Advising Google’s Startup Grind

Google Startup Grind – Entrepreneurs for Entrepreneurs

As a rising global entrepreneur platform meant to inspire, educate, and connect, Google Startup Grind, is organizing some of the largest conferences and startup events around the world which have been glorified by the likes of Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn’s co-founder), Eric Schmidt (former Google CEO), Cal Henderson (CTO at Slack), and Mikkel Svane (CEO of Zendesk), among many others. Presently, this global entrepreneur community has more than 2,000,000 members and is spanned across 400 cities in 120 countries.

Having provided professional growth advice to companies like Patron among others, and co-organized the largest Blockchain Conference in world in Tokyo (JBC2018), I have recently assumed the responsibilities of the Growth Advisor at Startup Grind. My role, in this regard, is to assist the US & APAC Startup Grind Directors, with a specific focus on strategizing their growth in South Asia, and especially in Japan.

So as to strengthen the community, and to propel its growth, we are building strategic partnerships in the region, and collaborating with startup leaders, sponsors, media partners and, obviously, entrepreneurs.

The realization that being an entrepreneur can get lonely at times, this conference focused on alleviating the troubles of global entrepreneurs, in sync with Startup Grind’s overall motto.

Coming back to my role of strategizing growth at the Asian front, I believe it’s worthwhile for readers to get acquainted with Startup Grind’s partnership with Ripple Effect Consultancy, whose co-founder Jens Wernborg, is also our ambassador in Hong Kong.

With a “passion for all things digital”, and for “finding solutions” for a more efficient world, Wernborg’s company has been assisting Asian startups, primarily in terms of digitization. With Startup Grind, they are now taking their over six decades of expertise, and helping Asian entrepreneurs connect with one another, ideate, and innovate for a better world.

Notably enough, the Startup Grind Hong Kong chapter alone has some 3767 members already, and it is arguably on a steady and persistent rise, owing to the efforts of Wernborg, as for those of mine.

That said, and before I conclude, I’d like to elucidate to my readers a crucial aspect of the Startup Grind mission.

Enabling a Global Startup Movement

Beyond all doubts, the Silicon Valley is still the capital in the world of startups. Yet, especially with the recent developments in AI, IoT and Blockchain, among others, budding entrepreneurs are making significant innovations around the globe.

Yet, lack of infrastructure, efficient assistance, and unfavorable investment ecosystems are some of the major issues which cripple global industry, especially in the economically backward or semi-backward regions.

Against this backdrop, one of the primary motives of the Startup Grind community is to transform the existing, so to say, vertical relationship between the European and Asian startup ecosystems, into a more horizontal one.

In short, we envision a world in which entrepreneurial innovations from one region (wherever it may be) informs and inspires similar, or probably even more significant, developments in others. Together, we intend to create a startup-friendly future for the generations that be, and those to come.