Startup Grind Global Conference 2022 — my personal take
I’m still coming down from one of the most incredible weeks of my life. From 12th - 13th April, I was in Silicon Valley, attending Startup Grind Global Conference 22.
The world’s largest startup community, Startup Grind brings together like-minded, diverse individuals to connect, build and belong. It was founded in California but now has chapters in 600 cities across 125 countries. I’m the Director of the Liverpool chapter, which brings together over 100 early stage tech businesses.
The conference was an excellent way for me to make friends (and I truly mean that - we’re not into making ‘connections’ or ‘contacts’). It was a privilege to be there, representing Liverpool’s nascent tech community in the most iconic global centre for technology and innovation.
I heard fresh insights from people who are truly at the forefront of their field, people who I would normally just think of as famous Twitter accounts from the other side of the world; people whose investments and words are shaping the world that we experience day to day. One of these was Sequoia’s Doug Leone, whose 40 minute interview on ‘Building for the Long Term’ I highly recommend you watch here.
During the conference a major announcement was made: the Startup Grind community launched a world first, its community-owned accelerator programme, structured as a truly Distributed Autonomous Organisation (DAO). The accelerator will give a significant cash injection to companies showing promise and early signs of traction and they will get an intensive short programme of education, mentoring and support. In return for the work that they do in supporting the entrepreneurs helping them raise more investments and grow their business, DAO members can receive a percentage of the returns from companies the accelerator has invested in who go on to be acquired or IPO.
This is great news for startups in Liverpool. We can nominate and lobby for Startup Grind members to be selected for the accelerator, enabling them to get access to a Silicon Valley resource base and some of the brightest minds on the planet. Politicians always talk about ‘making the next Silicon Valley’ (often inducing toe-curling levels of cringe to those of us at all familiar with the history and economy of the place). Well, there’s no need to - its arms are wide open for the rest of the world to come in, and Startup Grind is one of the best ways to meet it.
Being in such an environment set off lightbulb moments. I worked out how to take my own business to the next level after chatting over coffee with somebody who has just had theirs (in a similar domain), valued at half a billion dollars.
It was also humbling. I heard first hand accounts of people who have experienced tremendous loss, bereavement, war and other adversity and who have battled through to achieve success in what they're doing, loved and supported by their peers. I'd go so far as to say I’ve met a whole new *family* from all over the world who I can't wait to go and visit.
I have never been more excited to be building a business and supporting fellow entrepreneurs. I feel like something has really shifted in my thinking and my attitude. I feel a sense of belonging which I haven't felt in years, since I went through a bit of a rough patch of my own.
There were so many useful things I’ve taken away with me, but at the heart of everything are the three core tenets that Startup Grind community members and chapter directors commit to:
Make friends, not contacts
Give, don't take
Help others before you help yourself
Now, that’s it from me. It’s back to Liverpool, to business as usual, and - more importantly - back to the Grind.
