Energizing the Carlsbad & North County Startup Scene

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, Tacos and tech, you know we got tacos and tech is on smash for the green guacamole keeper Countins counting beans Contador quentan frijoles found us trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy wrapping fire tortillas, round jalapenos in these modern times of craft beer and coffee coating yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing coronado eating tacos el gordo the tacos stand in puesto lucha libre and sombrero Got a shout out to cost angels by the ocean watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside, the Tijuana Estee be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach. Tech leaders who believe stars are within Interviewing founders who be shooting for the Moon SD TechOS with your host, Neil Bloom. Come on.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech in tacos, tacos in tech, you know we got it. Hey.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started. Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech second tacos, tacos in text, you know we got it. Hey.

Welcome back, everyone, to the Tacos and Tech podcast. I'm your host, Neil Bloom, and I'm so thrilled to have on the maven of all maven and the Carlsbad chapter director of startup grind, Ms. Alexandra. How are you?

I am fantastic.

It's good to have you on. I feel like we just like, reconnected very recently, but have been loving your energy you're putting into the startup communities around the country. And I'm so thrilled to see Startup Grind Carlsbad back in power. So congrats and thank you.

Yeah, it's really exciting because it is a lot of work running a chapter, but I feel like Southern California really needs that energy and we need to have it not just in San Diego, where a lot of people tend to focus, but also in North County. The whole Southern California region is really, really important and we have a lot of activity going on here, so I'm hoping to coalesce a lot of support for that and keep it running Carlsbad is an amazing city, beautiful. Nobody, nobody ever complains about coming here. Right. People are like, I love Carlsbad. So it is the, it's the perfect place for, you know, to have a chapter and to, you know, invigorate people around the startup community.

Totally. Well, I'd love to. We're going to dive in a bit more of north county specifically and start Grind locally. But can you take us back a little bit of the history of Startup Grind? Like give people an overview of what Startup Grind is nationally, the brand, and kind of work on its roots?

Yeah. So Startup grind started over 10 years ago by Derek Anderson, that's our founder. And basically he, him and his buddies were trying to allocate and get resources and stuff for their own projects, and they were pretty much like, I really wish there was a community that like, helped startups and, you know, connected people and did the networking and did all this stuff. And they're like, hey, why don't we do that? So that's pretty much like, as simple as it is. That's pretty much how it was. Birth someone's drive and passion for helping startups to form a community to help people take their startup and entrepreneurial journey to that next level. And it's got fantastic values because we believe in making friends, not contacts. Giving first and helping others, which is not very typical in a lot of tech or business because things can be very cutthroat. But that's what we do here at Startup Grind. We are the largest global startup community. We represent over 150 different chapters across the globe, everywhere from beautiful Carlsbad all the way to Beijing, China and beyond. Right. And so being part of this global community brings a completely different feel to localized tech ecosystems as opposed to even just the bigger ones. So it's been going and going. It went through a rough time with COVID as did everybody. We all remember those days. The C word. Right. Well, listen, let's, let's not remember, let's not remember that. But, you know, it's, you know, it's continuing to grow, it's continuing to thrive, and we get to see a lot of that energy come together at our global conference in April, which is like the culmination of all things startup and all things amazing. So that's a little bit about it. And then, you know, we get to have our individual chapters in all the different states and countries and so forth.

Amazing. Well, I know Luis was the longtime curator for the San Diego Startup Grind. I think I. And oh man, I'm actually, even before him, I'm forgetting who it was because that's when I probably got interviewed back in like 2016 or 15, when it was at Downtown Works, way back in the day. What's the Carlsbad history of startup? Crying a little bit.

So the Carlsbad chapter has been around since 2018, so I kind of stumbled upon Startup Grind. I can't even really remember. I wasn't necessarily, like, out looking for a startup community. I've always been in the business world and so I'm naturally doing business things. And then I stumbled upon this thing called Start Brian, and I was like, oh my gosh, this is really cool. And they were doing San Diego, was doing these really cool events. And I was like, yeah, it's awesome. I said, I don't want to go to San Diego. You know, I thought I'd really love to, like, organize some of these really cool events. And they had a button that was like, apply to be a chapter director. And I was like, cool, I'm going to do that. So I hit that apply button, plugged in a lot of information, sent in my video, and kicked the chapter off. And so we had a really great time. When we first started, we were hosting events around different type of entrepreneurial and business pursuits and really building community. And then I had to move and then I was like, oh my gosh, I've got to now. I've got to go someplace. And so we did go on like a mini hiatus while we tried to look for another director. And that was really difficult because then I was also managing other chapters in another state.

Of course, once you start one, you're addicted and you want to start wherever you are.

And I have processes to keep it all going. But it was really hard to not see that startup energy. And then we started to see like the other kind of Southern California chapters kind of fizzle out or kind of lose a little bit momentum. And people have lives, you know, things happen. A lot of chapters, like I said, didn't survive the C word. And it was really difficult to see that that vibrant spirit just kind of slowly going away. And so I decided, you know what, I can't let this go. I've got to come back to Carlsbad. I've got to see it through. And, you know, I really started reconnecting with a lot of people who were like, yeah, you know what? We really want to see energy around, like startups in this community, in this area. So I said, all right, I'm going to start hosting events and Then some people were very helpful and gracious to come alongside me so that I didn't have to do it by myself. And we're basically kicking ourselves, you know, back into the mix with the pitch battle, our pitch battle that's happening next week. I'm very grateful to the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce because they are hosting it. And that's just, you know, a wonderful thing to have that business community connected to the startup community, because startups are still businesses and people kind of like forget that, you know, but they are, they're still businesses. And so to really kind of bring these two communities together and really leverage each other is absolutely amazing.

Yeah, that's awesome. We're going to get to the details there in a second, but we can give a quick shout out. January 14th, the pitch battle that is happening in Carlsbad. Come out to the event. I am the most recent newest pitch judge. I think I signed on two minutes for the podcast. You know, you always got me in a pinch if you need me, and I'm super excited to support it. I'm a North county resident as well too, so big on there. I think beyond you being a chapter lead and starting up other chapters, I know you're a bridge builder too, big time from your work with Chamber, but also San Jose Tech Hub. Right. I think you were there pretty much from the beginning. Right. Of getting that off the ground. One of the first real north county kind of meetup groups, if you will. Right.

So, yeah, I'm one of those people, early adopters of San Diego Tech Hub. I'm not one of the people who started San Diego Tech, but I am one of the people who was very much an early supporter and was loving everything that Claude was doing with it and coming out to their events. And it was, it was such an amazing force to have it here in north county. And now it's taken a little trek down south and so forth. And so that's another really amazing organization that is doing amazing things and really working with startups and focusing on that startup entry and just technology in general. It's San Diego Tech Hub. And even though it's called San Diego Tech Hub, that doesn't mean it's only for people in San Diego the same way Carlsbad and for Startup Grind. We're not here just to serve Carlsbad. We can serve all of north county and beyond. So, yeah, so being there, San Diego Tech Hub did a lot of networking there, met a lot of amazing people there, a lot of work with the Carlsbad Chamber. I am the vice chair for the executive board for the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, which I absolutely love. That's where a lot of magic happens and we really get to drive business growth and innovation and serve our members well. So that's pretty exciting. And I work with a lot of nonprofits locally as well, so I stay very busy.

Yeah, I bet. What is your day to day? What is the All Maven business that you're running?

My day to day trying to breathe and keep all my hair in. And outside of that, business development. All Maven is a business development firm. So we are focused on everything from concept to creation and beyond. So whether it's launching a new product and having a startup and doing R and D, or you need to enhance that marketing, or you need to build a tech stack, or you need new systems workflow, or you're improving sales processes, our business does all of that and in between and I started my business originally as a creative agency because I had gone to a lot of college and picked up a lot of skills and I thought I'm going to pull all these skills together and actually make something. So I started a creative agency and I was doing graphic design and web design, digital media, social media marketing. I remember time before Twitter, which is now X, and when you had to like do all this extra stuff just to build like a Facebook fan page and there was like third party software for it. And so I was teaching classes in social media and marketing because we were literally coming up in it. Nobody had really had a lot of time to, you know, kind of develop processes and programs for it. And so I was one of those people who's always right up at the cusp, trying to stay ahead with technology and business and business development and systems. And I combined all of that to form my creative agency. And then my creative agency grew and grew and grew and then it crashed and burned because I got very, very sick dealing with illness and came back and then crashed and burned again for being very, very sick and then was finally able to kind of come back, you know, full force and everything thanks to a lot of prayer and modern medicine. And we're really able to help businesses from a 360 degree standpoint. Instead of just focusing on one or two particular areas, we're really able to consult with businesses doing a lot of very specific things across the board and to see how those things affect the business not just from a marketing standpoint or a revenue standpoint, but from long term standpoints and how they influence the market and what it is they're doing.

Wow. Amazing. What a journey for you and what a grinder to get through multiple health things. The C word, and just running a business in its own regard. We know.

And I also do the wiping and the mothering thing too. Yeah, I do those. I got three kids and husband and two dogs. So my house is. Yeah, it's a little crazy over here.

I love it. No, you're, you're a grinder. That's what entrepreneurs do. They take on more and more and that focuses you because you're like, well, this is the thing I gotta get done. There's no time to do something else. So I love that. Take us through what happens at a Startup Grind event, like both next week and what could we expect in future events as well too.

So next week is our pitch battle and this is actually Startup Grind's first global pitch battle. So typically with a pitch battle, they're usually just localized to the chapters. Like lots of chapters do pitch battles and competitions, but this is our first global pitch battle where we've got over 100 chapters participating and hosting them throughout the regions. So what you're going to expect is you're going to hear from a variety of startups. They're going to have two minute pitches, no Q and A, no slides, anything. They've got to just get up there and grind it and give it to the judges. And after that, then there will be an opportunity for some Q and A and back and forth. And the judges will then select the winners of the event and those winners get to move to the North North America semifinals. And the winner of the chapter battle also gets to go to SG Global Conference, which is like the big, big highlight. So that's what you're going to expect at the pitch battle. Also some networking and of course, food. You mentioned tacos. I'm feeling like, you know, we should have tacos because tacos are amazing since Taco Tech podcast, you know. But it's going to be, it's going.

To be Senior Grubbies. Maybe a little downtown Carlsbad.

Speaking of Senor Grubbies, Justin is one of our jud.

Oh, amazing. Looks like we already have a sponsor for, for food that night.

I did. I know, I was like, I should have asked Justin for tacos, but I didn't ask him this time for tac. He's been, he's been very good. We've worked a lot together. I absolutely love, he's now on the board with us. I love having him. He's. He's just an all around awesome guy and they do senior GR does so much community work. They do amazing, amazing community work and they're so much fun to work with. But for future events, some of the things you can expect are amazing speaker series bringing in really high level speakers for people to listen to, to give actually like practical knowledge that can move someone's business or startup in the right direction. Do expect some fun social events that are good just to network with other people in the startup community. And then we're also going to have some master classes and other types of workshops where people can come and participate. Another really cool thing that we're doing is called Spark Shop, which is an ideation workshop. So for people who want to have a startup but they don't know where to start, we are running these workshops for people to actually ideate their startup using a technology called Spark Rockets, which was developed and created by the former COO of techstars, Scott Ford. So Scott, again, another just amazing member of the startup community. I actually met him in Boulder, Colorado and you know, I was like talk to me about what you're doing. And he was, you know, explaining everything because he, he's, you know, obviously someone who's been in the startup world for a very long time with techstars and then for him to also have his own startup that helps startups. So being able to have these ideation workshops to really kind of start that startup journey. For a lot of people who just have no idea where to start, these workshops will help them figure that out and lay a game plan. Everything from even coming up to a name to understanding like your target market and market strategy where the needs are how to identify, really identify the problem that you're solving and how to effectively solve that problem so people can expect a wide variety of events, a little bit of fun, a little bit of education, but always, always a good time. And food of course, because got to have food at everything.

Got to have food, I love it. And in north county where really during COVID honestly I think majority of the founder population moved to like I call it, from La Jolla to Carlsbad, La Jolla to Oceanside is kind of on the coast where it's moved to and honestly just straight east as well across the community of a lot more there you don't see unfortunately, honestly because I love the downtown tech ecosystem that that existed pre Covid and it's just unfortunate that offices and people moved north. Yeah, during COVID So you know, I think it's the right time to Highlight. And, and it shows that Carlsbad kind of leading in that area compared to like the San Diego county in general of where Startup Grant may be. It's just a gravity point of where things are happening right now, for sure.

Yeah. And north county is a great. I said it's a great place to do it. People don't. People love coming here. And I love all of North County. I went to Vista High School, I live in Oceanside and I, you know, work in Carlsbad. So I've got that little trifecta there going. And all the region, you know, Fallbrick. I see all of that. All of North County. Yeah. But that little trifecta right there, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Vista. It's such a vibrant space for people doing innovative things where founders are creating different things. And I just absolutely am so excited to really tap into that. I feel like we've got such a great opportunity and Carlsbad is such a leading city. It is a leading city in so many different areas. And it was because Carlsbad is a leading city, one of the reasons that StartupGrind actually opened a chapter here, because they saw the value in Carlsbad as a city and what could be done in this region. And so being able to be a part in all of these different areas of development around Carlsbad to really drive innovation in the economy is phenomenal. It's so wonderful.

100% and especially, you know, of Carlsbad's got kind of leading industries that include life sciences.

Yes.

What's an active lifestyle Technology, broadly, which has its own veins of hardware and software and clean tech, you know, in that regard. So, you know, there's definitely a ton of innovation happening there. And wherever there's big tech always follows little tech. The startup.

Yeah, we're like a little hidden gem, like people. Because a lot of people don't, you know, haven't known about Carlsbad for a while and they don't think, when they think of Carlsbad, they don't think like, oh, that's a tech city. Right. But then if you come to Carlsbad, there is innovation happening in every, every corner, you know, especially the life sciences. That's a, that's a big one. And we've got big tech companies here, places like viasat, you know, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Like there's a lot of technology that's happening in Carlsbad and there's a reason why these major tech companies and life science companies choose Carlsbad to be their home base. Because there's, there's so much opportunity and growth here in the city is very, very pro business and very pro startup. And so when people can really see that, recognize that and get a little bit more intention, they'll start to come out of the woodwork a little bit more.

It's almost like you're a brand ambassador for the city of Carlsbad, Ms. Vice Chair of the Chamber of Commerce. But giving a shout out, honestly, to Matt Stafford, who you know, of the City of Carlsbad Economic Development Department, who we've been partnering with and putting on Carlsbad Life in Action events, I'll give a shout out to our first event of the year, February 4th. We're doing a special event at Fashion File, a super hidden gem company in Carlsbad. And we're just bringing together people who are in fashion and in tech because that's what they've done, actually. They've created a really cool tech platform for secondhand, super high end luxury goods. So they have to do security and verification of, you know, 10,000 to $100,000 purses. They've built a whole tech platform around that, but also have, you know, every luxury brand that they partner with as well too. So that'll be one of 12 events that go on for Carlsbad Life in Action. And I'm sure there's going to be some cross collaboration here between those events, Startup Grind, maybe some joint events.

Yeah, definitely.

Look forward to that for sure.

And when I talk to Matt too there, the city and that it helps too when you have a city that's excited about it. Right. So when I'd reached out to Matt, they were excited to work with Startup Grind and to see, you know, what Startup Grind could do and how we could partner. So it helps not just being in this space, but being in a collaborative space where people are like, yeah, let's work together. Right. It's like we have these organizations, you've got the city, you've got chambers coming together. And so when you have all these people who are actually willing to collaborate, you've got something amazing there. It's a lot of times it's so hard to get people on board. It's hard to get, you know, the cities on board and the chambers on board and the organizations and the private businesses and then the people involved. And Carlsbad is that special place where all of that is actually happening. And it's happening right now. And I'm so excited to see more of it.

Love it. Well, I'm sure Matt will love the shout outs on this pod. But just love having more community leaders here in north county building community and ecosystem. That rare because it takes, you know, a lot of people are building businesses and they need to. We need to have the best businesses here whatsoever. Right? But it's also, it'd be very easy for everyone to just focus on only their business and never meet anyone, their neighbors or anything and never find collaboration or these forced multipliers. And so to take the time and, and build ecosystem and community for the business community is huge. It's gonna, it's gonna benefit all of us. And a rising tide will lift all butts. So thank you for that. I appreciate that. We gotta, we gotta know at this point now I've talked enough about tacos. Gotta know your favorite taco spot and what is the right order to get at that spot.

Oh my gosh. Okay. So being born and raised in Southern California, I've eaten quite a few tacos at quite a few places. And when it comes to tacos, it's so tough to pick. I love Jose's Taco Shop. It's like, you know, just Jose's Taco Shop. Absolutely fantastic. There's also this little spot. It's not, it's not a. Well, I guess it's little. It's like right off the five. And I think it's called like Pueblo center tacos or something. I can't remember even what the street it's off of, but they've got like $50, like fish tacos like every single day. And they're like the best fish tacos ever. If I have to pick a favorite taco in terms of taco type, Biria tacos for sure. Love Birria. It's good. But there's no such thing as a bad taco for me. Like all the tacos, beef, chicken, langua, like all of it. Potato even. You get some potato tacos. All the tacos. All day, all day, every day. All the tacos. Even, even, even Taco Bell in there. They're not technically, you know, real, a real taco spot, but no, they still count.

You know, there's a right time and place for Taco Bell for sure, 100%. And Birria, oh, man. Just for lunch today, I had at Nick's, south of Nick's over in Paseo, their Birria enchiladas. Oh my God, they got. I was gonna get birria tacos. The server talked me into, hey, if you like Birria, try our Birria enchiladas. Oh, my God.

So you need birria fries, though. Like, I'm a big fan of always getting carne asada fries. Like, that's my usual go to if I'm not having tacos is carne of fries. But if you can get biria fries, it's phenomenal. It's like the best thing. That's like heaven on earth. I love it.

Yes. Sounds like we need to go have some beer fries. We need to the. But you mentioned potatoes. Have you had the steak and mashed potato taco? It's called the Mexicali at City Tacos.

No, but now I'm going to.

I think the closest one might be an Encinitas. The Mexicali taco is the best taco that they have like 40 different tacos. There you go.

Yeah, Taco Tuesday. That's. That's where I'm going then.

Well, don't miss out on our event that is happening. And then. So give us the details of the. Of the January 14th event, because I think we will have this podcast out before that.

Yes. So, Startup Grind Global Pitch Battle Carlsbad January 141 to 3, Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. Come hungry, come happy. You'll get to hear some amazing startups talk about their entrepreneurial journey and their pitches. And you also just make friends because it's fun and why not, right? Yes. Fun is the most important thing.

Awesome. Well, we will see you all there. We're super excited for the restart of Startup Grand Carlsbad and we love having the maven back active building in the community. So thank you for being on the podcast.

You're welcome. You're welcome. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you soon and seeing you also on Tuesday.

Absolutely. Thank you. Cheers.

Startups get the party. Startups get the party started.

You want tech and tacos, Tacos, tacos and tech is on smash Boulder green guacamole keep accountants counting beans Contador Quentan Frijoles founders trying to raise some queso la vida San Diego school of rappy rapping fire tortillas round jalapenos in these modern times a craft beer and coffee My coding yoga posse fold the body origami we be surfing Coronado eating tacos el gordo the tacos standing puesto lucha libre and sombrero got a shot by the ocean Watch the sunset La Jolla shores Entrepreneurs trying to get funded When San Diego Startup Week is popping in the summer Oceanside the Tijuana Estee be full of hustlers from couch surfing to penthouses right on the beach? Tech leaders who believe stars are within reach? We interview and founders who be shooting for the moon? Hashtag sd. Tech goes with your host, Neil Bloom. Come on?

Startups get the party? Startups get the party started? Startups get the party? Startups get the party started? Startups get the party? Startups get the party started?

You want tech in tacos? Tacos and tech? You know we got it?

Startups get the party? Startups get the party started? Startups get the party? Startups get the party started? Startups get the party? Startups get the the party started?

You want tech and tacos? Tacos in tech? You know we got it? Hey.