Blake Squires (Founder/CEO at Movable) at TechPintAkron via YouTube

Knight Foundation supports TechPint, a new event series in northeast Ohio billed as a “mini tech conference in a bar,” to promote entrepreneurship and the sharing of ideas. Below, TechPint founder Paul McAvinchey talks about how he brought the concept to Akron as a resource for the startup community.

We first started pitching the idea of a TechPint event in Cleveland in early 2013. The general consensus was that we would be fortunate to attract 70 to 80 people to the first gathering. That one sold out and more than 200 people attended. The next attracted more than 250.

There was no certainty that we would be able to draw similar large crowds for our first “mini tech conference in a bar” in Akron, where we weren’t sure the startup community was large enough to support the initiative. But after speaking to many entrepreneurs, investors, support organizations and business accelerators, we discovered that the community was there. It just needed a reason to get together.

What better reason but to drink beer and share stories? A sellout crowd of more than 150 entrepreneurs and investors gathered on Dec. 5 in downtown Akron to hear two local entrepreneurs, Blake Squires of MOVABLE and Rob Heiser of Segmint, and to share their own war stories over a couple of pints. You could feel the energy in the air, and several attendees told me that having an event like this was crucial to support local entrepreneurs who generally work alone. The lessons gleaned from the speakers, including the importance of strategic partners, how to approach fundraising and facilitating a work culture in a new company, inspired many.

When I moved to Chagrin Falls in 2012 to lead product innovation for MedCity Media, a digital startup focused on the business of health care, I was hungry to meet other entrepreneurs. I noticed that there were great events being organized by various organizations around northeast Ohio and there was an emphasis for many of these on getting people to make their first step into starting a business. But I couldn’t find an event that brought experienced entrepreneurs together to discuss more advanced topics.  Such get-togethers already exist in cities with more established startup communities. So I decided to put out a call on Twitter to find others who would like to organize something new with me. The response was fantastic, with the first get-together of the newly formed TechPint team happening just a few weeks later.

TechPint was always going to be about northeast Ohio, not just Cleveland. So when Knight Foundation called me one day and offered to help us bring the concept to Akron, I jumped at the chance. The grant we received from the foundation was essential, allowing us to concentrate on the format, speakers and marketing.

We plan to hold four events each year in Akron. Judging by the reaction to the first meet-up we will have little difficulty in developing TechPint into an important series of events that Akron’s startup community can depend on. I’m also grateful that we have additional support from the Downtown Akron Partnership, which will continue to work closely with us to keep TechPint in one of the many cool spots in the city. We held the first event at a wine bar in an area of downtown that’s emerging as a hot spot. It’s one of the ways we can help Akron become even more vibrant as TechPint grows in popularity.

Our goal is not to just put on four successful events this year; we want to inspire others to do the same. We want to build on the energy we felt in that first event and to encourage people to share their ideas and experiences every day throughout northeast Ohio.