Alex Waters

Introduction and Two DMV Transplants in San Diego

Taryell Simmons: Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Rise Urban Nation. I've got my guy in the building, and we finally made it happen. I didn't realize we came from the same area until we talked at Village. We're both from the DMV. What part are you from?

Alex Waters: I didn't know either. I'm from Prince George's County, Maryland, and lived all over PG County growing up.

Taryell Simmons: What got you out to San Diego?

Alex Waters: I went to the University of Maryland, College Park, took about a year off to figure out what I wanted to do, and came to San Diego State for grad school. After a couple of years I moved back and lived in DC for about five years. When it got cold and snowy, I asked myself, why did I leave San Diego? So years later I came back.

Who Is Alex Waters

Taryell Simmons: Now that we've vibed out, for the people who don't know Alex Waters, who are you?

Alex Waters: At heart, I'm a person who likes collaborating with others to build programs, systems and organizations. That's the trend line through everything I've done. People ask how I decide what to do, and I say I just like doing cool things with cool people. I studied philosophy, so I like thinking deeply about challenging issues, even questions that don't have answers. And I'm an East Coast transplant loving the San Diego sunshine.

Taryell Simmons: I would have thought you were a business major. How does philosophy show up in the work you do?

Alex Waters: It helps in two big ways. One is being okay investigating a complicated problem that might not have a clear solution, through all the twists and turns. The other is digging into history. People often act as if nothing happened before them, but philosophy teaches you that no idea is original. There are always people doing great work in your field, and the job is to find what you can apply.

Taryell Simmons: I fell into the startup scene about five years ago and fell in love with the process. A lot of people fall in love with the outcome, but in entrepreneurship the process is what leads you there.

Alex Waters: Very well said. Anyone who has been around startups knows where people think they'll end up is very different from where they end up. Every day isn't awesome. But getting up and building on whatever happened yesterday, whether it's a big build, a small build or a couple of steps back, is what makes great entrepreneurs.

From Philosophy Major to the Startup Ecosystem

Taryell Simmons: You're a little bit in nonprofits, startups and tech. People ask me what you do, and it's like Tommy from Martin: everybody knew he had a job, but nobody knew what he did. How did you get to this space?

Alex Waters: Even people who know me well ask that. At the core, I collaborate to build something bigger than myself that benefits everyone involved. The inklings were always there: a magazine idea with a writer friend, since I was glued to The Source, a comic book with my cousin, and my dad's picture framing business.

Alex Waters: When I moved back to DC, by happenstance I joined an EdTech startup, thinking I'd stay six months and then go teach English abroad. There were about fifty people when I started and around twelve hundred when I left, and the company had IPO'd. They built master's and doctoral programs for universities, starting with USC, and I saw from the inside what scaling looks like. Back in San Diego, I got involved in 1 Million Cups, Startup Weekend and Startup Week, and tried an EdTech startup with a co-founder. We did everything wrong you could imagine, but it cemented that this was my space.

Show Up and Be Open to Helping Out

Taryell Simmons: What's one good lesson that journey has taught you?

Alex Waters: Be curious and show up. You'll go into spaces where there may not be many people who look like you, and you have to overcome the worry that you won't fit in. In a place like San Diego, it doesn't take long before you see the same people at the same events, and that builds relationships. After work you might not feel like going to a mixer, but take the time. Often someone else is there for the first time too.

Taryell Simmons: Back in my San Diego Workforce Partnership days, I heard twice that I needed to connect with Alex before I ever met you. I finally met you at a Startup Weekend. Your name gets mentioned in rooms your feet haven't touched.

Alex Waters: I tell everybody to just go. And be open to helping out. People hesitate to volunteer because they can't see the exact result. But when somebody asked me to host a Startup Weekend, even though it seemed like a lot, going through that process I met so many mentors, coaches and organizations.

Advice: Follow What Inspires You and Bet on Yourself

Taryell Simmons: What advice would you give a young person coming out of college who wants a path like yours?

Alex Waters: Do the things that really inspire you. You still have to be able to work and live, but if you find something you're excited about, something you'd do even without being paid, slowly dip your toe in with whatever time you have. It's not an accident that successful people name others who were rising through the ranks with them. And bet on yourself. When I chose philosophy, people asked what job I could possibly get with that. If you're willing to put the work in, betting on yourself usually brings a great outcome.

Taryell Simmons: When did you start leaning into that?

Alex Waters: A couple of events came together. I was rising at the EdTech company, but I didn't feel appreciated for the work I was putting in. I had a plan and had saved some money, so I told them I was moving to San Diego. If the job was available to keep, great; if not, I was moving anyway. I've been working since I was fifteen, in department stores and at a hotel front desk during grad school, so I had no issue starting again. That's when it clicked: whatever I decide to do, I'm going to be okay, even if it takes a while to get where I want to be.

First Job: Telemarketing and Facing Fear

Taryell Simmons: It's not where you start, it's how you finish. What was your first W-2 job?

Alex Waters: I was a telemarketer. In high school I filled out applications everywhere, grocery stores and fast food places, and couldn't get anything. A friend found a gig paying five fifty an hour, more than the other jobs, and we called people to see if they wanted to refinance their homes. The biggest lesson was that even when you're nervous about something, it's usually not as bad as you made it out in your head. I thought people eating dinner would be angry, and then the first time someone gave me their information, I was amazed. Whether you're making a sale or doing outreach to an organization, the fear is often worse than the reality.

Taryell Simmons: Here at Rise Urban Nation, I like to give fear a new meaning: Face Everything And Rise. Don't run from it. Run toward it, because there's a lesson in there that can catapult you to the next stage.

Alex Waters: I love that acronym. You don't always know where it's going. You just know you have to start moving, maybe double back later, and the pathway gets clearer as you keep moving forward.

Taryell Simmons: What about someone in a dead-end job who wants to get into what you do?

Alex Waters: Reach out to people. People are surprised how willing others are to share information, but a lot of people won't ask because of that same fear. When I was younger, I'd turn down invitations because I didn't have a pitch. In grad school I started showing up at office hours just to ask professors how they got where they are, and I carried that into work: what do you do day to day, what book should I read, what event should I attend? Gather information and form a plan so you're not jumping with none.

Taryell Simmons: I have to give Alex his flowers. When Luis Martinez and I won Startup Weekend, you gave us a whole bunch of free game at a coffee shop that helped us move the needle.

Alex Waters: People who give back don't do it to get something back. It's a great feeling to share what you learned. I heard one of the LegalZoom founders say people avoid asking those close to them for help, but that takes away their chance to be part of your journey and your success.

Opportunity in San Diego and Redefining Success

Taryell Simmons: Biotech is taking off and more tech people are coming from the Bay Area. What does the future look like for San Diego startups?

Alex Waters: There's a lot of capital looking to be deployed, but the interesting opportunities are often adjacent. If you manufacture, do you manufacture for biotech? The science industry needs pipettes and petri dishes, and those billion-dollar companies buy from somebody. The barrier to build has dropped too, with tools like Shopify. And logistics and transportation are massively untapped. Go out to Otay Mesa and you'll see tons of warehouses and trucks, and many of those businesses still run on pen, paper and logbooks.

Alex Waters: One more thing: people in tech look down on the phrase "lifestyle business." Billion-dollar companies are amazingly rare. If you build a business that affords you the lifestyle you want, takes care of your family and treats a few employees well, that should be seen as amazing. Success is what you define for yourself, not what someone says it must be because you're in the startup space.

Taryell Simmons: Where does the culture of raise big or bust come from?

Alex Waters: Part of it is how venture capital works. If an investor gives you half a million dollars and needs a ten or twenty times return, you have to grow very large and sell or IPO, because their backers could earn steady returns in the stock market anyway. A lot of founders veer toward venture capital with no intention of building a thousand-person company, and it isn't explained to them that way. There are also stakeholder and cooperative investment models that measure returns in how you treat employees and impact your community.

Alex Waters: The data shows more diverse companies produce better results year over year. And when talented, diverse employees leave because the environment doesn't support them, replacing them is expensive and their institutional knowledge goes with them.

Long-Term Commitments and the Jacobs Center

Taryell Simmons: Since George Floyd, we've seen more initiatives for people of color. What do you see for the future?

Alex Waters: The initial reaction from corporations and philanthropy was good and often genuine. But we didn't get here in eighteen, twenty-four or thirty-six months, and many of these programs are three- to five-year initiatives. Will they re-up for ten or fifteen years when they're no longer under the microscope? And it's not just money. It's knowledge and connections. Cut the check, but also bring your engineers to work with high schools and early-stage entrepreneurs, and commit to it for fifteen years. That's where generational change happens. And accountability matters, for me included. If I'm not doing what I said, call it out so we can reset.

Taryell Simmons: Keep that same energy. What are you working on, and where can people find you?

Alex Waters: I'm at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, working on our business accelerator program and business resource center. The next phase is making our space on the second floor of the Jacobs Center more of a community space, with entrepreneurs and organizations coming in to create what I've heard called collisions. The secret sauce isn't one person starting something and becoming an immediate success. It's people who have tried four or five things coming together and hitting it out of the ballpark. As we come out of COVID, I want the Jacobs Center to build that over time.

Taryell Simmons: I hope to record podcasts in that space. Alex, thank you for coming on. You're a wealth of knowledge, humble and always willing to give. Any last words of wisdom?

Alex Waters: I really mean it: reach out. You can email or call me. I'm happy to chat with anybody about entrepreneurship, and if I can't help, we'll figure out what resources are out there.

Taryell Simmons: Alex Waters, ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Rise Urban Nation, and we'll see you next time.