In the wake of Startup Week, it’s clear that Chattanooga is fast becoming a type of Southeastern Silicon valley.
Between Lamp Post, CO. LAB, and the dozen other organizations that have been designed to get fledgling projects off the ground, there’s a new product or initiative stepping up in the city each week.
But they don’t just pop out of thin air.
These projects and businesses need someone to kindle them into existence, fighting to make their startup an established part of the community.
Seun Erinle is one of those in the trenches, and on Friday, the self-described “human, designer, entrepreneur, and teacher” spoke at a Society of Work event to outline what she thinks every startup should keep in mind when launching.
Ms. Erinle said that every person wanting to create and sustain their own project should take small steps, ask for help, and not be surprised when they happen to fail.
She said, “It’s like a baby starting to walk. The baby doesn’t fall down and decide that walking is too hard to try again.”
A certain level of graciousness is necessary because startups can be vulnerable to shocks and surprises for several years even after their first year of business until they are established.
And to Ms. Erinle, navigating that set of challenges is a completely different process than anything previous generations have had to deal with. Young startups are simply in a different line of work and a different environment than their parents were.
She said that startups and young members of the community in Chattanooga, “don’t work at traditional businesses. We have to do it a different way.”
And with the two businesses she currently runs, Ms. Erinle’s work and story is a model for much of what she advocates.
When she graduated college with a degree in computer science in 2006, she entered a failing job market and the reality that traditional entrance into the ranks may no longer be an option.
So she started freelancing her work as a web designer while going back to school for design, receiving her degree in 2009. That work and the contacts she made through it led her to start her first business, Grid Principles which has been so successful that she has never had to run an ad to curry more business.
Now the community is benefiting from her experience and instruction with her newest business, AIR Labs, which seeks to teach students how to utilize technology, primarily coding software.
AIR Labs, which stands for Aspire, Imagine, and Reason, hopes to bring together the young and old, the poor and rich, to teach a burgeoning community how to better adapt and flourish in a technological world that is rapidly accelerating and changing every day.
As its site says, "We live in a creative economy that blends the arts and design with tech and culture to build better communities and create jobs. We have to know more than how to code - we have to know what to do with it.”
If you are interested in learning more about Grid Principles, AIR Labs - potentially to see that you too can code, or Ms. Erinle, you can visit her website here.