Our Treasurer and local entrepreneur, Chris Buehler, hasn’t always been the influential startup mogul he is today. “I’m an engineer by training,” he said when asked about how he found his way to entrepreneurship. “I had been working in a number of high-tech fields. Primarily in the wireless radio and cellular industries.” However, when he felt called to switch gears professionally, the call of entrepreneurship was impossible to resist.
Now, over 20 years later, with multiple startup enterprises and two full terms on the Hatch Innovation Hub Board of Directors behind him, he’s reflecting on his time here and sharing his experience.
Ditching Corporations
Buehler spent his early career working for a large telecommunications corporation, culminating with four years working overseas in Singapore. It was the early 2000s, and the industry was exploding with growth brought on by the development of the Internet. Upon his return to the United States, a mentor suggested that Buehler meet with one of the companies he’d been advising, a small but promising startup. After mulling it over, he decided to jump ship and roll the dice, trading corporate stagnation for the verve of a new venture.
“I was hooked. I found the environment so energizing. Every day was different,” Buehler said. Adding a piece of advice from a mentor, he continued, “The biggest difference between a corporate environment and a startup is that, in a startup, no one can hide.” It’s that accountability that has kept him so engaged with Hatch and the local entrepreneurial community.
Hatch: Early Days
Hatch Innovation Hub and our vibrant community of local businesses, entrepreneurs, mentors, and aspirants are growing and evolving every day, working to provide a larger, stronger network to support budding businesses in WNC. In his time on the Board, Buehler has witnessed and affected so much of that growth. He shared the story of how he got involved in the days before Hatch had bloomed into the thriving member of the entrepreneurial ecosystem it is today.
In 2017, Buehler relocated with his family to Asheville from Dallas, Texas. Soon thereafter, he met one of Hatch’s cofounder’s, Charlie Ball, through a mutual friend. “I walked in the door, met Charlie, and we hit it off immediately,” he said. Buehler spent more time with Charlie and the other founders as both a mentor and a mentee, and before long, they invited him to join Hatch’s Board of Directors.
In those days, Hatch shared the space under its roof with a grocery store and an art-house movie theater. “It was quieter,” Buehler said with a wise irony. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on the in-person space: “It was kind of haunting. […] I think we all missed that energy.” Buehler and the other founders knew, however, that they weren’t the only ones who were craving the dynamic and supportive atmosphere that Hatch provided. They finished constructing the coworking space and prepared for the world to open again. With the opportunity the pandemic provided for so many people to tackle their passion projects, people needed Hatch more than ever. “We knew the energy would come back, and it’s come back tenfold.”
Pride and Progress
For entrepreneurs, volunteering and working on a Board of Directors for an up-and-coming nonprofit is a demanding position. What makes it worth it? “I’ve learned […] how important it is to have other entrepreneurs around you, for the support, and the camaraderie,” Buehler shared when put to the question, “just being around the energy of someone who’s having success, you can share in that. […] You can experience some shared joy.”
Through all of his various ventures, Buehler has experienced firsthand how important it is to have a supportive environment to incubate one’s fledgling business. Knowing that is part of what makes his time at Hatch so worth it, living our value of Paying it Forward.
Buehler provided one moment of Hatch’s history that made him particularly proud, and validated all the time and effort he spent working to build a vigorous entrepreneurial community:
“It’s hard to pick an exact moment; there have been so many, but in March of 2022, when there was still a great deal of uncertainty and lingering malaise, we decided to re-launch 1 Million Cups. There was no guarantee that anyone would show up, nor did we have any clear expectation if a weekly in-person event would recapture the energy our local community demonstrated pre-pandemic. To our joy, the community embraced the re-launch of 1 Million Cups. Each week, scores of folks come out to hear, share, and learn from stories of entrepreneurship. Upon reflection, I now see that the re-launch of 1MC was perhaps my most joyful moment in our community as it showed the unwavering and enthusiastic support for and by our community.”
Moving Forward
An entrepreneur to the core, Buehler has recently started two new ventures in Asheville and is looking forward to what other opportunities might present themselves to him in 2024. Though he is moving out of his position on the Board of Directors, he’s more than confident he will still be a regular installation at Hatch, seeking advice from the community as well as continuing to provide his valuable expertise and experience. “I’ll still be making plenty of noise in this building,” he said with a laugh.