Ion Houston’s Post

My last week went crazy, and the threat of a hurricane stopped some activities but not all. My schedule went kaput. I didn’t get to finish my weekly progress on this project. You know what I do when that happens? ... #startups #getfunded #fundyourstartup #vcfunding #entrepreneurs

We've been thrilled to support the incredible growth of small businesses in SWFL! From startups to expanding enterprises, our local community's resilience and creativity continue to inspire us every day. Check out our latest blog post to see how we're helping local businesses thrive despite the challenges. Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/efeBHJbv #SWFLBusiness #SmallBusinessGrowth #SupportLocal

Great episode for founders and VCs alike. My notes: Don't be the best, be the only Force a choice, not a comparison Business is never a fair fight. The only question is, who gets to fight unfair? (When you're an upstart, the default option is the incumbent gets to fight unfair. The only way the upstart gets to fight unfairly is to change the subject; to deny the premise of the current rules.) When you're a startup, you want to offer something that is so radically different that it literally breaks the pattern of how people are currently doing things. And you want to have something that can't be reconciled with what's come before. Pattern breaking, not pattern matching. Good VC is about understanding when the pattern is going to get broken. Startups have to do two things. They have to have an idea that's pattern breaking. And then the founders themselves have to engage in pattern breaking behavior. [Justin Kan and his co-founders] sold their prior company Kiko [Calendar] on eBay. And I was like, who does that? These are the guys that win. Because they're pattern breakers engaged in behavior and activities that conventional people wouldn't normally engage in. When I'm talking to founders or prospective founders, I'm trying to understand what are the things they're wildly interested in just for their own sake. What are projects they've done in their lifetime just because. What are things they've done that didn't improve their status or dominance hierarchy but rather things they did for their own sake, for their own independent reasons. That's been an important indicator for me a lot of times. Most people that do incubation have no idea what they're getting themselves into. So you have a VC plotting missile trajectories on a whiteboard thinking they're a co-founder of something. They just have no idea you have to will that sucker into existence. The only real failure is to be 3 years into a startup you wish you weren't in it. Just because you can raise money doesn't mean you should. We don't believe innovation is random. We don't believe you throw a bunch of ideas against the wall. We believe that founders who are great have a determined idea of a different future and they pursue it with reckless abandon and those are the people that have the massive outcomes. https://lnkd.in/g4x_VmdX

Searching for butterflies. Do you recall the miraculous rescue of the 33 miners trapped in the San Jose mine in Chile back in 2010? That event contained several lessons of leadership and how to treat others. Among the many harrowing tales, this one stood out to me: two miners narrowly escaped a catastrophic cave-in; their lives spared by mere seconds. They paused briefly when they saw a white butterfly. This moment of hesitation saved them from being directly under the collapsing mine. This incident parallels Edward Lorenz's butterfly effect theory, proposed in 1963, which suggests that a small action, like the flap of a butterfly's wings, can set off a chain reaction leading to significant events like a hurricane across the globe. The white butterfly in the mine is a metaphor for our daily actions and their potential ripple effects on the future. It prompts us to consider how minor, seemingly insignificant actions can lead to monumental changes, impacting lives and shaping futures. Imagine the impact if we were all consciously searching for butterflies; opportunities to set forth waves of positive change in our home, business, communities and beyond. Here are 5 behaviors inspired from biblical scripture that can start a tidal wave that can positively affect generations. 1. Love Your Neighbor (Mark 12:31) 2. Encourage One Another (1 Thessalonians 5:11) 3. Serve Others (Mark 10:45) 4. Forgive (Ephesians 4:32) 5. Speak with Kindness (Colossians 4:6) Care to contribute more? Keith __________________ At CanaGlobal, we’ve created a greenhouse for Kingdom ventures and their maverick founders. To tap into our resources, visit CanaGlobal (.org) and click on "Start Here". Daily Newsletter Entrepreneur School Church for Entrepreneurs Elevate Incubator CG Venture Studio PS ... Join our weekly virtual gathering on zoom, every Thursday at 10a MST. We call it Church for Entrepreneurs, go to our website for an invite.

There is a way to build up the entrepreneurial and small business community in every city and town. It doesn't take a magic wand. But it does take actions that support these businesses - from a diversity of business owners - with both business development support and space to work. Ready to get started? Here are the steps to take. https://lnkd.in/gk3HWQZ #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #rebuildstronger #economicdevelopment

There is a way to build up the entrepreneurial and small business community in every city and town. It doesn't take a magic wand. But it does take actions that support these businesses - from a diversity of business owners - with both business development support and space to work. Ready to get started? Here are the steps to take. https://lnkd.in/gk3HWQZ #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #rebuildstronger #economicdevelopment

Seven steps. Do you have them? These seven steps will help you build a strong and diverse community of entrepreneurs and small business owners. From startup to scaling. I think about this pandemic like a tornado came through our lives. But let's rebuild stronger coming out of it. With these seven steps. What would you add? https://lnkd.in/gk3HWQZ #pandemic #recovery #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #mainstreet #downtown

Seven steps. Do you have them? These seven steps will help you build a strong and diverse community of entrepreneurs and small business owners. From startup to scaling. I think about this pandemic like a tornado came through our lives. But let's rebuild stronger coming out of it. With these seven steps. What would you add? https://lnkd.in/gk3HWQZ #pandemic #recovery #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #mainstreet #downtown

Seven steps. Do you have them? These seven steps will help you build a strong and diverse community of entrepreneurs and small business owners. From startup to scaling. I think about this pandemic like a tornado came through our lives. But let's rebuild stronger coming out of it. With these seven steps. What would you add? https://lnkd.in/g_zajkJ #pandemic #recovery #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #mainstreet #downtown

Seven steps. Do you have them? These seven steps will help you build a strong and diverse community of entrepreneurs and small business owners. From startup to scaling. I think about this pandemic like a tornado came through our lives. But let's rebuild stronger coming out of it. With these seven steps. What would you add? https://lnkd.in/g_zajkJ #pandemic #recovery #entrepreneurship #smallbusiness #mainstreet #downtown