In this new series, we'll be asking local entrepreneurs and other thought leaders in the Cincy tech ecosystem six simple questions about their work and the ideologies and inspirations that drive it. For our inaugural post, we spoke with Differential's Tim Metzner.
Editor's Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Cincy Inno: What do you do? Tim Metzner: I'm co-founder and partner at Differential and co-founder and board member of Ocean Accelerator and Unpolished. I'm also a husband of 10 years and father of four kiddos (five and under).
Differential is a digital innovation agency that helps established companies and brands create a roadmap for digital transformation and build digital products like a startup. We work with leaders who believe that investing heavily in digital will be a defining characteristic of companies who win in the decade ahead.
Ocean is a nonprofit that is focused on the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship. Our mission is to increase the awareness of God in the marketplace by building [up] entrepreneurs. We do this for high-tech founders through a world-class accelerator and for [small- to medium-sized businesses] via a combination of free events and paid training programs. We also run the first national conference built for entrepreneurs, current and aspiring, who want to explore the role of faith in their entrepreneurial journey and life.
CI: What do you love most about your work? Metzner: Building great teams and solving big problems with technology.
CI: How do you define innovation? Metzner: Continually challenging the way things work, even if "it's not broken," and refusing to believe that "it can't be done" or that what's working will keep working. As Jeff Bezos puts it, it's always Day 1.
CI: What’s the best piece of advice you’d ever received? Metzner: Pick the right girl and everything else will fall into place. Adversity, hardship and challenge is guaranteed in life and it's much easier to manage if you have a great marriage. If you pick the right partner, the two of you can figure anything out together.
Turns out, this is equally wise business advice. Pick the right partners!
CI: What do you hope to accomplish by the end of 2018? Metzner: Family: Maintain a thriving healthy marriage. Sometimes easier said than done with four little ones in the house.
Differential: Maintain the amazing company culture than has become our greatest asset, renew and strengthen partnerships with some of the amazing organizations we get to serve today (like Big Ass Fans and Crossroads Church) [and] add two to four new great partners to our roster.
Ocean: Have a clear path to being both sustainable and scalable as an organization. We have big plans for scaling outside of Cincinnati.
CI: How has the Cincy innovation ecosystem contributed to your success? Metzner: There is no shortage of examples of amazing people and organizations that have helped at every step of our journey. The overall rising tide of awareness around technology and innovation in our region is creating an ecosystem that is encouraging companies and individuals to take big swings that have a potential to create exponential growth (which is a wheelhouse for Differential).
