

Unable to find like-minded individuals in rural area.   - mattwdelong

Good Morning HN,<p>This is my first HN submission and instead of submitting a Tech Crunch article, I am submitting a very perplexing question in which I seek a solution.<p>You see, I live in rural Eastern Canada (New Brunswick) in a town that has the population of ~6k people and I experience the difficulty of finding like-minded individuals to collaborate with on my projects and ideas. I know there are people in my area who have some similar interests as me (same as all of you, which I assume, is technology and entrepreneurship) but as there are no organisations to join where I could ultimately network with these individuals I seek, I cannot find them anywhere. You would think the internet would make this problem much easier to solve, it has not.<p>I have come up with some a tentative solution and a non-solution to my problem; I will start with the solution:<p>I have been thinking about organizing a start up weekend in my area. In the surrounding area there is a large satellite internet service provider and the data center for the worlds largest frozen foods manufacturer. Combine these two entities and I think I might be able to draw out enough people to cover the expenses of the event. However, in the event that I DO organize the event and not enough people show up, I would be left with covering the expenses of the event and that is something I cannot afford. (perhaps we could think of solutions to this problem?) I could perhaps sell tickets in which people must pay for the event in advance, but I don't think that would work..I could be wrong?<p>Non-solution:<p>Move. Simply put, even though it`s not as fast paced as Silicon Valley or any City for that matter, I love it here. I love being able to swim in nearby bodies of water without risk of..pollution, sickness and disease. I love the wilderness and the shooting at animals in the aforementioned wilderness. Moving is just something I don't want to do at this point and I will only endure this option when all else fails - I know I could move back, but I want to make a run at a start up in my area first.<p>So how do people in similar situations as me find other people to collaborate with on projects? I have many ideas, some larger than others, but they all don't seem as fun without having someone else to work on them with. Not to mention, they also seem like an insurmountable task to tackle on my lonesome.
======
intellectronica
I think that you don't realize how easy it is to move and how easy it is to
still enjoy the benefits you describe by coming back for visits. A 6K
population gives you absolutely no help with advancing anything significant in
your life. It may be heaven on earth, but unless you're already established
and can work on the net exclusively, this will be the biggest constraint on
you. It will very likely mean that for your entire life you'll compromise on
doing something you can rather something you love.

My advice: move. Get out of this place as soon as humanly possible, and
promise yourself that once you've established a good way to do something you
love, you'll come back for visits as often as possible, maybe even once a week
or for long stretches of time every now and then. If you become wealthy
enough, you may even be able to have a second home there.

~~~
mattwdelong
Though you say it's easy enough to pack up and move, there are numerous issues
that come to mind. First, being in University for a few years and then living
on the opposite side of North America for the purpose of playing rugby has not
give me enough time to pad my resume - I know I can pretty much do anything I
want, but I would have a difficult time actually proving that to someone with
concrete evidence to back it up.

Faced with the problem of finding a job with my weak resume, so that I can
support myself in a new area on my own, leads me to believe it is much easier
said than done.

However, you may be right in saying that by staying here I am limiting myself
to something I CAN do opposed to what I want to do. But what I am asking, or
even suggesting, is it not possible to stay here AND do what I want? There
happens to be tons of industry in the area as far as farming, forestry and
trucking go, there is just no apparent 'tech-sector' in my area. It's not that
I am entirely opposed to moving, it's just that it would take one awesome
opportunity to force me to move, something I couldn't turn down. [offers
accepted.]

So to better revise my question; I am more or less asking how I can find
people like me who already exist in my area, without relocating.

~~~
RobGR
I have helped run a linux users group for years, and been involved in other
various groups. Here's the sort of approach I would take:

First, start with a regular, weekly or monthly meeting. You can call it a
technologists group or linux group or whatever, but given the size of your
community you don't want to limit it to a single topic. I advise calling it a
"Futurist Society" or "Optimist Club" or something along those lines.

Remember that the kind of people you want are less likely to think in terms of
the words "startup" or "entrepreneur" or "hacker" or such in a rural area.
They will describe themselves as "inventors" or "tinkerers" or say "try lots
of small business schemes" or not recognize themselves as a group deserving a
special label at all.

The meeting has to be scheduled and held at the same place very regularly, and
that place has to be free. At first people will come infrequently and on the
spur of the moment, and people will not join a mailing list to get
announcements on the next meeting, so it has to be something like "Thursdays
7pm back room at Joe's". If appropriate, you can use your own house for a
while, but that will eventually get old.

It's good to have pre-scheduled presentations and topics, but you don't have
to, and you should allow walk-in topics of any sort.

Start by giving tutorials on things you know, such as installing linux or
programming or whatever it is.

Solicit short show-and-tell presentations from whomever you can. One idea I
would like to try, but I would need to write some scripts to dig the patent
database and find them, is to find people in your area who have been awarded
any sort of patent, and call them up and ask them to give a talk on the
device, or the process of getting a patent.

Another good idea is to find someone who has had something manufactured via
e-machineshop.com or mfgquote.com or something similar, and ask them to talk
about the experience.

Keep a web page or blog and update it with a few notes about each meeting.

Once this has gone on for a while, and you have developed enough connections
with good people locally, try having a barcamp style event on a particular
technology or just starting businesses in general.

------
jacquesm
> instead of submitting a Tech Crunch article

classy, it is appreciated!

I lived in rural Canada as well (st. Josephs Island, Ontario), and I found
some overlap between the people that go to lan parties and those that hack -
either for a hobby or for a living.

Another trick was to take out ads in the local rural papers (usually very
cheap) to see if anybody was interested.

Even if you only find one person like that he or she will probably be able to
point out a few more.

Once you have a little network going you can do the event and split the take
together, I think that even if it is just a BBQ it will eventually draw a
crowd of like minded individuals but I doubt that you will make that work on
the first round, so start small when you have found a couple of buddies and
make sure they understand they can bring anybody along that does something
interesting.

------
gdp
What about starting smaller? Arrange an informal meetup in a bar or a cafe or
something? At least that gives you an opportunity to gauge interest without
needing any particular financial outlay. If there is sufficient interest in
that event, perhaps you can then proceed to something requiring a larger
investment of time and money.

Also, having made some contacts through an informal gathering, you might meet
people willing to help organise a larger event, and people willing to help you
attract sponsorship for such an event.

~~~
mattwdelong
This is a definite solution, something I might even try to organize in the
short term. In fact, I should have mention but I have a very nice 'in' with
the Editor of the local newspaper which gives me ample opportunity to get
exposed of little, to no cost. Maybe I will organize a meeting at the pub, or
local cafe and gauge interest level based on that?

------
csytan
Hey Matt,

As someone who has lived in NB (Fredericton) for most of my life, I feel I can
relate to your problem. Even though F'ton is a university town, and known as
one of the more tech-centered places in NB, it is still seriously tough to
find like minded individuals.

Consider that similar interests are just the first step in a successful
collaboration. Finding someone you work well with, who also likes using the
same technology, is difficult enough as is, especially in a small town.

I think it's a great idea to have a startup weekend. You probably don't need
funding for an event; a meetup at an apartment or even a library meeting room
would be cheap enough. Sites like <http://meetup.com/> can make the planning
easier. A good place to look would be your local universities and colleges.

That being said, I scratched my itch by moving to Vancouver. I couldn't be
happier. There is much of the wilderness here that you enjoy, and it's not
uncommon to walk past a bar while overhearing whispers of yet another start up
idea.

Good luck!

~~~
mattwdelong
Hey,

I am just 50 minutes up the river in Woodstock, I also attended UNBF and I am
very familiar with Fredericton. You make a valid point in that finding a like
minded individual is only one step, finding one you can collaborate with is
the obvious next step.

I have never spent much time in Vancouver, but I did live in the Victoria area
while I was playing rugby and I did notice a vast technology sector without
even looking for it. Props for scratching your itch, but I don't know if I am
ready for that just yet.

------
sutro
Your question brought to mind Hemingway's Nobel acceptance speech:

 _Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate
the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in
public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For
he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face
eternity, or the lack of it, each day.

For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for
something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that
has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with
great luck, he will succeed.

How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to
write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had
such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he
can go, out to where no one can help him._

------
movix
We're based in a very rural environment, with very limited opportunities to
network. We have amazing mountains, stunning beaches, lots of sheep and hardly
anyone who has the slightest idea what we're talking about when we discuss our
project.

Yes, it is possible to meet people and work online, using all kinds of great
web tools, but in the end, I still think sitting in the same space as your
colleagues is the best way to go. It's how we naturally communicate, and it's
still yet to be bettered.

Also, you'll find that if you get a project off the ground, and need to raise
VC capital or other funds of any amount, if your address is Nowhere,
Nowheresville, you really won't have much chance of anyone taking you
seriously.

My advice = move, build your project in the right environment, then head back
to the hills to enjoy the scenery.

~~~
eleitl
New Zealand, is it?

~~~
movix
Wales, UK... close but no banana

------
rantfoil
Propel ICT looks like a good way to get in touch with other entrepreneurs in
New Brunswick. <http://propelict.com/>

Dan Martell, an angel investor out here in the Valley, also is from New
Brunswick and he's a phenomenal resource too.

~~~
mattwdelong
Thank you for taking the time to put some actual recon into your answer. I
have been in contact with Dan before, he seems like a great guy. At the same
time, he seems to have a lot on the go, rural New Brunswick development
probably isn't high on his list.

As for propelict, they mostly concentrate on the 3 city areas of Moncton,
Saint John and Fredericton. Again, not much going on in rural NB with them -
perhaps I could leverage them, maybe they have some ideas for me.

Regardless, +1 for the info.

------
TomOfTTB
If you're set on local collaborators I guess that's as good an idea as any.

But let me make one suggestion which is to not be so fixated on your area.
Yes, it's great to have local collaborators but it's hardly necessary. There
are plenty of tools that allow collaborators to work together no matter where
they are.

The most famous example I can think of is David Heinemeier Hansson. He worked
as a partner in Chicago based 37Signals even though he lived in Denmark up
until a few years ago.

The truth is, whether someone's in another part of your rural community or in
Denmark the collaboration itself shouldn't be that different (using tools like
Skype, IM and even 37Signals' set of collaborative tools)

~~~
jacquesm
The fact is though, even YC insists on its applicants to move to where ever YC
is located.

There is a big advantage in working together when you are face to face. A
purely virtual idea you might get off the ground when you are spread out, but
even then the feeling of 'working together' when you really are together is a
different one.

Maybe it's just because I'm old or maybe it is because my experiences with
collaborating remotely are a mixed bag (currently working with people in
Panama).

It should not theoretically be necessary but I do find there is a huge
difference in practice.

~~~
TomOfTTB
YC requires that because they have a whole program that is designed around
educating entrepreneurs. They all have to be in that location so they can meet
the local VC community, attend the get togethers, etc... I don't think
everyone being together has all that much to do with it (though I obviously
could be wrong)

The bottom line is there's nothing you can do in person that you can't do with
a Skype connection and a whiteboard program. Moreover as someone whose both
worked with local programmers and worked with long distance ones I didn't find
much of a difference. I'd almost always IM anyway regardless of whether the
person was up the hall or in Prague

~~~
jacquesm
I find it depends very much on the people. With some people it works great,
with others it really doesn't work.

And for plenty of situations there is a middle ground somewhere where you work
'apart' for a while and then meet up for a bit and so on on some periodic
schedule.

------
dylanz
Hey Matt,

I just lived in a rural and isolated (2 hrs of a horrible mountainous drive to
the nearest city) town of 3k, for 2 years. We just moved to the outskirts of a
city of 3.5 million about 2 weeks ago, due to a distant family member becoming
ill.

I was lucky enough to have found a programmer friend in the town of 3k, and we
were able to go out for beers and rant and rant and rant about the industry,
technology, etc. I think that was the only thing that saved me from going
crazy. Other than that... I'm not sure if your attempts to find like minded
locals will be too successful. You may find some friends, but they may not
adhere to your moral objectives or, know the rootin' tootinest thing about
technology.

All in all, we're loving being outside of a major city. We can go hiking,
camping, hunting, etc... and it's just a matter of minutes away. We can also
drive 10 minutes into the heart of the city, and get any type of foreign food
in the world. That was actually the crux for us. Also, if you have kids,
that's a completely different factor as well, and was a big one for us. We
didn't want to shelter them too much to the "outside world", but didn't want
them to get sucked up into it either.

It's the small things in life that make life wonderful, no matter where you
live.

Hope you find what you're looking for!

------
idlewords
This is the reason urban areas were invented.

------
thenduks
I will have to agree with the others here who say: _move_!

Personally I moved from a 'small city' (Kitchener-Waterloo, something like
200k in the vicinity) to Toronto and immediately noticed the difference in the
tech community... and by that I mean, I realized that, despite it's apparent
reputation, there wasn't one in KW.

------
RyanMcGreal
Non-solution: try to scrounge up a critical mass of hackers, developers, VCs
etc. in a town of 6,000.

Solution: move to a city.

------
onreact-com
Why don't you start small?

Seek out chess partners or whatever nerdy hobbies you prefer, offer "free
entrepreur advice", make a weekly "technology meeting" and see what people
show up etc. etc. etc.

You don't have to risk high expenses or consider moving already.

