For almost a decade, software designer and engineer Jordan Koschei was consumed by a relatable question that only grew more complex as an influx of people relocated to the Hudson Valley after Covid: “There are so many interesting and creative people in the Hudson Valley, but we’re all so spread out. How do we find each other?”
The result is ConnectHV. It started as an online directory, which Koschei designed and built himself, enabling anyone in the region to create a profile and showcase their work. Born and raised in Ulster County, Koschei was determined to make finding like-minded people in the region as easy as browsing the list or filtering by place and skill. One can search for “event photographers in Ulster County,” for example, or “tax accountants in Poughkeepsie,” and find a whole list of qualified local people.
The platform quickly expanded to include a community Slack group and monthly meetups held around the Hudson Valley that attract a wide variety of creatives, professionals, business owners, and local enthusiasts.
By day, he leads design at a cutting-edge tech startup, but by night, he’s following his real passion: building a creative community in the Hudson Valley.
Karlie Flood: How did you start ConnectHV?
Jordan Koschei: I’ve been pursuing this idea for almost a decade in various forms: the Hudson Valley needs some way for all the interesting people who live here to find one another. I kept waiting for someone to build that, and eventually I realized, “Wait, that’s what I do for a living. I’ll just go build it myself.”
KF: How did you start doing the in-person meetups?
JK: Early last year, I had a very strange week in which three separate people each independently asked me why ConnectHV didn’t include some kind of conversation feature.
I started a Slack group — Slack is a team communication tool, sort of like Microsoft Teams or Discord — and figured we’d get a few dozen people using it. A week later, we were up to 350 people; now we’re over 1,200.
A few weeks after the Slack launched, the owner of the Barnfox coworking space reached out and asked if I’d ever want to do an in-person meetup in their Poughkeepsie location.
The rest is history. Now we do events almost every month, rotating among different Hudson Valley towns and venues.
KF: This all started from hating traditional networking events, right?
JK: I hate networking with a great, fiery passion. I love meeting people, but “networking” feels so gross to me — like, “are you talking to me because you want to get to know me, or because you want to hand me a business card and pitch me on your business?”
I’ve worked hard to make ConnectHV a comfortable place for everyone, whether or not you’re comfortable networking, and whether you’re an introvert or extrovert or something in between.
KF: All ConnectHV events have been free. Do you plan to continue that?
JK: It’s very important to me that the events stay free. Everyone should be able to attend, whether you’re a seasoned professional or a college student.
KF: What is it about the Hudson Valley that makes it perfect for something like ConnectHV?
JK: If you live in a place like New York City or San Francisco and you’re looking for a creative collaborator, you can just walk into the nearest coffee shop and throw a rock. Boom, there’s your collaborator.
In a place as spread out as the Hudson Valley, it isn’t so easy. I’m animated by the belief that we need “creative infrastructure” that’s as distributed as our geography. The nodes-and-edges, networked model of the web happens to be a perfect match for the towns-and-turnpikes geography of the Hudson Valley. This is the rare case in which an online network can serve to unify, not divide, an in-person community.
KF: Did you always intend to stay in the Hudson Valley?
JK: I did! So many people I went to school with were desperate to leave, and I never understood it — from my perspective, the Hudson Valley is the nexus of the universe. We’ve got a shockingly good food scene, thanks to the Culinary Institute being nearby. Woodstock happened here. The Hudson River School of Art happened here. You can go hiking at Minnewaska in the morning and catch a Broadway show in the evening. It’s perfect. One of my life goals is to die without ever having a mailing address outside the Hudson Valley.
KF: How did you end up having a library of free drone footage that people and businesses can download and use?
JK: I’ve always loved aerial photography, and I knew when I started building the ConnectHV website that I wanted to use aerials as a key piece of the brand identity.
Unfortunately, there just wasn’t that much aerial footage of the Hudson Valley available online, and none of it was exactly what I was looking for. So I did what any self-respecting geek would do: got a drone, studied for the FAA exam, and got certified as a commercial drone pilot.
As I collect footage for ConnectHV, I’ve been putting it in the public domain so that other local creators and small businesses can make use of it too.
Better yet, thanks to the ConnectHV directory, whenever anyone asks how they can get drone footage of something more specific — their storefront, or a real estate listing, for example — I have tons of commercial drone photographers I can point them towards.
KF: You recently hosted your first “Craft HV,” a meetup revolving around crafting and have the second one coming up on October 15 at the Senate Garage. How did that happen?
JK: From the start of the ConnectHV events, people have been asking to have more niche events — things like workshops or topical talks. My wife Erin is always coming up with community-building ideas, and she thought ConnectHV should have a craft-centric event. Then, we met the lovely folks at Rewind Kingston, and realized that’s also one of their interests! From there, it happened naturally, and our first Craft HV event was born.
KF: What does being a “creative” mean to you?
JK: I have a really broad definition of “creative.” There are the jobs that everyone agrees are creative — photographer, illustrator, musician — but I think that any kind of generative work qualifies. Running a small business is creative. Law and accounting and real estate are creative. As far as I can tell, almost any form of work that isn’t actively destroying value is creative. Creativity is part of what makes us human. And ConnectHV is for creatives, which means that really, ConnectHV is for everyone.
KF: What part of ConnectHV are you most proud of?
JK: I know people who’ve hired someone they met through ConnectHV, or who got a job via ConnectHV. I’ve seen people become friends at our meetups, and I’ve seen new topical groups form out of ConnectHV.
KF: What’s next on your list for ConnectHV?
JK: I’m working on adding a job board, to make it easier for people to get work or hire someone directly through ConnectHV. Plus, continuing improvements to the online directory and conversation platform.
Catch Koschei flying his drone over the Hudson Valley Sustainable Fashion Week runway show at Rose Hill Farm in Red Hook on September 26. The next ConnectHV meetup is Monday, October 6th at Newburgh Brewing at 6pm, and the next CraftHV will be at the Senate Garage on October 15 at 6pm. RSVP for free at connecthv.com.
Also, be on the lookout for an end-of-year holiday party – details are coming soon!
Join the family! 
