What experiments did you run in 2023 that improved your life?

?I have the pleasure in working in a team and org that values ideation and experimentation…which is ideal for a former founder.

This means my work is mainly listening to customers and partners for gaps in the market where we can better serve others. But that also means listening to yourself and your gut at times as “customers don’t always know or voice what they want.”

I’ll share a couple of experiments from 2023 in future posts but today’s is about creating a community of 122 (and growing) startup basketballers in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane with a simple LinkedIn post.

A Boy from Nebraska who Just Wanted to Win One Basketball Game…and Not Get Swore At

I didn’t grow up playing basketball…well, that’s not true if you factor in one season of Salvation Army Under 10 Boys Basketball where our Navy vet of a coach (I assume from his anchor and mermaid tatts although maybe he was just a fan of things nautical?) yelled and swore at us every practice and game for being so bad at basketball.

We lost every game that season except for the final one.

One of our players stole the ball and drove in for a layup to win the game 12-11 as time expired. We went ape crazy and stormed the court to jump around and celebrate.

Only the game wasn’t actually over…there was 1 second left so the ref called a tech foul on our team and gave the other team 2 free throws. Kid made them both so we lost 13-12.

Man I thought I knew what swearing was before that game but did we ever get a lesson in “leveling up” one’s swear game! Even the mermaid joined in! ?

So What Changed? And Why Do You Hate Running? ?

I didn’t touch a ball again until I was 18 and then just casual pick up basketball with my fraternity brothers. That is until four years ago when I started coaching my two son’s basketball teams here in Australia. The head coach of one team told me I was his assistant after hearing my American accent because “you’ll know more about basketball than any other parent just by being a yank.” While true, I didn’t know anything about motion offense, defensive drills, how to break the press, etc. but it’s nothing you can learn online on youtube.

Fast forward to May this year when I was headed to Sydney for some events and was wondering if anyone in the AWS team wanted to play basketball when I came down. The few who did were headed on vacation so I thought I would need to relegate my exercise to running like I normally do when I travel. But I hate running…always have so it’s just a means to an end to get exercise when traveling and often putting in 12 hour days.

So instead of packing my running shoes, I wondered if there were any founders, investors, or others in the startup ecosystem who wanted to play to get some exercise as well as have an event where you could meet people and that didn’t centre on alcohol.

Turns out that there are more than 120 people who want to play basketball in our startup ecosystem and who want to use it to connect more with others…now they also want to win so there is a competitive angle there but no swearing that I’ve heard! No mermaid tatts either...yet!

Be the Change You Seek (is that a Yoda reference this late in the piece?)

Had a great walk and talk with a teammate (no, friend!) last week and he commended me on helping to create more connection lately…this after I shared that I had felt very disconnected and isolated just the week before.

His point is that you sometimes just have to go first. You have to create what you are looking for. ?

In this way going first is putting out an intention (LinkedIn Post) for what I wanted to see more of: community and basketball.

Nobody asked me for this and basketball (watching the NBA) had only ever once come up in any customer or partner conversations even though I love basketball and am happy to talk about it anytime and anywhere.

Funny thing is that now that I have amassed this large group of players in three cities, I often bring the group up in most conversations with customers and partners and I usually get one or more new members per conversation!

Each conversation adds more players and more players means more games and more opportunities for others to get closer to me and others I love in the ecosystem.

So just like that I now have a community of people who are better connected, more fit and, hopefully, happier.

That’s an experiment I’m happy to repeat for many years to come! Cheers, all!