Guest Post (2nd of 5): Andre Yap on How We Got New Haven Up to Speed for High Speed Internet

Andre Yap, Ripple100

As part of our commitment to bringing you information and opinions about the future of technology, this guest post features Andre Yap, founder and CEO of Ripple100, the micromarketing App|Agency. Ripple100 uses video microsites to turn marketing into bite-size stories that move people to action.

Andre’s series focuses on the story behind New Haven’s recent bid to become a pilot city for Google Fiber (more). Continued from the 1st of 5.

By that Friday when the GoogleHaven crew first met up, we had 14 days to Google Fiber’s March 26 deadline. We had up to the next two Fridays to mobilize an entire city*.

At that point, your start-up gear kicks in. All the instincts that make you thrive and survive as a tech entrepreneur – bang! Gears on or you have no shot. For GoogleHaven the gears went something like this…

First: Jack Nork (one of the top geeks at VC-funded Retail Optimization and the man who put Google Fiber on the New Haven map so that I could find it) kicked off the meeting, got us all on the same starting block – a common understanding of requirements, timelines, resources, all things Google Fiber.

Second and quickly to third: We had a choice – we could launch into the creative whambang of thinking up gimmicks along the lines of politicians jumping into frozen lakes, renaming our city, or the obvious hype and buzz of viral videos. Or, we could craft a substantive argument that shows Google why it should pick New Haven. Once we decided on the latter, our direction was clear, a working bond based on common values formed. The rest was execution.

Fourth gear: A good pitch is simple, easy to repeat and share, and answers the make or break question. Our pitch was that: Hey Google, pick New Haven because we’re diversity in action. Diversity in people, sectors, resources, and needs.

Why diversity? Because if you’re Google, you’re about to invest in a high capex game that’s great for your business if you win, but you don’t necessarily know how to play that infrastructure game because it has nothing to do with your incumbent business model on the cloud (in other words, you’re in danger of making big mistakes and losing big money). Thus, you’re looking for 2 things in your pilot venue: 1) a testbed to identify all the variety of kinks in rolling out high speed internet, and how to solve those variety of kinks; and 2) a showcase to demo all the variety of ways 100x faster internet can, will, and has made the world a better place. You want a test bed and showcase: to both the answer is diversity. If Google goes to a homogeneous pilot city, it miss all the variety of things that go wrong and right, which is the point of a pilot.

Fifth gear: We’re not going to tell Google about New Haven’s diversity so much as we were going to show it, in action, in ways that show “out of many, we are one” – and fast. It’s a germane point: For Google, fast internet is even better in fast community.

So, the next day we woke up to Saturday tweets that went like this: 13 days to go. I want my NewHaven to be #GoogleHaven . Say it: http://bit.ly/cCYacI. Shout it: http://bit.ly/cCYacI

“Say it” was in reference to a 60-second sign-up site – quick, easy, shows sheer numbers, all the hands raised for New Haven.

“Shout it” was a different game, for the win. It pointed straight to Google’s own form, a herculean 10- to 15-minute endeavor that asks the tough questions. Who are you? From what constituency – student, teacher, professional, business owner, resident, government, etc? Why do you care? How would 100x faster internet help you? Do you have a YouTube video to amplify your advocacy?

Our strategy played right into Google’s form. Diversity in action meant people from all walks of New Haven answering Google’s form. New Haven businesses across all sizes and sectors, nonprofits, schools, students, teachers, professionals, men, women, families – each making their case, and in the collective showing Google New Haven’s diversity in action.

How did we do it? That’s the subject of the next post, where this story really comes alive. Preview it here (and guess who Jack Nork is in the video!) 10 Days: The Story of How New Haven Became GoogleHaven.

* To be clear, there were two parts to New Haven’s campaign for Google Fiber: the city’s official submission and the community’s voice. My story focuses on community. But the City’s efforts were every bit as compelling and a perfect complement. By the time we got the community side going, Emily Byrne from Mayor Destefano’s office was well on her way – completing Google’s requirements, reaching out to key fixtures in the New Haven establishment. Yale, our hospitals and healthcare companies, the business sector via channels like the City Economic Development Council, The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, Science Park, and so on. The New Haven establishment was signed on to Google Fiber. Our job was to do the same at the community level, from the bottom up.

Next Up: 10 Days: The Story of How New Haven Became GoogleHaven