attendance was super star journalist Keith Long (remember to hire a designed for your business cards), welcome back Keith.
Above is our longtime member, and Miss positivity and great energy herself, Miky Gray! She’s starting a drone photography company with her son Alex, The Big Picture Drone. Best always to you Miky!
Below is former Hungarian hockey player, and Entrepreneur Daniel Zoltan Nyiri (below), owner of the USA market for 4U-Fitness, who certainly eats like superman. His fitness program and technology is amazing (I’ll be trying it this month myself), as their website states “Customized Personal Training with the Latest Technology in Fitness! Experience the Best 20 Minute Workout in The Country! “
We discuss many things at ESC, each week is unique, both with people attending and the “modules’ that I open up for questions / discussion. This week we touched on what’s New and Interesting:
Apps & Websites:
Fiver.com (not new but still cool)
Raspberry pie = mini computer
Steam = cloud gaming platform
http://upwork.com (a freelance work site)
http://www.magicleap.com/#/home (one fo our members, Tony is part of this incerdible company, TONY!!)
Books:
You Are a Bad Ass
The Power of Habit
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future (I’m reading this, excellent!)
Chuck Klosterman – Downtown Owl
Future Crimes (A MUST READ!!)
Film & TV:
Occupied
Dog Tooth
The Expanse
The Big Short (excellent!)
The Martian (Book and film both excellent, a rarity!)
Hope you enjoyed this slice of our weekly Entrepreneur Social Club, titled Popcorn and Pitches. When you are here in sunny downtown St. Pete, Florida on any Thursday night, JOIN US!!
