Rust Belt Rising … A Quest To Create A Vibrant Tech Startup Scene In A Traditional, Conservative, Hard-core Rust Belt Town.

— By Blake Glenn

Everybody loves a good party!

Work hard. Play hard.

Those two go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Actually, I think the ability to let your hair down, relax, shake the backside a little (especially if you just have a little backside), and “tear the roof off the sucker” is paramount to success. You see founders tend to work hard. Relentless 12 to 16 hour days seem to be a fairly common work ethic among the most successful pop iconic tech entrepreneurs that grace the covers of so many magazines. Such relentless work hours seem critical to their outsized ambitions, and also to those that wish to stand with them some day on Mount Tech.

And those relentless work hours are yet another reason you’ll not see me on the cover of Fast Company, Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, or Wired. I like my sleep quite a bit. But once I did complete a rather dashing semi-nude photo shoot for Non-Work-A-Holic Monthly. I’m quite proud of that too.

When I look around the land of tech startups I see a fair amount of letting-the-hair down in places like DC, San Francisco, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and LA. These tech communities burn lots of midnight oil creating, launching and growing their ventures. But they know how to have a little fun too!

So it was, 3 weeks ago right here in Dayton, OH, that a nice little party took place. It was called ReCharge. It’s the brainchild of local tech entrepreneur Lincoln Berry III. It took place on July 31st on a rooftop patio in the TechTown area of Dayton. There was food, beer, wine, music, and fun. The event brought together people from across the area to celebrate the regional tech scene. From what I hear, about 120 party-ers celebrated their buns off. The party started at 6:30 pm. And when I left around 10:00 pm, there were still people hanging out, talking, and finishing off the food.

Now for the avid party-ers such as myself that attended, it was a lot of fun. But for Lincoln and the team of people that worked with him to make this happen it was a lot of, well, work. Here’s to hoping that the amount of sweat that went into producing ReCharge was worth the effort to do it again soon.

I’m raising my glass for a well-deserved toast to ReCharge. And since it’s only seven o’clock in the morning, I’m raising a glass of water. But it’s a really stiff glass of water. At least that’s my story.

P.S. Lincoln where did you get those fried garlic-flavored chicken wings? They were absolutely deeeelish!

Blake Glenn shares his looney perspectives, stories, and mis-adventures in The Looney Executive blog. He has interviewed hundreds (or at least tens) of people via  The Looney Executive Podcasts and former TV show. He’s the founder of a tech group called IgniteTech, and claims to be a direct descendant of the original Looney Executive - Because there must be SOME explanation … right?).

 If you dare, he can be reached the old school way …  blake@LooneyExecutive.com