Today we’d like to introduce you to Anil Pattni.
Hi Anil, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in England and Immigrated to the US in 2004 to pursue the American Dream. My family owned and operated multiple businesses throughout my childhood, ranging from Manufacturing, precious metals, and Retail to Food and Markets. So the entrepreneurial journey into building products and operating businesses had been embedded in my DNA from an early age. I’ve always been fascinated by systems as it’s the underlying architecture to support almost every aspect of our daily lives. So naturally, I studied Business Information Systems at University and, most recently, Entrepreneurship at Stanford. Most of my professional corporate experience was in software and hardware technology support and administration. This was the backbone of every company or organization and helped me understand how to scale operations in all the other complex department roles. In the 2009 recession, I designed and built my first app, ‘912 Alerts’, and launched it at my first Startup Weekend OC. Later, I transitioned to Marketing, Event Management, and Community Development. I launched the first startup incubator in OC and built a network of diverse designers, coders, and engineers along the West Coast to build the next wave of startups. I have now produced and directed 300+ innovation events. Currently known as HACKSTARZ In 2014, one of my clients sent me on a cross-country bus journey to build and launch a startup in a race against 6 other buses destined to launch on arrival to Austin, TX. 8 years later, I’m still here working on my current campaign raising funds and getting ready to break ground on building a life/work tiny-house community event space here for entrepreneurs and artists. In 2016 I ran the Hackaday Prize. A $300,000 cash prize challenge in 70+ countries worldwide focused on open-source hardware innovation.
My Journey:
Tech Support > Systems Administration > Product Marketing > Graphic Design > UI > UX > Content > XR World Builder Community Experience Design > Event Production > Hackathons > Makerfaires > TinyHouse > 360 XR Content
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The transition from being an introvert behind the computer screen most of the time to becoming an extrovert, pitching an idea, building products, and leading teams have been one of the most challenging struggles I faced on this journey. Also, bootstrapping this endeavor with the vision of rebuilding our economic system through 10 years of activities and stretching my little financial investments operating with less than 10x the budget and resources than others has been one of the biggest struggles.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Designer, Innovator, Artist, Activist? Chief Innovation Officer. A professional I was working with referred to me as a Pioneer. Much of my work involves pushing the boundaries of what is possible in today’s world and challenging the status quo. However, I consider myself a Futurist; My work focuses on spearheading innovation at the grassroots level and identifying areas most others may have yet to consider. We can all contribute to the next wave of opportunities, and I’ve spent the past decade building this eco-system of resources to connect people, ideas, resources, and capital. I specialize in the modern term ‘Hacking systems’. Take any system (product, company, service) and reverse engineer it to create a better solution. I specialize in trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades. I’m often the least qualified to solve a problem and solving in a way most others never expected. I’m known for building and managing products/communities, producing unique mixed media content, organizing events, and creativity, participating in Hackathons, Mentoring competition teams, and building and scaling startups. One of my biggest achievements was running the Hackaday Prize in 2016—a $300,000 cash prize open-source hardware challenge in 70+ countries worldwide. My second proudest accomplishment is starting the first local Hackers group in 2010, scaling it to 1,000 members through 300+ events, and producing and hosting my first weekend Hackathon resulting in 6 Hardware innovation projects and winning 1st place in $3,000 cash prize at HackforLA civic hackathon. Also, this was my first time being featured in a 2-page news publication.
What sets me apart? I believe my current mission to crowdfund a live/work community event space here in Austin, TX is finally ready to break ground; this story, the diverse experiences, projects, and connections into spearheading this bootstrapped effort has quite a unique history that cannot be read in any textbook or learned in any institution yet.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I’ll give you 5 since these are all fundamental:
-Believing in yourself
-Supporting others
-Not being afraid to fail or go against the grain
-Strategically recognizing and adapting to change
-Building relationships with diverse personalities
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.tinyhackerhouse.com
- Instagram: @TinyHackerHouse
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/anilpattni
- Twitter: @AnilPattni @TinyHackerHouse
Image Credits
Anil Pattni
