Madness in the Midwest

GENESIS is growing, Tiktok takeaways, fire dancing, more events...

Author

Toni Witt
June 08, 2023

The Chicago summer is here! And I’m shocked how many people are out-and-about compared to the empty streets in January. The city feels alive again, and GENESIS does too.

This is the first edition of a weekly newsletter that we’re trying out, and it’s intended to recap what the GENESIS group has been up to as well as give attention to things happening in the near future.

TikTok Tuesday recap 🤟

Last Tuesday we had 30+ young hustlers show up to the Drive office to hear two influencers share their short form social media strategy and growth hacks. Here are some major takeaways.

  • Casper Opala (@casper.capital)

    • retention is #1: strong hook, dynamic visuals, quick delivery

    • experiment with different CTAs in the video itself

    • post a ridiculous comment with an alternate account

    • post way more right as you go viral. You need several videos lined up in case this happens.

    • double down on what worked for you, and what is working for others.

  • Charlotte Trecartin (@chartrecar and @charcharms_ on IG)

    • try ‘video replies’ to comments by dropping the comment itself into the shot. These let you engage with your audience while producing relevant content.

    • 2-5 #’s per post ranging from broad to narrow

    • use trending sounds! trending = over 2K videos but under 1M, all less than a week old. Or use trendtok

    • try interview style or raw reaction style videos

You can watch the full talks below:

GENESIS outing to a fire dance at night!

Unique show + cool people + good music 👍

Instead of having a meeting in an office or on Zoom, a few of us in GENESIS decided to watch our friend Luke Emano throw fire while discussing plans for future, making intro’s, and getting inspiration from each other…

www.linkedin.com/posts/toni-witt_entrepreneur-events-inspiration-activity-7071867982624227328-Jvvp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

This is Luke Emano, a Polynesian dancer, fire breather, and entrepreneur. His startup aims to connect people with similar hobbies & facilitate their meeting. Connect with him on IG: @lukeemano or on LinkedIn

The group is growing

We have a running list of people who came by the Drive Capital office… but space is running out, come quick if you want to add your name to the board!

What’s next?

  • we’re making headway on finding the GENESIS house 🙂 if you want to apply to join the house fill out https://forms.gle/1rATrcKwwiNPixru9

  • many of us will be at the GenZ VC summit on Friday. Come say hi!

  • we’re co-working on Saturday downtown from 1 to 7pm, and have JC Garrett coming as a guest speaker. If you want to come send me an email ([email protected]), text, or dm @toni.witt1 because we have limited space

The GENESIS culture can be summarized in one sentence: Give to Get. Andrew and I try to lead with generosity. We want to help, and we want everyone to help each other. Life ain’t long enough to not give everything you’ve got. Reach out to us if you’re looking for an intro, need help with events/photography/video, want to join GENESIS, or just want to say hi.

And we recognize when others do so as well. If you know someone building something great, or can contribute skills to the group, let us know.

Cheers! till next week 😉