Article in Austin Business District magazine (http://abdmag.com/) about my efforts with door64.com in Central Texas. January 2009.

1. Austin’s Business Magazine
HELLO,
MY NAME
IS MATT
And Through Door 64,
Everyone in the Tech Industry
Knows His Name
+ Central Texas Economic Outlook • Winter 2009
www.abdmag.com
Opportunity Austin 2.0 • How to be
Everywhere • The Workplace Generation Gap

2. 10
5 PUBLISHER’S LETTER
6 SMALL BUSINESS COACH
10 INNOVATORS
How do I get ‘way more’ out of my sales efforts?
By Stan Tyler
12 STOKING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL 8 SALES & MARKETING
Omnipresence: The art of being everywhere
WEALTH CREATION PROCESS
By Pete Monfre
MSTC program at University of Texas teaches
students how to ‘bridge the gap’ between 12 SECTOR SPOTLIGHT
intellectual property (technology) and the needs of Stoking the entrepreneurial wealth creation
consumers. process - UT’s MSTC program
Steve Habel By Steve Habel
21 THE STATE OF THE CENTRAL TEXAS 14 PEOPLE MATTERS
ECONOMY Multiple generations in the workplace
We surveyed 239 business owners, leaders and By Kay Oder
executives to get a statistically accurate picture of
how businesses are performing in our local area and 16 LEGAL CORNER
When do you need an NDA?
gauge their outlook and confidence in the coming
By Kelly Kordzick
year. If you’ve been listening to the national news,
26
their answers may surprise you.
18 FINANCE
Pete Monfre
Five ways to get the most bang out of your
charitable buck
26 HELLO, MY NAME IS MATT By Matthew Wilson
Matt Genovese brings together Austin’s technology
32 ESSAY
community like no other.
Matt Scherer Anybody going to San Antone?
By Matt Scherer
29 OPPORTUNITY AUSTIN 2.0 KNOCKS
37 GET MOVING with Paul Carrozza
Opportunity Austin 2.0 asks area businesses to
Avoiding convenience taxes
continue to invest to assure region’s success. How
will the successful program be affected by today’s
38 I GOTTA TELL YA! with Marc Katz
economic challenges?
Growing your business in a down economy has
Steve Habel
everything to do with attitude.
At least something in life can be FREE
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SPOTLIG y Busines The Former Mayor Known For Economic Development
Why you might not want to sign an
SECTORs Minorit Keys In On EDUCATION, TRANSPORTATION and JOB
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Austin’ GROWTH - Now At The State Level
Credit Unions:
Offering new solutions for businesses
Using Your IRA for Real
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3. By Matt Scherer
IF YOU ARE EVEN REMOTELY ASSOCIATED WITH
AUSTIN’S TECH INDUSTRY, YOU SHOULD KNOW
THIS NAME.
Wear one crowd of restless technology advocates wait- quot;Communities support each other, and
of those white quot;Hello My Name Isquot; name tags
ing outside moved the party next door to The are excited about each others' successes,quot; he
to a door64.com mixer with the same first
Ranch. That bar quickly filled up, allowing added. quot;When someone finds a new job and
name as Matt Genovese and there's a good
people to move from venue to venue. quot;We posts it on our site, others in the community
chance that at least three to six people will
poured the event over to the Ranch,quot; Geno- are there to congratulate them. Other people
want to personally thank you.
vese said. ask for help and suggestions with finding a
After telling door64 mixer attendees that
Joining door64.com as a technical pub- job, and both recruiters and tech profession-
I only share his first name at several of these
licist wasn't easy for me when I signed on als alike respond. We have a culture—anoth-
events, I always hear: quot;I just wanted to tell him
nearly nine months ago. After requesting to er sign of a community.quot;
thank you for what he has done for the Austin
join, I got an email from Genovese asking Genovese started the web site a year ago.
technology community. Can you introduce
me some questions about my clients and my He chose the name door64 in homage to a
me to him?quot;
background. Commodore 64, his first computer.
In just over a year and without any money
quot;I get a lot of requests from realtors, bank- quot;Many of us tech professionals and geeks
spent on marketing, over 2900 users have
ers and financial planners who want to join have come from similar origins, getting our
registered on the door64.com web site. Gen-
the web site,quot; Genovese said. quot;Because I re- feet wet in programming BASIC on Commo-
ovese's online efforts have made a difference
strict membership, the door64 community dores and Apple IIs,quot; Genovese recalled. quot;I
for many in Austin's tech community.
members are almost virtually assured to find think those youthful experiences profound-
As someone who has worked as a public re-
their industry peers on the web site and at ly impacted a generation, and to a degree
lations professional in the technology sector
our networking events. You won't find a life door64 is serving that same generation, all
in San Antonio and now Austin for over a de-
insurance agent at one of my events.quot; grown up.quot;
cade, I am amazed at the energy and the vibe
While the door64 founder has been pleased In August, Genovese expanded the door64
found in the three door64 events that I have
with the high turnout for his mixers, the web efforts with his first High-Tech Career Fair
attended. At the March 27 mixer, I was one
site also focuses on online chats, job place- and Networking Night, held at the Monarch
of the lucky 250 or so people that got into J.
ment, job postings and the best calendar list- Event Center.
Blacks on the west side of Sixth Street at 5:30
ing for technology events in Austin. quot;Matt's real passion is to help people get
p.m. Within 45 minutes, the Austin fire mar-
quot;We are not just about networking, al- and keep jobs,quot; Kevin Koym, the chief execu-
shal arrived at the Sixth Street establishment
though that's a piece of the pie,quot; Genovese tive officer of Enterprise Teaming and one of
and began to control the overflow of the 150
said. quot;We're about community and that's Genovese's advisors. quot;In helping him develop
to 250 people who wanted to join the mixers.
more than a mere web site.quot; his strategy for the site, I pushed him to just
In true Austin Sixth Street fashion, the
26 BUSINESS DISTRICT Winter 2009

4. focus on his one passion – job creation.quot; For the August event, Genovese coordi- ers. Log on to the door64.com web site, and
quot;When you're looking for a job, a door64 nated 22 booths for corporate and technical there are more than 30 monthly events listed.
event helps you stay connected with other recruiting specialists. He also worked as the The site makes it easy to contribute items.
technology types,quot; Dan Enberg, an engineer- event liaison with Rackspace and LinkedIn, After creating an account, anyone that wants
ing consultant said at the August 7 High-Tech the event's sponsors who paid for the food, to publicize an event can easily list it on the
Career Fair. quot;From time to time, you need to complimentary drinks and door prizes. door64.com calendar of events.
speak to someone you met on line about job Genovese takes a hands-on approach to quot;Collaboration among technology groups
opportunities and technology trends. Matt's managing each event. With the help of sever- in Central Texas is very important,quot; said
web site and these mixers help me do that.quot; al volunteers, the door64.com founder set up Alisha Ring, president, Austin Technology
Kevin Blanchard, an IT and security profes- the sign-in booth, hung posters and met the Council. quot;Austin Technology Council part-
sional, was one of the 500 attendees who said caterer. When the 550 or more attendees at ners with organizations, such as Door64 to
he benefitted from attending the career fair. the August event emptied the trays of jalap- work towards a common goal of connecting
After attending several other local job fairs, eno cheese poppers and hot wings, Genovese people locally to maintain our status as one of
Blanchard said Genovese's door64 event re- replaced them with more finger food. the leading technology cities in the nation.quot;
minded him of the ones held in Washington, By 9 p.m., when a handful of attendees re- quot;It upsets me when my user group forgets
D.C. mained to discuss technology or other busi- to lists our programs on door64.com,quot; Na-
quot;Typically, I'll walk into a job fair with ness ventures, he was pulling down the signs, than Zook said. quot;It's so easy to list an item on
10 resumes and walk out with nine of them,quot; disconnecting the audiovisual computer and the web site.quot;
Blanchard said about other Austin events. heading home to another day of work. quot;If a small group of people from a given
quot;And, the one resume I give out is usually to quot;I think one of the reasons that Matt suc- background or expertise want to meet, post-
the one table that is hiring for anything re- ceeds is his hands on approach to these net- ing tech-related events on the door64 calen-
motely IT or the recruiter who says 'I think working mixers and events,quot; Koym said. quot;As dar is a great way to spread the word and find
we have an IT department.'quot; people get to know Matt, they respect him for others who are also interested,quot; Genovese
quot;Sadly, in the last few months most of said. quot;I want to help existing niche groups to
“I want to help existing
the job fairs I have gone to took me longer grow, and foster the creation of new ones.quot;
to drive to than they did to attend,quot; he said. Buoyed by the success of his events, Geno-
niche groups to grow,
quot;Most of the booths were hiring for non IT vese said he has further plans to improve
related entry level or retail positions.quot; both the web site and the programs associ-
and foster the creation
quot;I really hope door64 has more job fairs like ated with door64.
this,quot; Blanchard added. quot;I walked out of this quot;My goal is to develop the web site to enable
of new ones.”
event with no resumes or business cards more on line interaction between members,quot;
left.quot; said Genovese. quot;I also want the site to be-
Genovese said that he designed his career the fact that he does all those little details to come more well-organized and user-friendly.
fair in reverse to help people like Blanchard make it work for them.quot; I have some new functionality improvement
find potential employers. Another aspect is cost. Unlike other mix- ideas for door64, which I plan to develop and
quot;Usually career fairs line up employers first, ers, there is no charge for attending a door64 unveil by the end of the year.quot;
and then invite people to attend,quot; he said. event. Working with corporate sponsors, Technology advocates should also expect
quot;Instead, I spoke to the door64 members first, Genovese offsets the costs for the food and more mixers but with a focus on a specific
and surveyed what they're looking for. Then drinks. In turn, the corporate sponsors are industry.
as they signed up, I went back to employers promoted before and during the event, giving quot;I want to hold more face-to-face events,
to inform them of the types of registrants we local companies a chance to take center stage even ones that are more focused to a particu-
had so far.quot; among a room full of technology profession- lar discipline in high-tech,quot; Genovese said.
Then the employers signed up with an als. quot;For example, my previous AMCC Network-
understanding of the types of professionals While the past door64 events have attract- ing Night was focused just on chip design
who planned to attend. It made more sense ed large groups, Genovese's first networking folks - it was a great success.quot;
that way,quot; he added. event held at the Gingerman, a downtown Whatever the event or venue, the buzz to-
Managing door64's growing array of mix- Austin bar, only attracted about 50 to 60 day about door64.com among members of
ers and the on line site is a part-time gig for people. the Austin tech community from Blanchard
Genovese. During the day, the Owego, N.Y., quot;I was one of the people to come to that and Zook has helped make Genovese's ef-
native works for Freescale Semiconductor as mixer,quot; Chris Garrigues. quot;I am amazed at how forts a success.
a verification engineer. After hours, when quickly they have grown into bigger events.quot; quot;I had been involved in several other net-
his children, Caleb and Emily go to bed, the While door64. events have helped the Aus- working and IT groups here in Austin and
door64.com founder works in his south Aus- tin technology community meet in person, in Washington,quot; Blanchard said. quot;Prior to
tin home, updating his site and handling the Genovese's effort also has helped the tech attending this event, I had heard only good
things about door64.quot; BD
logistics for his next event. community list programs, events and mix-
BUSINESS DISTRICT Winter 2009 27