FEB 2018: The Time of Our Lives - THANK YOU!
Note from Derek:
Massive thank you to everyone for the effort to get to the Bay Area for the global event a few weeks ago. People sacrifice a lot to get here each February and it doesn’t go unnoticed. Hopefully you made a lot of great friends and have new tools and ideas for the coming year. Startup Grind’s momentum ball is rolling full speed.
1. OMG We Need A Bigger Stage!
Startup Grind took over Redwood City in February. We totally owned it, delivering a world class conference to 7,000 attendees.
Thank you for being part of it! Everyone was so eager to help and we couldn’t have done it without you. From our amazing stage directors running the breakout sessions at the Cinema Theater to the awesome directors who once again gave a true international flavor by introducing speakers to the crowd. We had so much fun during the Pub Crawl, the closing night at Club Fox that turned into an impromptu dance scene, at Karaoke (with Derek showing his rap skills) and last but not least, the “Georgia House” with the ocean view that kindly hosted our after party the very last night (Thanks Colin).
Oh, and that photo in the end of every Global Conference! Gets bigger and bigger. Rumor has it that next year we’re going to need an even bigger stage. THANK YOU again for coming and making it so special. Here’s to the most diverse conference of the world!
Next stop...London for Startup Grind Europe (June 13)!
2. Directors Summit
The Conference is incomplete without the Directors Summit. 2 days of content, networking and getting to know each other. We spent the first day at Google San Francisco followed by a surprise Fireside Chat with Sarah Heck (Stripe Atlas, Obama Administration) at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and learned more about Startup Grind’s partnership with Stripe Atlas. If you want to do a call with Sarah to understand Stripe Atlas better - please fill in this form if this is the case: https://goo.gl/forms/
The second day we hanged out at AC Hotel with even more content and a chance to meet the entire HQ team and have a Q&A session with our fearsome female team line-up (from left to right):
- Deanna: Content
- Karlie: VP Conferences + Partnerships
- Lindsay: Event Coordinator
- Judy: Marketing
- Eugenia: Design
- Neda: Operations
- TD: Startup Program
You can access all presentations from both days here: https://help.startupgrind.com/
We’re finalizing all presentation videos and a feature video dedicated to the Directors Summit - can’t wait to see the final result...stay tuned!
3. Director Awards
Each year, we take the opportunity to recognize the Directors that excelled in their local city by leaving their mark with a unique way. The Award Ceremony is a tradition that celebrates the hard work, the passion and the commitment of those Directors who have gone the extra mile. This year, the prestigious Director of The Year Award was handed over to Brian Park! One of our most senior Directors who has been grinding for 5+ years in Washington DC, hosting top speakers and pulling amazing crowds to his events. Congratulations Brian and every else who won a trophy!
Here’s the full list of Awards: https://help.startupgrind.com/
4. Surveys
Have you filled in the Directors Summit survey yet? If not, here’s your chance to submit your open and honest feedback (we can take it!) - we do this every year and we tweak the program according to your needs and wants. Our top priority is to create an experience that exceeds your expectations, so please help us in this process.
Follow this link to complete the survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/
We would also appreciate if you could fill in the Oracle Startup Survey, it's even quicker and will help us a lot to get more data!
Oracle Startup Survey | Qualtrics Survey Solutions: http://bit.ly/
5. 365 Chapters
Our community continuous growth shows no signs of slowing down. We welcomed 25 new chapters from all around the world, bringing the active total chapters to 365! Thank you all for making the new Directors feel like home from day 1: we’ve seen so many new faces during Global, and lots of questions around SGx and SGu which is super positive as we continue our mission to educate every entrepreneur in the world.
Please don’t forget to recommend any startup enthusiast who might be a good fit to assume the Chapter Director role and encourage them to apply here: http://startupgrind.com/start
Thanks for all the hard work, and please keep interacting on Slack!
Startup Grind Community Team
PS: Remember that May is our annual Female Founders month, so get planning now to find a female superstar in your community that you can highlight. - We’ll be sending Art Assets soon!