As I walk up to meet Miles Byrd in the Union on Wednesday, he is standing next to a table with a handful of fliers talking to Grant Beatty, front man of local band The Jar Heads, and discussing the possibility of booking the band for some upcoming dates.
Of course he is.
As the founder and CEO of The Five22, a self-proclaimed networking consulting, booking and promoting conglomerate here in Starkville, pretty much every person he meets is either a potential client or a potential partner. The man never leaves the house without his A-game.
Since May 22 (or April 19, no one is sure which) of last year, networking, for Byrd, has become a lifestyle. It was on one of those days Byrd and some friends finally decided they were going to put into action the plans he had been mulling over for months.
“We had all these grand ideas and they were all back-end things,” Byrd said. “We were all, ‘Let’s create an app,’ ‘Let’s create a website,’ and when we launched it we wanted it to be as good as Facebook and blow everybody’s mind.”
Byrd’s enthusiasm propelled him through long nights of spitball sessions, looking for something to stick, and there were definitely some breakthroughs. But production on both the app and the website began to slow and the innocent excitement followed.
“That’s when I decided that I would just put up the website myself,” he said.
One sleepless night and a Blogger account later, thefive22.comwas live.
“It at least gave me something to show the people who were helping me out, you know, that what they were working on was real.”
Those productive, sleepless nights have become staples in Byrd’s life for the past 10 months. To say they have paid off would be a severe understatement. In those 10 short months Byrd and his crew have pretty much swept Starkville, getting the nod from nearly every noteworthy restaurant and bar to post all specials and upcoming shows in one convenient place.
And why would they stop him? It’s free advertising for them, and for The Five22, named for Byrd’s address on University Drive, it’s free content.
Old Venice, The Veranda, Rick’s Café, Zorba’s and Mugshots are just a few of the businesses backing Byrd’s project.
Ty Thames, owner and operator of multiple successful restaurants in Starkville, said he is excited to see what The Five22 and Byrd will do for the city.
“What he is doing is incredible for Starkville,” said Thames. “He is really working on bringing the local artists and the venues together, and I think it will pay off.”
Though his success is an easy excuse for an enlarged ego, Byrd has a solid head on his shoulders and is quick to thank his team.
Blair Edwards, James Kastrantas and Keatzi Gunmoney keep Byrd from trying to do too much. Each plays a different role: Edwards is dubbed the company’s street team coordinator and promotion manager; Kastrantas serves as the in-house software architect; and Gunmoney is the company’s studio and booking manager.
“They are all willing to put forth the effort on the front end,” Byrd said. “They see the potential in what we are doing, and we really believe we can make this thing work.”
The group has moved from the living room of the house at 522 University Drive, right down the road to an empty photography studio. Byrd approached Dan Camp last semester and understood what they wanted to do. The layout is perfect for what the The Five22 needs: everything you need an office to be, none of the aesthetics. Byrd hopes to begin recording local bands at no cost in order to a preview couple tracks from each on the upcoming app.
“I wanted people to be able to listen to the bands performing at the different venues around town before they go see them,” he continued. “I know I would use it.”
That’s one thing that he always goes back to: would he use his own services? The answer has been an emphatic yes. Everytime.
Until recently, when you visited The Five22 website, you would merely get posts on upcoming events in Starkville — simply put, a glorified blog. Tuesday that changed. Byrd launched whatshappen.in. The goal for the new site is to undertake the duties the original site handled. The original site, along with The Five22 name, will take on the role of ‘‘mother company” for all of Byrd’s other ventures.
“The Five22 didn’t seem like a very marketable name to us, but we needed something to file paperwork. We stuck with The Five22 until something hit us.”
The idea was that the Five22 would focus on the networking consulting and business side of things. Whatshappen.in became the “public service” website and will focus solely on events and specials.
Byrd plans on spreading to both Oxford and Hattiesburg as soon as later this semester.
“The entertainment and venue contacts are both in places. It is just going to take manpower and funding,” he said. “Just information gathering that we can just turn around and put it straight into our app or website.”
The Five22 app is currently being developed by Infinite Views Development of Tupelo and is headed up by Ti Simpson. Before he sent it off, though, Byrd and his team had already designed the majority of the app. Infinite Views is just polishing it off.
“It’s basically ready,” Byrd said. “Definitely by the end of the semester. It could be pushed out, but we want as close to perfect as possible. Half our traffic comes from mobile phones, so we want to cater to that.”
Whatshappen.in launched Tuesday and within 48 hours had amassed over 1,000 hits. To Byrd, this is a promising start, and with The Five22 already experiencing this relatively early success, he thinks users will recognize whatshappen.in for the tool that it is.
“Our main goal is progress,” Byrd said as we walked down University on Wednesday nearing the end of our chat.
“We welcome all those who see the potential in our goals and would like to get involved.”
Say no more, Byrd. Sign me up. Sign us all up.