Missed the first article? Read it here!
People ask me all the time "What's the HuB thing in Sarasota?" I often tell people who ask that its just a bunch of creative and technology companies working together to bring awesome to life. Maybe not all for the same reason but all together working to excel at that one thing they each do best. In some ways, the HuB is kind of communist, but in a capitalist kind of way.
Not possible you say? There is no way for communism to be capitalist! Just go back to the original definition of the word communism which comes from the word commune or better yet, community. You could then imagine a community of like minded entrepreneurs, chasing their unique dream yet shining as a collective group. You might then understand how someone could call the HuB a capitalist commune!
After all, businesses are just people and if you understand that there are great people therefore great companies, then you can imagine a group of companies sharing a community, working together when necessary, but ultimately all focused on their own path. I wouldn't admit it if you asked me in public but the HuB might just prove that capitalism could do a lot of great things with a community behind it.
Honestly, I think communism is a terrible idea, and I disagree with it wholeheartedly. However, a little sense of community among businesses could create a breeding ground for innovation and has potential for world domination.
At its trues core, that's all the HuB was ever intended to be! The companies at the HuB are reinventing the way businesses succeed. They are re-writing the rules of entreprnurialism. ("is that even a word?") Either way, these companies are all succeeding in spite of a down economy and most of it is due to the vision of the people behind their media channels, online distribution networks and their huge social presence.
All that being said, here they are in all their glory; The media channels, content creators and social dominators that make up the HuB!
Sarasota Day
David Daly heads up sarasotaday.com which is essentially the distribution channel for everything going on at the HuB. It started just over a year ago when they realized they needed a platform to deliver all of the content they were creating to the world. They are not your average media company choosing to focus their entire energy on spotlighting creative, edgy, relevant content from the surrounding community. Sarasota Day, along with their social media sites is the single largest digital media company in Sarasota. They reach more than 25,000 unique visitors every month and that doesn't account for all of the social media engagement or email newsletter which is delivered to more than 32,000 people. Basically, if its cool and its happening in Sarasota you can find it on SarasotaDay.com!
Three Kitcheneers
Assunta Swier runs another one of the media distribution channels for the Hub, The Three Kitcheneers (or 3K's as it is affectionately known) focuses entirely on spotlighting local restaurants and other culinary adventures. Don't get it twisted though, this is not your average restaurant review site. They have no interest in telling you how your pallet should perceive a culinary experience. Instead they would rather you know where a place is, or that a specific restaurant even exists. They are constantly spreading the word that, contrary to popular belief, there are a bunch of great places to eat here in town. "I guess you could say I am kind of disconnected from your average Sarasota resident who only comes downtown to work or maybe to party once a month. I live, work and play downtown Sarasota and I just assume everyone else knows how much is going on down here". I think overall Assunta just really wants people to know there is a lot going on down here and threekitcheneers.com is doing all they can to raise awareness for local restaurants.
How About Joey
Joey Panek's online career started out as the funny little Sarasota elf, progressed in to an art whisperer (working primarily with an iPhone) and has now come full circle, back to fully produced videos on HowAboutJoey.com. He pretty much just started out doing whatever he thought was entertaining hoping that other people would find it interesting. It has since evolved to become part of the largest online media network in Sarasota. His content, along with The Three Kitcheneers feeds in to the Sarasota Day blog and is just another creative media outlet based out of the HuB! Joey is really interested in pop-culture and thinks one day he might be worried about the amount of personal information he is putting online but for now there are no regrets. He really likes the Saratopia series he has worked on recently as well as his interview of Olivia Newton John, which according to him he screwed up royally. Turns out they are pretty good at video editing after all because on all counts the video turned out great. It's is refreshing to cross paths with so many other people who are creative pioneers and willing to pave the road for others behind them.
Hub Studios
Hub Studios is the muscle behind all the videos done at the HuB. They started out with a vision to of creating viral videos leveraging the on screen talent of Joey Panek. Eventually they got tired of paying other videographers to deliver sub par video so they set out to do it better. As Rich Swier tells it; "We drew a skinny videographer on their magic whiteboard and soon after that Lucas Colavecchio walked in". Rich just assumed that Lucas had been formally trained in video editing but it turned out Lucas is just a great story teller who learned to edit videos on the fly. Spoiler alert: He got good! Now he is the creative talent behind many of their videos including the Sarasota EDC series which exposed them to a whole new audience. At the most basic level HuB Studios tries to do more than just shoot a great video for their clients. They try to tell the world your company story in an interesting way, share it on the largest digital distribution network in Sarasota and continue to spur conversation long after the initial launch.
As you can see, there is more going on at the HuB Sarasota than meets the eye. Much like I discussed in the last article about the HuB, these guys see the impending paradigm shift happening in communication. They are inspiring entrepreneurs, sparking creativity and laying a whole new foundation for how business will be done in the future.
What do you think of what the HuB is doing in Sarasota? Leave your thoughts in the comment section!