🐺 120 people, a lunar eclipse, and not one pitch.

Howl House was an experiment. What happens if you gather your favorite people, folks who love startups, building, and connecting, and then tell them they can't talk about work?

120 showed up to find out. In theory it sounds odd. But, we had to test it.

What we found is that it dropped everyone's guard. There was no selling, or pitching, no posturing about what you do or whether anyone finds it interesting.

The people who usually get swarmed at these things, like founders who just raised or investors, could finally relax. And so could the folks whose whole job is usually working the room.

Kevin said it better than I could: "The primary currency was curiosity. No business cards, no pitches, just old friends and strangers colliding over what actually drives them. Start with why, not what you do."

If you can't talk about work, you need something else.

That's where the side-quest hour and the trading came in. Angie: "Had a blast!! Especially with making trades during the side quest hour… swapping mini $100 bills to manifest abundance and a custom NASA patch." I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Someone called the whole thing "weird in the coolest way." Compliment accepted.

Chris caught the scale of it: "~100 people hung out under a full-moon lunar eclipse and didn't exchange a single business card. That's harder to pull off than it sounds."

Oh yeah, the eclipse: we pulled the date out of a hat two months ago and only later found out we'd landed on a full moon… we had no idea about the Eclipse! What are the odds.

If there's a lesson in there, and there doesn't have to be, it's that it's really hard to get lucky from the couch. You have to put something out into the world to catch a little full moon luck.

As a one-night thing, it worked quite well.

The hope is that we keep going and actually shift how we connect in the first place, get to know each other as people first, so partnering up, referring a friend, and building alongside each other all get easier.

How does Howl-o-ween sound?

I'm over the moon. Pun fully intended.

Where will we see you in the wild this week?

Tuesday, September 1

Wednesday, September 2

Thursday, September 3

Friday, September 4

You're in on a secret: the best events for getting connected in San Diego.

Chances are you’re already forwarding cool events to your friends.

If you decide to invite them into our pack, we’ve got a black Coyote Cap set aside for you once you hit 7 referrals. I typically don’t mail these, so be prepared for a coffee or to link up at an event.

Current Referral Count: {{rp_num_referrals}}
Referral URL: grab this link

Howl yeah

Wednesday, September 9

Thursday, September 10

Friday, September 11

We might be able to find you the person, company, or resource you're looking for. We just need to know what you're after.

Recently we helped someone hire hard-to-find talent, and pointed another to a CPA for their small business.

Our collective San Diego network runs deep, shoot me a reply if you’re on the hunt for a resource and want a little help.

Monday, September 14

Wednesday, September 16

Wednesday, September 23

Wednesday, October 21

That’s enough howling out of me.

See you in the wild!

Jonah 🐺
the Howl Guy
find me on LinkedIn or hit reply here