What’s the secret to getting former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick as a guest on your startup’s podcast?
FlickWish founder Bill Harris says there really isn’t one.
“I put together a guest list I wanted to shoot for, with Mr. Patrick at the top of it,” Harris explains. “I sent him an e-mail,” guessing Patrick’s e-mail address at the private equity firm Bain Capital, where he is now a managing director. Harris said he had no previous connections to Patrick — so he was surprised when Patrick quickly wrote back, agreeing to a 15-minute interview at Bain’s offices in Boston.
FlickWish, founded in 2010, aims to blend social media with filmmaking, allowing movie fans to green-light the projects they’re most interested in, as well as participate in choosing a director and cast. The Salem startup calls itself the “first audience-driven motion picture studio.” But it has yet to begin its first movie project.
FlickWish attempted to raise $50,000 in funding on the site Indiegogo last year, but the campaign wasn’t successful, and the startup is still a part-time project for Harris, who works as a graphic designer. Harris says that he’s still trying to build awareness of FlickWish, something he hopes the podcast series will help with. His plan is to raise $750,000 from individual investors to hire staff for the startup, develop a mobile app, and acquire a first movie script.
On the podcast, Patrick discusses meeting Steven Spielberg at Harvard in 2013; his worries about setting the State House on fire shortly after taking office; his occasionally contentious relationship with the media; dealing with crises like the Boston Marathon bombings; the leaders who inspired him, including his sixth-grade teacher in Chicago, Eddie Quaintance; and the startup ecosystem in Massachusetts.
“It’s on fire here in Massachusetts,” Patrick said. Comparing Boston to Silicon Valley, Patrick observed that Boston startups tend to focus on creating real business value, rather than a massive valuation on paper. Entrepreneurs working to make life longer and healthier “is what you tend to see more of here,” rather than building games or mobile apps that make life more convenient.
Here’s the podcast; the conversation with Patrick begins at the 10-minute mark.
