Dream takes Orlando entrepreneur to TedX
Chandra Arthur has been told multiple times: To succeed as a tech entrepreneur, she should leave Orlando.
But the 32-year-old founder of Friendish, an app-based company that helps people find others with similar interests for group outings, says she’s not going anywhere — at least for now.
“Orlando is at a unique place in its story, in terms of defining itself,” Arthur said. “There is a lot of opportunity. Less capital and experience, obviously, but it feels good to be a part of creating something new as opposed to going to a place that’s more established.”
Arthur will be the lone tech entrepreneur on stage today at the Pugh Theater in the Dr. Phillips Center for Performing Arts for TedX Orlando, a local
production of a popular national speaker program.
However, some prominent figures in Central Florida’s recent history will also give presentations, including Orlando City Soccer Club cofounder Kay Rawlins and Orange County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Stephany.
The four-hour event, which starts at 2 p.m. today, will feature two musical performances and 11 speeches in that time, with subjects including homelessness, community activism and the rise of Orlando City.
Arthur, whose father is from Ghana and whose mother is from the U.S., plans to jump into the delicate topic of race during her speech.
“Code switching,” a practice in which people adjust behavior to fit in with a specific cultural environment, threatens true diversity, she says.
“Diversity, as we know it, says, ‘Yeah, we’ll have minorities as long as they know how to act,” she said. “That’s wrong and it’s not true diversity.”
TedXOrlando has sold out — but the four-hour event, which begins at 2 p.m., will be streamed live on Facebook.com/TedX Orlando or YouTube.com/ user/TEDxTalks.
Arthur’s message fits right in with TEDxOrlando’s theme of “Growth, Identity, Conflict,” said Alex Rudloff, board member and organizer of the local event.
“As a female technology entrepreneur, an AfricanAmerican female technology entrepreneur at that, we found her perspective to be both unique and important,” Rudloff said.
Arthur became something of an accidental entrepreneur when she started a babysitting website in Berlin in 2009.
Because she knew English, her babysitting services were highly sought after.
Growing demand led to her farming out jobs and creating The Babysitters Club.
She still keeps lessons of that first entrepreneurial experience with her.
“People like you, not your product,” she said, noting that her website needed work but she managed to sell it.
In 2013, she returned to the U.S. to spend more time with family and friends.
“A lot of life was happening here without me,” she said.
Last year, Arthur took her second dive into entrepreneurship with Friendish.
The app, which is still in its early development stages, will create a place where people can make plans to go out and do things, without the framework of a dating website to hinder interactions, Arthur explained.
The concept is similar to Meetup.com, which has grown in use among business groups in Orlando.
But Friendish caters more to people seeking like-minded individuals, rather than the large group meetings that Meetup emphasizes.
The app is slated for a re-release in mid-July, after Arthur shelved it temporarily to refine how users interact with it.
Arthur’s attitude has been a driving force, said Danya Shea, a business coach who met Arthur as work on Friendish began.
“She kind of takes everything in stride, maintains a positive outlook and doesn’t give up, which is good,” she said. “There are so many unknown variables that are pervasive along the entrepreneur’s journey.”
That work sometimes isn’t easy for Arthur, who admits to periods of uncertainty amid making money right now by copy writing for websites.
“I thought, ‘Do I want to punch a clock every day?’ ” she said.
“You’re either going to work for your own dream or work for someone else. I’m working for my dream.”