In keeping with telling authentic stories from the Middle, we are going to share one about our team and staff. On Friday afternoons, we gather to talk about the business, content, and other issues that may have arisen. We do our favorite things from the week, and we play a game called Startup Name Roulette.
The goal of the game is to give the thesis of a startup company that we have stumbled upon simply from their name. Some of these names are relatively straightforward – such as Shoulder Innovations from Holland, Michigan which does innovative hardware for one’s shoulder.
So, each member of the team guesses what the company does and provides a thesis statement:
“Shoulder Innovations is a SaaS company that provides roadside assistance for electric vehicles.” Or
“Shoulder Innovations is a new type of bookbag that utilizes hydrogen ballast to lighten the load of heavy bookbags.” Or…(insert humorous guess here). This is a good team building exercise as many responses are ridiculous, but it is also a good opportunity to hone one’s skills regarding startup theses.
At the end, we will provide the actual thesis expressed on the company’s media (usually their web site). So, in the case of Shoulder Innovations:
“Shoulder Innovations is a company that specializes in total shoulder replacement by addressing the most significant issue in shoulder arthroplasty: unreliable fixation of the glenoid implant.”
On our call today, one of our team members said that we should provide this via our social feed as a poll. This will help people have fun and get to know startups across the region. As such, we will pick a company each week that appears on our funding report for the week.
Generally, we will try to pick a company, such as this week’s, where the name does not reveal what the company does. This week’s Startup Name Roulette entry is: Flying Spider. This is a company from Milwaukee, Wisconsin that is apparently in stealth mode.
The truth is that in this case, we have no idea what stealth company Flying Spider does. But, please join us in wild ass guessing.