Fredericton — Calling it a “gripping new way of doing business,” serial entrepreneur Joseph Richmond, 47, said his new conglomerate Circlejerk Inc. has taken hold of the downtown business sector and won’t be letting go anytime soon.
“What we have are creative, tech-savvy people — I call them ‘rockstars’ — coming together to hear new ideas, give their own ideas and get positive feedback on those ideas,” explained Richmond. “That’s it, really. I merely provide a location and an open forum for innovative individuals to get together and stroke each others’ egos and to see their visions through to completion.”
Richmond says that every Wednesday at 2 p.m., all the major players in Fredericton — business-wise — sit around in a room they’ve rented at an hourly rate at the Crowne Plaza, throw ideas around, get a firm hold of the next big business plan, and just spew innovation. “Everyone gets a turn to talk,” he explained. “We aggregate, we strategize, we come up with new jargon and buzzwords, we hand out startup loans like they’re going out of style. As long as we all agree that we’re so big and so hot, and everyone leaves satisfied, we’ve accomplished our goal. We’ve scored, so to speak.”
According to Richmond, Circlejerk Inc. really climaxed when a local graphic design firm and a small advertising company joined forces in a union that could only be described as “explosive.”
“It was a marriage of web development and design the likes of which I’ve never seen in this city. An angel investor dropped in as a surprise third party, and their business was conceived. They’ll be merging their unique office spaces to create a cross-functional, multi-location team environment where unpaid interns and ‘storytellers’ can curate content and tweet updates on emerging media channels — it’s quite a little family we’ve created here in Freddy!”
Circlejerk Inc. is currently on the lookout for more hip, young, sexy new startups and entrepreneurs.
“What we are is a super-exclusive, hive-like club — of which I’m obviously the CEO — open only to those who are truly experimental and on the cutting edge of something big,” said Richmond. “We exist to give you the validation and engorged sense of confidence you need to start nearly identical businesses just metres apart from each other, and to feel great about doing it.”
To join Circlejerk Inc., slide a $20-sheet and a photo of yourself under the door of room 2054 at the Crowne.