Tierra Thorne's Blanket & Board pop-up event planning business is preparing to launch a new offering in the spring following the remodeling of a double-decker bus she acquired this past winter from the Pittsburgh Tour Co., which she plans to offer for private, corporate and community events.
Getting the message out about this new offering, as well as spreading the word about her four-person-run business more generally, is at the top of her mind. It's also one of the main reasons why she was one of about 300 people in attendance for the preview of XchangePgh, which held a "Full-Stack" breakfast networking event at The Shop in Homewood at 8 a.m. on Friday to preview its series of innovation-based events planned for the year.
Thorne said there aren't a lot of networking events in Pittsburgh that happen where there are people "from all different walks of life" being in the same room like it was for this event put on by XchangePgh, an organization that is looking to celebrate all of the entrepreneurial innovations occurring in Pittsburgh.
She said the event ended up being a worthwhile one to be at for her and her business.
"I met amazing people that I feel can help me reach my goal of being able to facilitate conversations around equity and wellness and food in the Pittsburgh area and I can connect with the resources that I need," Thorne said.
XchangePgh is the result of work that started about 10 years ago by community-focused organizations like RustBuilt, MaadLabs and the Creative Bureau.
But its event series preview launch on Friday is a result of two main factors its organizers said need addressing: To better allow people to make connections beyond those made from transactional relationships and to do so in a diverse and intentional way that encompasses all of the innovations occurring in Pittsburgh and not just those made by its technologists.
"The big point about today is broadening the view and the aperture and the definition of what we think about as innovation," Adam Paulisick, one of the co-founders and co-organizers of XchangePgh, said. "All of these folks have come together from caterers to chemists to understand that there's maybe a mixing and mingling that we haven't been doing, but it's only going to start if we stop talking in terms of robotics and software — and all these things it takes so much privilege and status to reach — and start investing in people."
XchangePgh hopes to do exactly that through four main program offerings to be held throughout the year titled XchangeIdeas, XchangeInnovation, XchangeValue and XchangeAwards. XchangePgh plans to make most if not all of these events free and open to the public and is actively seeking sponsors to help offset some venue-associated hosting costs for some of these events.
With XchangeIdeas, set to occur at Carnegie Mellon University from March 24 through March 26, participants will engage in an interactive and strategic design "hackathon" of ideas offered up by those in attendance. These participants will then receive mentorship and feedback to better refine their potential business plans and seek guidance on what they should do to prepare for their next steps.
XchangeInnovation will span an entire week in April and consist of digital and physical events touching on community building and strategic programming throughout Pittsburgh. It'll also look to identify who is making what and also where help might be needed as it relates to those seeking collaboration with their entrepreneurial endeavors.
"[XchangeInnovation] is about the suburbs and downtown; it's about tech and non-tech and everything in between; it's about people that are already inside of a big company or really want to have that big idea," Paulisick said. "It doesn't matter how much funding you have. We think we can at least double, if not triple, the number of people that are willing to take your call, make an introduction or show up for you."
Then in October, XchangeValue will consist of a series of workshops aimed at teaching about customer acquisitions, be it for those pursuing companies targeting business-to-business, business-to-consumer or business-to-business-to-consumer tracks. The workshops will also coach participants on making cold outreaches to customers and how to close deals, among other lessons.
Finally, XchangeAwards will look to celebrate those in the broader innovation community who are succeeding in their entrepreneurial pursuits with an event to be held in November. Winning categories will rely on community voting, and the event will look to recognize companies of all types as well as individuals.
"We think that reinforcing the place and the people is what this event needs to be about, not the profit and the potential of all these leading-edge or bleeding-edge technologies," Paulisick said about the significance of Friday's event. "What this symbolizes is the opportunity for us to lock arms — independent of how long or when or what's in it for each other — to meet and come together."
A previous version of this article described XchangePgh's event as a relaunch and that the organization formed 10 years ago. XchangePgh is the result of combined efforts from several community-focused organizations that got started about a decade ago, which culminated most recently during this event that previewed a series of programs that will launch later this year.
