Sometimes work is life, and vice versa. After crunching through a heavy day, a lot of innovators are still hungry for helpful insights, drill-down discussions and effective networking.
Christa Freeland finds herself in this situation a lot. And when she started working in Austin, she did what a lot of young entrepreneurs do -- attended events, browsed through LinkedIn networks and struck up conversations whenever possible. But, often times, that led to bland chit chat or someone wandering an event in hopes of landing a sale.
"It can be kind of awkward sometimes," she said of those events. "It helps to be a social butterfly. For me, I can be a little introverted and I felt like we should be bringing networking events in the traditional sense into the digital space and be able to connect with each other."
So she and her team at The Dime Club are building a new-style network that they hope will be more useful for young innovators than conventional meet-and-greets.
The Dime Club, now in beta testing, is an app for young professionals that blends some of the professional elements of networking sites like LinkedIn with the simplicity of dating sites, such as Tinder. The goal is to give young professionals a more nimble way to find people who are interested in similar business ideas and are equally ambitious about learning from each other. You know, instead of Googling the names printed on every new business card to find out if that's someone you really want to reach out to.
The network, which is poised to launch publicly in April, starts by vetting prospective members to ensure they're interested in business networking. The Dime Club's analytics use Facebook profiles and other information to see if applicants meet a strong combination of 10 different factors, which include things like career field, education, location and lifestyle. Once admitted, users will be able to browse through other young professionals and swipe their screen to show interest in networking with someone or, swipe the other way if the person isn't a good match.
The Dime Club's team is in discussions with several young professional groups in Austin to provide their membership with this new tool and, likely, set up badges that show interests and membership in other organizations, such as the Austin Young Chamber of Commerce.
Freeland says it will be especially helpful for the huge number of young professionals moving into Austin every month because those newcomers are usually looking for professional opportunities, new networks, interesting restaurants and fast friends. The Dime Club hopes to give them a streamlined one-stop app.
"It's a really good way to meet new people and see what other networks there are that other young professionals like to go to and be part of," she said.
Freeland, founder and CEO of The Dime Club, started working in tech as a marketing specialist at Journyx, the Austin-based HR software developer. Now she is the director of marketing at Powershift Group, a startup studio that has launched companies including Appconomy, Nano Global and Moxie Software.
"I kind of had a hand in the founding and growing of the existing startups (at Powershift Group)," she said. "And, we very naturally have some ideas of where the market is headed and some trends. But I've never had an idea that was more compelling to me than The Dime Club."
Now, The Dime Club is one of about five startups being incubated and developed at Powershift's offices at 13th and Guadalupe. Freeland and her team of five, including a business development specialist, graphic designer and software development interns, started working on The Dime Club about four months ago.
In coming weeks, the app will be beta tested by a group of startup founders and young professionals.
"In part, it was because I wanted to meet other young professionals," Freeland said. "And, more specifically, young, career-driven women around my age who were really interested in business and excited to talk and learn more about it."
