My New Gig: West Coast Outreach for Kickstarter
By: Clarissa Redwine
Tags: Startup

After working with 10 world-class robotics startups; Qualcomm, a leader in connectivity; and Techstars, one of the largest entrepreneurial ecosystems, I didn’t think life could get more thrilling. Then, Kickstarter gave me a ring.

I got started with community building while at the University of North Texas, co-founding a nonprofit called Techmill, with the mission of developing the North Texas tech startup scene. I wanted to know more about the mechanics of building a startup, but my university didn’t have the hands-on learning I craved and my college town, Denton Tx, didn’t yet have a tech community to join. So I built one from scratch with a handful of passionate co-founders. Meetups, hackathons, coworking spaces — we did it all, with humbling support from our growing community.

Techmill Coworking Space | Banter Location

We launched with a weekly coworking meetup at our favorite coffee joint and, through completely member-based growth, grew into two coworking spaces in our college town of 100,000 people, one location completely free and open to the public. My cofounders and I developed a devotion to the idea of lean, customer-based growth in our city’s growing tech collective. After organizing events and establishing a support system for tech creatives, I discovered how much I love building ecosystems where innovators thrive. Together, our freshly formed community supported the growth of promising companies and ideas — ranging from Kubos’ open source software for satellites to DrawAttention’s decals that transform your laptop into a whiteboard. One of our members earned his spot in Techmill’s coworking space by building all of our desks and he now has his own custom furniture business, aptly named, Denton Sustainable Creators.

Techmill’s Annual Bootstrappers’ Mixer

My passion for building entrepreneurial ecosystems lead me to Techstars — working first in London and then as Program Manager in San Diego, where I helped establish the Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator, powered by Techstars. This program offered the opportunity to dive headfirst into hardware and robotics. I had my hands in everything: scouring the globe for the best robotics founders, building a bulletproof list of hardware investors, and running our dazzling robot-packed demo day. Community building and founder outreach quickly became priorities: the cherry on top of a fantastic position. At the community building level, you’re immersed in the enthusiasm-driven end of the entrepreneurship spectrum. Makers and creators share ideas left and right, pulling you into a world seen through their eyes. Founder outreach has it’s own intensity; in talks with teams and founders so close to realizing their shared vision, I acted as a connector who shared in their excitement and helped hustle the resources they needed to take the next step.

After the Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator concluded, Kickstarter came into focus as a possible next adventure. Working with the Kickstarter team would put me smack in the middle of what I love to do: seek out tech creatives and help shape their journeys as they shape our world. The decision was an easy one. Without a moment’s hesitation, I joined the Kickstarter team as the Design and Technology Outreach Lead for the West Coast.

I had been part of this community for years, as a backer — and even then, I could feel the passion and creativity of the people behind the platform. Now, I’m here at Kickstarter, surrounded by a hive of people buzzing about creators and projects — my team ever proud of the cultural and technological impact our community has on the world. Strolling through Kickstarter’s Brooklyn headquarters in the middle of a Saturday while a PancakeBot is being put together in the kitchen, it’s pretty clear that this place is a nexus of creativity.

While the rest of the D&T Outreach team is in Brooklyn, I’ll be in the wild west, based in San Francisco. I’m stoked to contribute to Kickstarter’s growing presence in the Bay Area. Traveling up and down the West Coast, you’ll find creators working on everything from codable drone kits for kids to underwater robots. Working on the West Coast will make it even easier for us to connect with creators to give them the support that they need. I couldn’t be more excited to be leading this effort.