Graham Dodge distilled the lessons he’s learned as a Baltimore-area entrepreneur — one who founded companies like illness-tracking startup Sickweather and runs the nonprofit Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory (MAGIC) and PathCheck Foundation — into a book to help other entrepreneurs on their journeys.
“The Entrepreneur’s Dance,” according to Dodge, draws from his varied entrepreneurial experiences in Maryland over the years. As a technologist, Dodge is experienced in bringing to market large consumer platforms that use big data and prediction modeling. He’s been in work groups and served on boards for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster and the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s PACT: Helping Children with Special Needs center.
He’s also made the rounds as an entrepreneur. Through it all, Dodge maintains a special place in his heart for Westminster, the seat of Carroll County, and other communities with tech aspirations outside of Silicon Valley. I chatted with Dodge over Technical.ly’s Slack to learn a bit more about what he wants readers to get out of his book. The chat offered more insight on both what makes his perspective unique for Baltimore entrepreneurs and how the creation of the book was a family affair.
Learn more about Dodge and “The Entrepreneur’s Dance,” whose electronic version is free via Amazon until Wednesday, below. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Technical.ly: What do you want readers to get out of this book?
Graham Dodge: This book is to help aspiring and recovering entrepreneurs find their groove. There are so many lessons I learned the hard way that can be taught without making as many mistakes and missteps. I hope that it inspires and motivates other entrepreneurs to have the courage and foresight to take that first step.
Could you elaborate more on the “recovering entrepreneurs” concept?
Entrepreneurs who have been discouraged by failure or overwhelmed by success. For them, I hope this book helps them realize who they are and why starting a business means so much to them. To elevate something that may seem transactional to many to the form of art.
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