We have answers. Or at least other people we can ask.
But here are the most common. If yours isn’t on the list, let us know.
yesPHX started as nothing more than a hashtag for Arizona startup activity. But it quickly and organically become the way that many people within the ecosystem refer to our community. yesPHX is not a non-profit, or a startup, or a movement and, to be honest, it isn't even the point. Building the Greater Phoenix startup community and economy is the point. Making Phoenix a better place to live for our children and our children's children is the point. Taking pride in our city is the point. yesPHX is just one of many vehicles to help focus us on the points actually matter.
As a rule, we encourage that people say "yes-p-h-x" (“yes-pee-aitch-eks” to be exact), instead of "yes Phoenix" for two main reasons.
First, and most importantly, yesPHX reaches far beyond the city limits of Phoenix — often referred to as Greater Phoenix, Phoenix Metro, or, yes, PHX. Unfortunately, some people feel excluded when referring to certain cities. For example, we have heard it said, "Oh, yesPHX must not apply to me, because I live and work in Tempe." Though we are for squashing that line of thinking entirely, we have come to find that "PHX" is a more inclusive and accepting term than simply saying "Phoenix." We're all for radical inclusivity.
Secondly, and as an added bonus, people will know how to spell and find yesPHX if you pronounce it "yes-p-h-x", even if they haven't seen it in written or logo form yet.
What happens in Greater Phoenix benefits all of Arizona, end of story. While some people may get territorial about their cities outside of the Phoenix metropolitan area — places like Tucson, Flagstaff, and elsewhere — the fact is that we're all in this together. What's good for Phoenix is good for every city in the Grand Canyon state. Likewise, what's good for less populated Arizona cities is also good for our state's capital. For the record, the economic development teams and elected officials of Phoenix, and also cities like Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, and Chandler have recognized this fact and been quite supportive of yesPHX for a number of years if not since the beginning.
All that being said, people think in terms of metropolitan areas and regions. When people reference San Francisco, they bundle places like Oakland, Palo Alto, San Jose, and the surrounding parts in their minds. So, let's stop drawing territorial lines and start thinking like a unified metropolis. Regardless of whether our addresses list Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Peoria, et al., we are Phoenix. Let's act like it.
That's what the yesPHX hashtag was created for in the first place! If you have something to share, just share it, no need to ask permission, and also always feel free to tag @yesPHX on social media platforms for added awareness.
If you're new to Phoenix or sharing stuff online with a diverse population of people, here are some ideas to help you share the most helpful, productive content with our community:
We're glad you asked! Outside of weather, cost of living and access to amazing colleges and universities that focus on entreprenurship, we also have very favorable government and tax situations, emerging groundswell of talent and a friendly, supportive ecosystem that is eager to welcome you!
Neither. We prefer to think of ourselves as an organized we-all-profit, more evolving organism than enterprising organization. We've been asked many times to turn yesPHX into a non-profit or official organization of some sort, but the beauty of this entire whatever-you-want-to-call-it is that nobody owns it, making it a unifying banner that every founder, startup, and organization can rally behind without concern for the agenda or bottom-line they're supporting. By supporting yesPHX, you support Greater Phoenix.
yesPHX is powered by the community, meaning volunteers give their time, energy and talents to make it happen for the greater good of our ecosystem. What to join us, reach out!
The folks who started yesPHX like to think that they gave a name to what was already happening in the valley more so than they started something new. But if you must know, a “common hashtag” was casually discussed by Jonathan Cottrell, Mario Martinez II, Dirk Karsten Beth, and Stephen Grutzius over some late night stogies on April 23, 2014. Freshly inspired to do something about it, Jonathan registered a domain that weekend, wrote some copy, and worked with User10 to design the identity and website that launched the effort. As they say, the rest is history.
To learn more about how yesPHX was started, read the story in Inc.
We started with a threefold mission — amplify, unify, and clarify.
The first part of the mission was accomplished very quickly through using the hashtag to amplify what was happening in the Greater Phoenix startup community. The next part of our mission was accomplished over time by bringing the community together more often and working toward common goals, unifying the ecosystem more effectively than in the past. Last but not least, the community agreed to clarify our collective vision as this: to become the most generous community for entrepreneurs.
With a long-term and bullish view, we believe in PHX and what it will become as we continue to amplify, unify, and clarify what's happening in Greater Phoenix. Join us.
Don't ask permission, just get involved. yesPHX is owned by everyone in the community, and that includes you. Now, yesPHX doesn't officially partner with others, per se. But feel free to harness the power of our network to broadcast whatever it is your focused on right now. We support everything that's happening in Phoenix, so long as it is inclusive (i.e. we recommend keeping your politics out of it).
We've got you! Visit the Contact page here and send us a message, we're excited to connect!
Our city boasts some of the most helpful incentives, programs, and people in the nation for those looking to start in, relocate to, or expand in Greater Phoenix. As early as you begin considering the move, we encourage everyone reach out to the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) to review their complimentary services and talk with somebody. One thing's for sure: you'll receive a very warm welcome from the community.
Send them here to our brand new site! A lot of work went into this by the yesPHX team, our friends at Oxy (design agency), and Root+River (branding/messaging). We want to provide the best resource and way-finding into the ecosystem for entrepreneurs and founders looking for help.
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer: while we would love for this to become a free-for-all and just let everyone do their thing, it's nice when there are some best practices we can agree on collectively. The following community guidelines are here to help you understand what it means to be a respected member of Arizona's startup community.
What to do:
What not to do:
A few last things to keep in mind:
As a final note, it's important we tell you that this content was directly inspired by Flickr's community guidelines. (Well done, Flickreenos.)
There are a number of other ways to get involved with yesPHX, but we don't have an exhaustive list of ideas or suggestions. Be creative. If you have some ways you would like to help the cause, just go for it and let us know what you end up doing. We're in this together."
You can also donate here.
To begin with, you should most definitely follow @yesphx on social media (LinkedIn page, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook page AND the Facebook group, and sign up for the yesPHX Slack channel. Beyond that, there are a variety of other lists and accounts you should join, including but not limited to :