On April 3, 2013, I tweeted the following:
Yes, I'm moving to #Austin.— ǝlǝǝʇs ˙ɔ ǝlʎʞ (@kylecsteele) April 3, 2013
I would like to apologize to the city of Orlando for this tweet because you deserve better. The Orlando community is responsible for participating in the shaping of the person I am today. Relationships from the Central Florida YMCA, my men's bible study, Cleo's my favorite dive bar, Urban Rethink, Voxeo, the Orlando tech community, Summit Church, Fern Creek Elementary and a host of other places have carried me through the toughest of times. "Yes, I'm moving to #Austin" is not the way to show respect to relationships that run this deep. I thought about deleting this tweet because it disgusted me but instead, I left it up to remind me that I'm still capable of doing and saying foolish things. I apologize Orlando.
One month after sending that tweet, I finally think I understand where it came from. It wasn't that I was unappreciative because even if I moved to Austin, I was still committed to providing a pipeline of resources back to the city. What drove that tweet was a mixture of frustration, confusion and anxiety as I looked at the ground quickly approaching.
Recently Phil Holt, CEO and Founder of Rowshambow, and I did a talk at the University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program. During his segment, Phil described the entrepreneurial experience in terms of jumping off a mountain. Basically, he said it comes a moment when every person who's thinking about being an entrepreneur steps up and looks over the edge of the mountain. Below is the ground and while staring at it, you start asking yourself a series of questions. Is it worth jumping off this cliff in the spirit of entrepreneurship and can I create a parachute to make my crash softer or grow wings so I can take flight? As he spoke about this, I connected deeply and remembered the same questions running through my head while standing on the edge of the mountain. Ultimately, I leaped because I felt confident in God, my community, my friends and my own ability to help me grow wings or create a parachute to soften my landing.
In making the decision to jump, I put a lot of expectation onto the city of Orlando. Remember, I'm in the air and headed towards the ground, so when things don't happen or happen fast enough, I can get frustrated or angry. The fact is, I'm going to have a lot of days when I say dumb things, such as "Yes, I'm moving to #Austin" because a person can get freaked out when they're headed toward the ground at terminal velocity. For the record, I just don't get angry and frustrated at Orlando but I also get frustration with God, family, friends and even myself - a nice round robin of fair and balanced frustration.
In making the decision to jump, I put a lot of expectation onto the city of Orlando. Remember, I'm in the air and headed towards the ground, so when things don't happen or happen fast enough, I can get frustrated or angry. The fact is, I'm going to have a lot of days when I say dumb things, such as "Yes, I'm moving to #Austin" because a person can get freaked out when they're headed toward the ground at terminal velocity. For the record, I just don't get angry and frustrated at Orlando but I also get frustration with God, family, friends and even myself - a nice round robin of fair and balanced frustration.
In the end, entrepreneurship is a scary journey and every once in a while, I'm going to have moments of panic that causes me to start looking for a reserve parachute. During the time of that tweet, I was frantic and thought Austin was the place I'd find my parachute or grow wings. Let's face the facts, Austin has a pretty awesome tech startup community, SXSW interactive, venture capitalist all over the place, the first whole foods that's frequented by the hottest women who only have yoga pants in their wardrobe, the POTUS rolling up into the Capital Factory, my girls at The Yoga Recipe and Pure Barre and my beloved Dreamit Ventures. Based on this list, it's easy to look at this place as ideal. Fortunately, I had an opportunity to step back and realize that Austin doesn't have Jim Ferber giving me crap about Michigan then turning around and hugging me five minutes later, the awesome men in my bible study, my brothers Julio, Ja Ja, Eric Dean and J Hall, my Orlando Tech crew, J's Everyday Fashion, Fern Creek and Sarah Stacks, Cleo's Lounge Downtown, Urban Rethink or my checkout girls at the downtown Publix.
Nope, Orlando is not perfect but nor am I. What matters, is that Orlando has rocked with me for seven years and is the only place capable of softening my landing or helping me grow wings. For those reason, Orlando deserves the highest honor and respect. I am Orlando and I believe that Orlando, not Austin, will build the next business worth $100B. Sorry Austin and Mike Maples but game on!
Kyle Christian Steele
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