Transcript - NJ Tech Meetup

A Jersey Indie Original

with

Aaron Price
Founder, NJ Tech Meetup

My name is Aaron Price.  I grew up in NJ, in Short Hills, and I live now in Hoboken, NJ.  I’m an entrepreneur.  Most of my businesses have been in the technology world. 

Five years ago, I started something called the NJ Tech Meetup to help bring together what I thought at the time would be 20 founders and entrepreneurs working on things to share their war stories.  It’s grown now into the largest technology and entrepreneurial group in NJ, nearing 5,000 members.

It’s open to everyone, not just for technologists. It’s really open to anyone who’s interested in everything from time management, what it takes to start and run a business, what it takes to start and disrupt an industry.

Once a month we meet at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.  Our model is, we have 30 minutes of networking. Three startups present and then we have a feature speaker, and those speakers have been the co-founders of companies like HotJobs and The Huffington Post, Behance, Priceline. People who have disrupted industries with technology. Our speaker this month is an author named James Altucher who’s written a book called Choose Yourself, which is about sort of setting your priorities, really like how to live your life. 

I try to bring in people who I think will be really interesting and inspirational and educational.  We try to encourage synergies in general. I’m always saying to people the most important thing you can do here is meet your neighbor. If you’re looking for help with something or if you’re looking for work or if you’re looking to hire, this is a place where you can comfortably look for those things.

I’ve heard a bunch of stories where people have a normal corporate day job, and they come to a few of these meet-ups and they’re inspired to start something of their own.  When those things happen, I get very excited.  I’ve always been interested in entrepreneurship and starting my own business.  My brother and I patented something in high school.  I started one of the first online food ordering delivery services in 1999 called DeliverU. 

For people who have ideas who are hesitant to start, the number one thing you can do is to start.  Whether you get it wrong fifteen times to fifteen hundred times, you can’t learn if you don’t try.  I talk to a lot of people who have ideas who never start, and just starting is the most important part of the process. 

My name is Aaron Price. I’m co-founder of the NJ Tech Meetup, and I live in Hoboken, NJ. 

-

Videography
Nicolle Maroulis

Audio
Joseph Kelly

Still Photography
Danny Chong, www.customphotoshoot.com
Aaron Price, NJ Tech Meetup

To join, visit
http://www.NJTechMeetup.com