Kate Milliken / MyCounterpane
When did you attend HATCH?
I attended Hatch in the fall of 2013 as a Groundbreaker- I was one of the 10 people who was just starting their journey with a big idea.
What was a highlight?
Professionally, a highlight was standing up in a room to give a one minute synopsis about my vision and then witnessing the entire group deliberate who best could help me. It felt so good to be taken that seriously (and the verdict was a one on one with the head of UI for Google.) Generally speaking, it was thrilling to be part of an organized event and where I repeatedly heard personal stories from these diversely talented, absurdly accomplished people, who had my same M.O.- to meet each other, to listen and to be inspired. The fact it all goes down in Montana is a beautiful bonus.
Tell us your #becauseofHATCH story:
I have two because of HATCH-es:
1. My Counterpane is out to become the leading resource of emotion based content with a platform that allows people with chronic illness to tell their stories based on how they feel, and my initial 1.0 site turns out be awash in technical debt. Because of HATCH, I met Tim Christensen, who has taken my 1.0 site and is transforming it, inside and out, into a gorgeous, well functioning and scalable 2.0 site- he’s doing it with a team whose hearts are in the mission and whose great expertise is in the development. In the world of developers, this is a near impossible combination to find and it’s an enormous relief to look an investor in the eye and tell him with certainly that I have a kickass development team in place who can handle any issue or success.
An example of how he’s improving the look and feel are here:
My Counterpane BEFORE:
My Counterpane AFTER (wow, thanks Tim!)
2. I met Amy Krause Rosenthal, an illiterative wunderkind who often demonstrates her talents through writing children’s books. I connected her with my friend Elle Bucko who’s an illustrator and they are developing a TV pilot.
What’s next?
I am launching a new home page for my site, adding a second illness community (our 1st community has been built in the multiple sclerosis space and it’s going great- 42% of our community came back over 100 times) and raising $1mm to build 2.0 and make this a real business.
Message to HATCH:
Thank you for providing an environment where dreaming big felt normal and for creating such a unique way of honoring creative success.