At The Pool Members Get Offline And Meet For Realsies!
We thought we’d feature today two At The Pool members that recently got offline and get up in person (which is one of At The Pool’s missions).
Laila founded FastFirstDates which is a singles events company for professionals who want to date offline. They often host mixers with different themes and her aim is to also hold charity focused events with proceeds going towards a given cause. Their next party is called “Bring Your Ex or Wingman of the Opposite Sex” on April 17th and she’s also working on an event that will donate to Much Love Animal Rescue. For more information about her upcoming party, go here.
Neal co-founded thePortfolium.com with his team in late 2012 as an online portfolio platform. They were inspired by being involved in so many projects and extracurricular activities that didn’t find their way to their resumes or LinkedIn. They felt that they shouldn’t be limited by a sheet of paper or bullet points to show off their skills and experiences. With thePortfolium you can content you’ve created and link to your portfolio on your resume thus making you stand out among other applicants.
They were both kind enough to answer a few questions for us:
1) why you guys decided to join At The PoolLaila: I joined after reading a post on TechCrunch and thought it was an awesome concept which I wanted to get a jump on it right away.Neal: I joined AtThePool when I got an email invitation and saw the point was to meet in person. The in person networking was really appealing to me.
2) why you decided to meet offlineLaila: We’re both working on startups and after chatting over ATP for a bit, we decided to meet in person and discuss business over drinks. We got along great and are becoming good friends. We continue to discuss our businesses while encouraging each other.Neal: We pretty quickly were talking about founding our own businesses and it felt very collaborative. We decided to get together and when we did it was non stop ideas about each others work. We’ve since gone to some networking events together.
3) What activities you’d like to do in the futureLaila: In general on ATP, I suppose hiking or meeting fellow vegans! ha! With Neal, well I suppose I’m looking forward to beating him at a game of pogs.Neal: In the future I’d like to go to more networking events for start ups. There’s a fun level of ambition with others who are interested in starting businesses that I really am in tune with.
4) How you use At The Pool (to find friends? Business? networking etc)Laila: So far it’s been all of the above! People who message me tend to be working on startups too so that’s a common point of conversation.Neal: So far, I’ve used AtThePool for finding new friends with similar interests as mine. I have even found old friends from when I lived in San Diego and now we’re going to meet up since we love nearby in LA.
It’s so great seeing real life At The Pool members actually meet offline! Don’t forget to check out Neal and Laila’s start-ups.
Get Offline, Meet Extraordinary People!
Last night was the 4th Silicon Beach gathering in Santa Monica and it was great! Even with looming rain, the place was packed and the crowd was amazing. We’re working with our friends at SiliconBeachLA to make this a weekly thing. Keep an eye out for an invite and come join us if you’re in the area! For a full gallery from the event, click here.
View from the rooftop before the rain kicked in. Check out that pool!
Robert with SiliconBeachLA checks in an attendee while Nick with HereOnBiz looks on.
The rain forced everyone inside where we packed the place!
Two At The Pool members from the Silicon Beach Pool meet for the first time!
Silicon Beach Weekly Unwind
If you’re in Los Angeles and want to meet some awesome people with a view overlooking the beach, look no further! At The Pool is co-hosting an event at the Shangri-La. Details here.
At The Pool For An Entrepreneur
Guest post by At The Pool member Michael:
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I’ve been told countless times that the best way to raise money for startups is through networking and direct referrals to investors. I was on a mission to meet as many like-minded Entrepreneurs in the Los Angeles Startup Scene (aka Silicon Beach) from the Westside through Downtown.
After a series of google searches looking for Internet Startup events and organizations in Los Angeles, At The Pool crossed my path.
At the time I never heard of it, maybe because as an Entrepreneur I don’t get out much and I’m too deep in my own projects to notice a lot of things going on. However, the second I landed on the site it said “Meet locals who love what you love.” PERFECT - I signed up because this is exactly what I needed – to network with like-minded Entrepreneurs in Los Angeles who love startups.
At The Pool’s message connected with me instantly because it was telling me to get off my butt and go meet people IN PERSON. There is no way I could cultivate real relationships with cold emails, cold calls or random unexpected online inquiries.
So, after signing up I sent a simple message to one of my Daily Matches - “Let’s talk startups!” The conversation got going and after learning her startup made it on Deloitte’s Fast 500 I realized this site is AWESOME!
With my luck, At The Pool was having their Launch Party in a few days in Santa Monica, CA so we got to meet IN PERSON like real human beings. It was great to meet Elizabeth, a fellow entrepreneur, at a great event in Los Angeles.
It doesn’t stop there, less than a week later I’ve been able to chat with another Daily Match who is also an Entrepreneur currently building their Los Angeles based company – we currently have plans to meet!
At The Pool has definitely been a catalyst for me to be more social. I have been fortunate enough to experience first hand how At The Pool created multiple opportunities for a time restricted Entrepreneur to get out and meet some friendly people in Los Angeles.
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@MichaelSueoka Founder of SueyCreative.com, CurbStreet.com, and FreshRankings.com. Meet him on At The Pool.
Excited to be featured in the LA Business Journal! Thanks Tom for the fantastic write-up!
Hiking Franklin Canyon, Los Angeles
About a month ago, At The Pool member Alex (pictured below) sent a message that he wanted to plan a group hike in LA. Well I am happy to announce that hike is happening, and it’s happening this Saturday!
WHEN: Saturday, September 15th at 9:00am
WHERE: Hastain Trail, Franklin Canyon
WHAT: Meet other At The Poolers and enjoy one of the most beautiful trails LA has to offer!
WHY: It’s Saturday morning and you want to meet some extraordinary people and enjoy an awesome hike.
PLEASE RSVP BY SENDING AN EMAIL TO: alex@atthepool.com
More details on the hike and directions can be found here.
Directions: From Sunset in Beverly Hills, go north on North Beverly Drive which turns into Coldwater Canyon Avenue. Go left as Coldwater joins Mulholland Drive and at the intersection of Coldwater Canyon and Franklin Canyon, turn left. Go 0.5 mi to the parking lot by the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom. the entire franklin trail is about 5.5 mi but if u’re just doing the hastain trail, then keep driving southbound past the entrance of franklin trail, past the lake, and past the abandoned lone house on the street. the hastain trailhead is the first stop on the left. u’ll see a little sign next to the trail entrance gate.
Connecting At The Pool
Here’s a story just sent in by Cooper:
So, I went to a UX meetup the other day!!! Wait, let me backtrack for full effect. It’s only in the past 2 months I learned what UX meant. So picture me, former model/actress-turned-tech-geek, walking in … yet I felt strangely at home amongst the dudes in ironic superhero tees and lady-recruiters in jackets. I maybe shouldn’t have - I think I was wearing my Southern-girl white sundress & heels - but that’s what I love so much about the start-up tech space here in LA! It’s a veritable community ‘pool,’ inclusive of everybody!
I looked about for the guy I was meeting, and saw Gary, my new friend. I’d never actually met him, but rather he was hand-picked for me. Online. No, not by a dating site. By nifty, social-match site, AtThePool.com. Super cool!
I’ve been playing around on At the Pool for a few weeks now, and am liking it. It has vetted its members for ‘awesomeness.’ Aware that full-time actressing isn’t that special in LA, I think I only got in because I’ve been struck by lightning (true story). Gary was clearly awesome too - he had a pic up of him in goggles and an orange, Sultan-like turban. I think Gary is Jewish? But because we knew we were on an awesomeness-based platform (and not an open, way-too-generic, ubiquitous social-stalking platform), when he said hi, I responded in like, hmmmm, 20 seconds.
The best part: in addition to automatically becoming fast friends, Gary is a designer, and I’m a fledgling founder in need of UX/UI advice! It was perfect! A match made At the Pool.
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Cooper Harris is a new founder in the Silicon Beach tech space, & is developing software that helps big companies, cool celebs, & her fav charities increase their engagement via social streams. She is also the star of multiple movies on the SyFy Channel, the flagship new show, Sync, from Google/YouTube, and the upcoming series, The Greatest Adventures of Mighty Woman. Meet Cooper on At The Pool here.
Our first IRL pool party!
Today was AMAZING. We had our first IRL (in real life) pool party at the W in Westwood. It was great meeting so many people from At The Pool and connecting face-to-face. The point of At The Pool is to facilitate offline interaction, and seeing this come together at a picture-perfect venue was absolutely gratifying. We can’t wait to throw more parties, host more events, and take this to more cities in the coming weeks. Below are a few photos from the event. For the full gallery, click here.
Shifting Gears Pool!
We are very happy to announce the Shifting Gears Pool! Shifting Gears is a Los Angeles based cycling group that trains, educates, and helps cyclists of all levels. If you aren’t familiar with SG, but want to get into cycling in LA, check them out here. Joining the pool is a great way to connect with other members, find out who lives nearby and who shares your other interests, and to stay connected with the group.
To sign up, just follow these simple steps:
1. Go to http://atthepool.com
2. Request an invite using “sgc” as invite code
3. Check your email for a confirmation.
4. Tell your friends / post on Facebook so we can get more Shifting Gears members into the pool!
The official blog of At The Pool
