There was a time when you could walk into a single room and say hello to everyone in Buffalo’s startup technology scene.
Some of those people slid into different industries or moved to different cities. Some achieved success as startup entrepreneurs.
One of them was Clark Dever.
Dever’s had different day jobs over the years – as a founder, early team member, formal consultant and mentor. He is now vice president of product management for publicly traded Wrap Technologies, which is based in Arizona but now has a team in Buffalo.
But his impact goes beyond the resume. To oversimplify matters, let's say it's about an ethos.
Dever believes in gathering and galvanizing communities around shared ideals. He has fused that passion into the idea of a grassroots startup scene in Buffalo – helping to build an energy that quickly progressed from regional curiosity to major economic force.
These days there are thousands of people who are directly involved, and many others in ancillary industries and roles. The idea of startups in Buffalo receives heavy support from the state, the University at Buffalo and the local philanthropic community. You’d need a lot of rooms to fit everyone now.
It’s not perfect: Dever said that the “attitudes, egos and politics” of entrenched interests can hamper the local sense of momentum.
But he is a believer in the progress made toward his long-term ideal.
“If you look at the grassroots startup community and what it’s done, it’s been incredible,” Dever said. “A lot of different people had a part in that, but what sells people on moving and staying here is the way they support one another.”
Dever loves Buffalo. He even loves snow. But about five years ago, he began coming to terms with stark emotional and behavioral changes at the onset of the October gloom. About two years ago he was comfortable enough with the diagnosis, seasonal affective disorder, to start talking about it publicly, an attempt to de-stigmatize mental illnesses that quietly affect so many.
The problem became more acute over the years. The pandemic introduced a new level of despair. Dever and his wife decided this year that the responsible thing to do, for themselves and for their children, was to solve the problem.
In the coming months, they’re moving to Austin, Texas, which isn’t just physically hot but also a major startup hotbed at the bleeding edge of modern tech paradigms such as blockchain and Web3.
It is mostly a decision borne of personal necessity. But there is also a sense of satisfaction as Dever looks around at the community he helped build. The pandemic couldn’t kill the sense of momentum, and Dever and his close associates have been nurturing a new group of leaders who are ready to take up the mantle of community.
“Part of the reason I feel like I can leave on this new mission is that I feel like my chapter is done,” Dever said. “To go from the small number of people who were engaged 10 years ago to the thousands that are engaged now, to the growth and the success that the community’s had. It’s time to pass the torch.”
Dever was an early member of the Buffalo OpenCoffee Club. He worked at Doolli Inc. with leading local technologists Dan Magnuszewski, Jon Gorczcyca, Nicholas Barone and Mike and Mark Zorn before their careers took off. He took an active role in formative events such as Buffalo Startup Weekend. He co-founded a startup, Heads Up Display, that was an early tenant in the Z80 Labs incubator. He worked with Jack Greco as full-time staff members of the Techstars Buffalo initiative.
Dever has lent his hand to dozens of projects along the way and been an adviser to many more entrepreneurs and startups. He has taken a formal consultative role helping idea-stage companies raise money, working in recent years with braidbabes, Nickel City Nitro, Yamu Media and Rochester-based TheirStory.
He’s also been working with Jordan Walbesser on BootSector, which Greco is also involved in. The nonprofit is meant to be a vehicle for the grass roots technology scene in Buffalo for years to come, as a mechanism for events and other community support.
When the pandemic began, company leaders across the world sprinted to their most trusted advisers.
Dever barely had time to eat a sandwich. Local entrepreneurs called Dever because their businesses dried up overnight. They called Dever because they were overwhelmed with sudden interest.
They poured their bewilderment into him. He returned volley with a heavy dose of pragmatism.
It was a lot.
“I started running a lot when the pandemic started,” Dever said. “My neighbors must have thought I was crazy because I’d be running full-speed down the street bawling from the duress of everything.”
In response, Walbesser and Dever built a Slack channel for Buffalo’s startup community, which has been a crucial source of connective tissue during the physical separation of the pandemic.
BootSector is presenting the latest version of Buffalo Startup Weekend this month, and Dever said interest has swelled from attendees and sponsors. While Dever and Walbesser are “the gray beards who sign the checks,” he said Yamu Media CEO Kanishka Wanninayaka, The Food Court CEO Dan Abbotoy, AireExpert and Tresca Design employee Kamal Patel and others are running the show on an operational level.
Through BootSector, he says, a new generation of Clark Devers is emerging.
“Everyone is seeking that level of community,” he said. “It just takes someone to raise their hand and say, ‘I’ll tend this garden for awhile.' ”
Dever will maintain his interest in Buffalo. For one, he’ll make quarterly trips to the Wrap team he’s built here. He also plans to be a bridge between Buffalo and Austin, carrying stories and connections between founders and investors in both cities. He’ll be a Buffalo champion from afar.
“I get to go to a new city and be a startup guy from Buffalo, and say, ‘When we started there were 20 of us and now there are thousands and they raised $700 million in venture capital.' I get to ride Buffalo’s wave,” he said.
New journeys. New settings. New communities to build.
“I’ve always just been a guy who’s like, ‘Let’s go do a thing,’ and then 30 or 40 people would help me accomplish that goal,” Dever said. “It wasn’t me. It was everyone else.”
