AUG 2018: #GoodbyeJan + #HelloFarheen + #SG300

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

#GoodbyeJan
 #HelloFarheen
#SG300 #CohortCalls
#Global2019
 #StartupProgram
#EstoniaE-Residency
 #SomeFunStats
#GetSocial

#GoodbyeJan

We are really sad to have to say goodbye to Jan Smejkal (aka. #YourChinaGuy) as he leaves the SG HQ team to go deeper in to China and learn the path of zen.

Jan joined the HQ team in 2016 and managed the APAC and China regions. With connectivity issues (Google doesn’t work in China) + studying + learning Mandarin, he really did an amazing job building, maintaining and creating an incredible community in the East.

Here are just some of his milestones:

  • Hosted Gary Vee :) #NuffSaid
  • Hosted close to 1,000 events with rockstar entrepreneurs
  • Beijing is now the chapter with the most events (up to 4 events a month!!)
  • Grew China from 5 chapters to over 25 chapters in 18 months
  • Grew APAC from 30 chapters to over 100 chapters
  • Closed great sponsors that added value to chapter directors and their communities

31 Aug was Jan’s final day with us, but he’ll still be around helping out and you can always reach him directly on WeChat or on the directors slack channel - or even at jan@startupgrind.com.

Jan, a massive thanks for all you’ve done - we are going to miss you constantly asking for avocado toast, your awesome attitude and amazing “Hustle Mode = ON” mindset!

You can read his goodbye post here.

#HelloFarheen

We are excited to announce that Farheen Ahmad has joined the Community Team to take over as Community Manager of APAC + China. We had several great applicants and we appreciate all of the referrals and applications that came in. Thank you!

Farheen started on September 1 and is already getting into the thick of things. Some background on our newest team member:

  1. At age 19 she created a prototype defence system called the “security wall”
  2. She eventually started a company around this
  3. At age 23 she exited the company to the Indian government
  4. She speaks English, Hindi as well as Mandarin
  5. You can check our her super cool blog here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbF2HP5Ijgg

Please feel free to reach out to say hi and welcome her to the #SGFamily on Slack! For those in the APAC region, expect to receive some calls from her over the next few weeks.

#SG300

Octobber is #SG300 month where we aim to host 300 events around the world in 1 month! Please be sure to host events in October and even feel free to host more than 1!

Art Assets will be available next week for #SG300 so please keep an eye out for these.

#CohortCalls

In an effort to create a better sense of community as well as welcome newbies to the Startup Grind Family, we will now host monthly orientation calls for all Directors & Co-Directors that are onboarded each month.

The goals of these calls are to:

  • Meet & greet so that new Directors & Co-Directors can get to know one another
  • Develop relationships to learn from each other, help each other out and share best practices, tools and tips
  • Get questions answered where we'll be available to answer any questions that come up as new Startup Grind chapter’s are launched

Cohort calls are limited to newly onboarded chapters for that month… but having an older Director jump in from time to time is totally welcome. We might be reaching out to some of you to lead a short “master-class” session or two. If you’re interested in participating, shoot an email to ford@startupgrind.com.

#Global2019

Thanks a lot to everyone that engaged on social during the launch of the 2019 Global Conference. We had a very successful launch, showing the power of our strong community (106 tickets sold within 24 hours)!

Are you getting excited for Global yourself? We most certainly are looking forward to seeing all of you there in a few months! In September we will be sending out a form to find out which of you are planning to attend and to gather additional information that we’ll need from you. Stay tuned!

For those that want to start planning your trip to Silicon Valley (all Directors and Co-Directors are welcome!) - please go here to keep track of all the latest info: http://global.startupgrind.com

#StartupProgram

Alex Gordon-Furse is now heading up the Startup Program globally and if you joined his webinar on Friday you heard about its exciting future!

If you were unable  join, you should visit the new Startup Program Help Page, a dynamic page explaining how the new Program will work. Feel free to also watch a recording of the Webinar video here.

Bonus?
Yip, that’s right if you recommend an awesome local startup to the Startup Exhibition and they are selected for a Conference, you will get a percentage of the ticket price sold!

#EstoniaE-Residency

The Republic of Estonia has partnered with Startup Grind to help entrepreneurs around the world establish and grow global companies. Some of our best Chapters have been chosen to run the campaign in their cities.

You can get access to one of the fastest growing entrepreneurial regions with the most unicorns and startups per capita in Europe. Start and run your company securely online from anywhere in the world, without paperwork. Stay within the EU business environment - privacy, VAT ID, etc - without the headaches of local bureaucracy.

Click here to find out more or to apply: https://e-resident.gov.ee/startupgrind/?utm_source=StartupGrind&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=StartupGrind

#SomeFunStats

Growth
We are on a massive growth path and would love your help in achieving our goal of reaching 600 chapters by the end of 2018. At the end of June we had 410 chapters and we have now hit 445 chapters! We’ve onboarded 30 new chapters and reactivated 8 chapters in August alone.

If you know someone that would be an amazing chapter director, please send them to this link to apply: http://startupgrindapp.com/start?ref=augdirnewsletter

As far as chapter stats go, we know the website is not always up to date and this is due to our stats changing on a regular basis (both up and down as we off-board and on-board chapters). Every time we hit a 50 or 100 mark, rest assured that we will update the site. As always, if you see anything that is not up to date, please let us know. We are currently sharing 400 chapters in 120 countries representing 1.5M entrepreneurs!

#GetSocial

Africa - 2018 Seedstars World
2018 Seedstars World, the largest startup competition for emerging markets, is back in Africa to scout for top high growth startups and entrepreneurs and accelerate them on their path to global scaling.

On this 2018 tour, Seedstars will visit over 20+ cities across Sub-Saharan Africa to host bootcamps and pitch competitions. Countries such as Mauritius and Zambia, amongst others, will host local competitions for the first time, enlarging the impact of Seedstars mission in the continent. The winner from each country will be invited to the final at the Seedstars Global Summit in Switzerland to compete for up to USD $1M in equity investment.

Click here to find out more, or to apply!

Thanks all and have a great week!

#CommunityTeam
Derek, G, Candace, Bruce, Jelle + Farheen