Meet Aly Merritt | Community Connector & Startup Enthusiast

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aly Merritt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aly, how do you think about risk?
This is a great question. Risk is scary, right? It’s tied to the possibility of failure, and that can be really hard to face. We as a society are really conditioned to avoid failure and vilify it (hello, Fyre Fest), but you learn way more from failures than you do from successes. Both can be predicated on some level of luck, of course (although studies have shown we tend to attribute success to ourselves and failures to other factors — including bad luck). But taking ownership of failures, and really investigating where you could have/should have done something differently, can make you think of things in a whole new way. It can force creativity, motivate you to overcome obstacles, and quite honestly can humanize you to others. Hearing from “successful” people about the pitfalls they have faced and the recoveries they have made from failures is always fascinating, not to mention super helpful! My default personality is risk-averse, actually, so it’s been a learned skill to be willing to take something on and fail, AND to be open and transparent about what didn’t work or what I didn’t do well. Some days I’m better at it than others — being willing to jump into a whole new industry and essentially rebooting my career and my network is what led me to SalesLoft, for example!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Overall, I have been pretty lucky career-wise, especially early on: I had fantastic parents who supported me, and I was able to get a college degree and internships, and when my career had to change I had an amazing partner who is always there for me and who gave me the encouragement to do it; and not everyone gets those chances. That said, my biggest challenge was finding an industry I loved and getting really good at it, and then having it completely collapse after I’d structured everything around it (hello, newspaper industry, I’m looking at you). I’m a very methodical, goal-oriented person, and having to not only pivot but entirely rebuild what I was now an expert in, and re-start as a newbie in a totally new city with no network, was equal parts terrifying and frustrating. It also forced me to get creative, get uncomfortable, and get new skills. In a way, it was freeing to get to reinvent what I wanted. The reason so many people shift careers into a crazy 180 (from, say, a corporate executive to a traveling sign artist) after they’re laid off is because they get a chance to start from a different place instead of being constrained in the same little box they’re used to. You HAVE to look at things differently, and often you can more clearly see what you hated about the old way you did things. I’m also lucky because I’m an extrovert — meeting new people is exciting and fun for me, and building a strong and dense network really opens doors in the long run. Genuinely wanting to learn about and help others can create authentic connections really quickly, because people can tell when you mean it versus when you’re just going through the motions. The ATL startup and tech scene is a lot more tightly interlocked than people think, so you get an exponential reach the more you connect with people. I shifted careers nearly 8 years ago, and I feel like I’ve done a good job reinventing myself and crafting a new network in Atlanta and beyond. I could never go back to where I was, even though I do miss some things about the newspaper industry, but I LOVE where I am and what I’m doing. Not to mention I get to work at SalesLoft, a company with an incredible culture that is very rare (and I hope I’m a little part of having helped build that).

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This question almost makes me tear up a little because the pandemic has really paused this, but I am excited about the positive steps we’re making to getting back to the kickass in-person activities ATL has to offer. So I’d say it depends on who you’re showing around, because Atlanta has many facets. And I love all of them! You can do something a little more “cultural” in Midtown with things like the High Museum of Art (they have a variety of fun cocktails+museum tour activities!), dinner at one of the great places walking-distance to it (Crescent boasts several amazing restaurants, including South City Kitchen and Lure), and drinks at places like Establishment or Empire State South. Piedmont Park at dusk and sunset is always really nice, and of course Park Tavern gives a great view of that. Not to mention easy access from Park Tavern to the Beltline! The Westside has a ton going on. Just in one of the spaces there you can find great restaurants like JCT Kitchen, Cooks & Soldiers, West Egg (for THE BEST brunch!) — and some really fun places to grab a drink, like Little Trouble or Ormsbys (always popular on cold or rainy days since they have a lot of inside games where you can distract out-of-towners on a Saturday). Inman Park has a hip, trendy vibe that’s really grown a lot lately. Some fun places to stop by and people-watch are Barcelona Wine Bar, BeetleCat, The Albert, and Pure Taqueria. (Inman Perk for great coffee and a really pretty back deck that leads onto the Beltline.) And (finally? Sort of?) I also love Virgina Highlands. Va-Hi is super walkable and littered with adorable little shops, bars and restaurants, like Murphy’s, George’s, Fontaine’s, Dark Horse Tavern, Neighbor’s Pub (for a huge deck!) and maybe a little gelato at Paolo’s. It’s great for a date night because you can park and just amble along, and honestly it’s long been my goal to snag a house there. (Still just a leeeeeetle bit steep for me though!)

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to give a shout-out to the team at Atlanta Tech Village! It is thanks to their vision and the community they have created that I am where I am today. From David Cummings and David Lightburn realizing and proactively filling the ATL startup scene gap and Karen Houghton really crafting and bringing the community together, to the super support team they’ve grown around them (hi, my fave events ladies, Hilton & Julie & Kelly Anne!), ATV is a hub like no other. They value collaboration, teamwork, support and being kind, while also inspiring and mentoring. I walked in to an event early on in the space (two floors weren’t even renovated yet — we definitely had a really fun laser tag moment on the third floor before it was demoed!) and immediately knew the environment was everything I was looking for. SalesLoft really grew up at ATV, and I was lucky enough to get to grow my career there, too, while also building lasting relationships with some incredible people.

Website: www.alyintheatl.com | www.SalesLoft.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alyintheatl/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alymerritt/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlyintheATL

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlyintheATL

Other: Photo credits: Main horizontal photo: Orhun Uygur (Turk Photos LLC)Others are:Jason BelishaAmanda Wells

Image Credits
CMX Summit | Orhun Uygur (Turk Photos LLC) Jason Belisha Amanda Wells