Social Code has adopted Kansas City, Missouri as our temporary home! Ten companies were chosen out of hundreds of applicants to join Techstars’ Sprint Accelerator, and we were one of them.
Monday 9th March was our first day at the Sprint Accelerator in the Crossroads Arts District and we were welcomed in what I perceived as true-USA-style; with applause, cheers, and numerous high fives! The diversity of our fellow companies here is truly exciting and their ideas are inspiring. The programme is very mentor-driven and extremely collaborative.
As Social Code has team members based in New Zealand and the US, I’m really enjoying the opportunity to work with our US team members and experience working in such a large shared space.
In true Kiwi start-up style Rin and I DIY’ed the team tee-shirts to wear on day one - ironing on logo transfers designed by Ruth, and holding our breaths as we peeled the backing paper away. Fortunately they turned out pretty well.
Currently four of the Social Code team are temporary Missourians experiencing life in Kansas City (myself included), and other members of our team will be joining us throughout the next three months. Since it’s my first ever visit to the USA I’m finding everything extremely exciting, but even for everyone else who is far more well-travelled, the scale and curiosities of the Midwest have still made it quite a new experience! There’s one thing about KC that really stands out and has wowed all the teams here, that everyone in KC is so friendly, helpful and hospitable.
A quick-fire series of meetings with the 100+ Sprint Accelerator mentors will begin this week along with meetings with top-tier healthcare systems including: Kansas University Medical Centre, John Hopkins University, Providence Health and Services and the Mayo Clinic.
We have an intense 82 days left ahead of us!
