I tried an experiment last week when I was in Seattle. I did two of my “random meetings” in cars between things.
I had a full day (a run with TA McCann (the CEO of Gist), the Gist board meeting, and then the Impinj board meeting. I had to catch a flight home to Denver at 5pm because I had a meeting first thing in the morning with one of our investors. So – I didn’t really have any slack time in my schedule.
TA had connected with me David Conrad who runs Design Commission and did some of the early design work for Gist. This intro was made and the meeting was planned a while ago. I shuffled the meeting around at the last minute so that it was sandwiched between the Gist and Impinj board meetings.
After I tweeted that I was heading to Seattle, I received an email from Marcelo Calbucci who is the publisher of the Seattle 2.0 blog and recently put on the Seattle 2.0 Awards. Marcelo asked to see if I had 15 minutes to talk about a couple of things.
Now – I hate to drive. I’m a shitty driver so when I travel I take cabs or have a driver take me around. My assistant Kelly plus Taxi Magic on my iPhone take care of me so I don’t really worry about it too much. So – I thought I’d try something different. I asked Kelly to see if David would be willing to drive me from Gist to Impinj and if Marcelo would be willing to drive me from Impinj to the airport. In exchange, they’d have me captive in their car for a meeting for however long the drive took.
Both agreed. I got where I was going safely, we ended up having a face to face meeting (that otherwise probably wouldn’t have happened), and we each have a memorable shared experience. Plus – I hope I was able to be a little helpful to them. Finally, I didn’t spend any money on a car service and – as a special bonus – David had a Prius so we get to feel like we were actually being somewhat energy efficient.
I thought this experiment was a success and I’ll definitely try it again. Pay attention to my tweets and/or TripIt account for where I’m heading – if you want to give me a “Random Ride” just holler. And hats off to both of these guys for being great entrepreneurs and just “making it happen” when given the chance, no matter how random it might seem.
Dude – you're late to the show.
I've gotten rides all over the place – I get the ride, they get the random meeting. It's an awesome strategy.
Comment by Ben Casnocha — May 23, 2009 @ 6:32 pm
Well – at least I finally figured it out!
Comment by Brad Feld — May 23, 2009 @ 9:10 pm
Hi Brad- I would be happy to give you a ride next time you are in Boston. Susan Churchill shared your philanthropy work with investment cos with me. Would love to see you share some of your philanthropy work on Twitter. And I have an excellent driving record!
(former high tech exec, now running local community foundation)
Comment by jsalerno — May 24, 2009 @ 12:52 am
Cool – I’ll be in Boston a few times this summer. Looking forward to meeting you.
Comment by Brad Feld — May 24, 2009 @ 4:37 am
I did a quick web search and it turns out getting in cars and accepting random rides from strangers is generally advised against. Incidentally in-depth conversations while driving is supposed to have the same distractive qualities as texting or mild drunkenness. And that is before they start doing their power point presentation.
Comment by Tony Bain — May 24, 2009 @ 5:30 am
I dub this as the most brilliant idea I have seen in a long time.
Comment by thom singer — May 24, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
I will make they don’t do a powerpoint presentation.
Comment by Brad Feld — May 24, 2009 @ 5:02 pm
I'd suggest you brand this the "commute pitch", – it could replace elevators, and hey – we move a lot more laterally than vertically. Feels very efficient!
Comment by Perry — May 24, 2009 @ 8:51 pm
Brad – I do this all the time and I love it! Meeting people and sharing ideas makes the world go round. Put me down any time you fly into Dayton or Cincinnati, Ohio. Not the most glamorous place in the world, but if you need a ride let me know. – John
Comment by John Buehler — May 30, 2009 @ 4:59 pm
Will do! I’m finding it to be pretty cool and effective when I get my act together in a particular city.
Comment by Brad Feld — May 30, 2009 @ 5:02 pm
I get to participate in a car meeting almost 6 year back in India and I found it pretty time efficient. That meeting turned out very good for me.
Comment by Ruchit — June 7, 2009 @ 4:41 am
…when are they going to start making cars with "auto-pilot"?
Comment by Random — June 11, 2009 @ 1:50 am
Probably soon after my jet pack gets delivered.
Comment by Brad Feld — June 11, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
[...] This account of random meetings in a car was written by Brad Feld and appeared in his blog. [...]
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