Stop Reading This and Start Doing!
Startups are a new and growing breed of business. Many of the biggest web companies we know today – including Facebook, Twitter, and Zappos – began as small, lean startups. To celebrate and support this innovative business model, Hermione Way founded Startup World, a global competition showcasing startups in twenty major cities. This summer, Startup World comes to institute B’s office to hear from Vancouver’s startups.
Startup World’s mission is to help entrepreneurs everywhere. “The whole project was set up to support startups and entrepreneurs building companies outside of Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is a unique ecosystem, but there is so much talent around the world. We want to help people solve the problems of the world.”
Since launching in January 2012, Hermione and the Startup World team have traveled all over the world looking for “the world’s best startup.” To date, they’ve seen nearly two hundred pitches and have experienced something new each time. “It’s interesting; each city has a different flavour of startups - for example, Peruvians are very proud of their cuisine, so we found many startups around the food industry. In Rio De Janeiro, people like to party, and we came across many apps providing the best places to party in Rio,” Hermione says. “The most interesting place for innovation is Africa - entrepreneurs are solving huge problems and are more motivated than entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.”
Startup World’s first foray into Canadian cities is supported by Startup Canada, the national organization for connecting entrepreneurs. Startup Canada’s role in bringing Startup World to Vancouver and Montréal was instrumental, according to Hermione. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
Like Startup Canada, raising awareness of the startup business model is an overarching goal, and one that Hermione feels strongly that entrepreneurs should adopt. “Traditional business are often too big and slow to innovate,” she says. “The beauty of startups and entrepreneurship is to build [a company] that is scalable and can reach millions of people around the world. There is no other industry where you can go from idea to billion-dollar company in such a short amount of time.”
institute B is thrilled to be hosting Vancouver’s first Startup World event on July 29th, and is inviting all entrepreneurs to deliver their pitches to the Startup World team. For those planning to attend, Hermione has final words of wisdom: “Stop reading this and start doing.”
By, Casey Leung
It would be a wonderful thing if your tour was teaching entrepreneurship. As a competition, I don’t know if this fosters it or minimizes it.