The Global Startup Movement

Justin Stanford is the co-founder and managing director of 4Di Group an early-stage technology venture capital fund based in Cape Town, South Africa. Having founded his first startup attempt at the age of 18, Justin has been involved in tech startups and entrepreneurial endeavours ever since. In 2009 Justin co-founded the Silicon Cape Initiative, an organization designed to highlight and catalyze South Africa's nascent emerging tech startup ecosystem. On this episode you'll learn: -What valuation discrepancies exist between startups in East Africa and South Africa? -How has the VC ecosystem in Cape Town developed since 2009? -What is Justin's advice to 18 year olds today who want to be entrepreneurs?

Pedro Vieira is co-founder and CEO of Beta-i - an platform dedicated to build innovation ecosystems that is leading the transformation of a new humanised digital innovation and is the Managing Partner of LC Ventures a pre-seed / seed Venture Capital Firm.  Pedro was the host and a mentor of SeedCamp Lisbon, a facilitator and co-director at Startup Weekend Lisbon, and was the co-director and a mentor of the first Founder Institute Lisbon, in addition to several other mentoring initiatives.   On this episode you'll learn: -What were the early days of getting the Startup Community off the ground like in Lisbon? -What benefits has Web Summit brought to the Lisbon Startup Ecosystem? -What are the common traits Pedro sees in the successful founders in Lisbon?

Lisa Besserman,is the Founder and CEO of Startup Buenos Aires (SUBA), a community organization and educational accelerator aimed to inspire, connect and support startups and entrepreneurship in Latin America. SUBA provides tools & resources to cultivate a strong and sustainable startup ecosystem in Buenos Aires, while serving as an outsourcing hub for Argentina's top tech talent. Lisa is an active participant in the global startup community. She is a Google, Startup Weekend & The Next Web Mentor, and Internet Week Speaker. On this episode you'll learn: -How did Lisa and her team discover the revenue model for Startup Buenos Aires? -At what stage do Argentine startups typically outgrow the domestic market? -What role has the national government taken in supporting the local startup ecosystem?

Johnni Kjelsgaard is the Founder and CEO of GrowthAfrica. Since starting GrowthAfrica, Johnni and his team have helped to accelerate 152 startups with $42 Million in total venture capital being raised by startups going through their accelerator. He has spent most of his professional life in Africa, and has been directly involved in over 20 start-ups and joint ventures. Johnni represents various organisations and investors on a board level, advising on a policy and strategy level. On this episode you'll learn: -What opportunities does Johnni see in secondary cities in East Africa? -What are the biggest differences between great seed investors in Africa and great Series A investors? -What skills does Johnni see as most lacking in native entrepreneurs across Africa?

Zekarias Amsalu is the Founder & MD of Ibex Frontier, with presence in Ethiopia, London, and Washington DC. Zekarias started his career in the private Banking sector in Ethiopia followed by a regional Finance and Treasury role at Shell Oil East Africa Hub leading implementations in East Africa. After a stint in high finance in London, he has re-tuned his focus on Ethiopia and Africa since 2014 and as a result has founded the London based Ibex Frontier in early 2016 and has been helping Ethiopian based companies raise capital and has led in sell side mandates and investor negotiations as well as providing advisory services for international investors moving to Ethiopia in buy side mandate and/or Route-to-Market.     On this episode you'll learn: -Why has market data on Ethiopia's private sector historically been so scarce? -What sectors outside of the startup world are attracting the most foreign direct investment? -How much venture and angel capital has been activated locally in Addis Ababa?  

This panel session was recorded at the Trade with Africa Business Summit in Bentonville, Arkansas over the summer. The topic of the panel was around what is driving the growth of startups and the emergence of innovation hubs across the African continent. Andrew is joined by Seye Bassir, Investment Director at the IFU, Marsha Wulff, Founding Director at Loftyinc Afropreneur Fund, and Akin Sawyerr, CEO and Cofounder of RocRemit.

Scott Phillips is the founder of Civic Ninjas, and co-founder/CEO of Isocentric Networks. Scott is the founder/organizer of multiple events connecting the Tulsa startup ecosystem including Ignite Tulsa, Tulsa Startup Weekend and Maker Faire Tulsa. Scott has been recognized in Tulsa People Magazine’s 40 under 40, received a Tulsey’s Above and Beyond Award for his proponency of entrepreneurship and in 2013 was one of eight people recognized nationally by the White House and President Obama as a Champion of Change in Civic Hacking. On this episode you'll learn: -How a robust maker space can provide an ecosystem advantages into the third wave of internet companies. -How did Tulsa achieve the #1 city for female entrepreneurs to start companies? -How has Tulsa’s progressive open data policies benefited the local startup ecosystem?

Roberto Musso is the President at Digevo Group, a Chile-based organization that starts and groups innovative companies in the IT sector. Roberto is the founding partner of more than 25 companies in IT including, Izit, 3Gmotion, NCS Americas, and Beemox. He's had 3 successful exits and is one of the most prominent angel investor and mentor in the Chile startup ecosystem. On this episode you'll learn: -What attributes do startups in emerging economies have that make them more likely to be successful? -Why haven't corporates in Latin America been active in the startup community? -Considering the fact that there isn’t a healthy IPO or acquisition market in Latin America, How is startup success in emerging economies defined differently?

Laís De Oliveira has built some of the fastest growing startup communities in Malaysia on behalf of Startup Grind, Techstars (Startup Digest), TheList.KL and MaGIC (Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre). She founded and sold her first business (8spaces.co) to Flyspaces.com, Southeast Asia's largest marketplace for workspace and spaces for professional activities, where she worked as Malaysia Country Manager and Chief Community Officer. She is currently writing about her experience in her first project of a book, called Hacking Communities, a result of 11 years building different communities offline and online. On this episode you'll learn: -What are the first steps and initial to do list for getting a startup community off the ground and running? - How does an ecosystem builder maintain momentum and keep the community together over the long run? -What's the story of the growth in Malaysia's startup ecosystem since 2014?

Stanfield Gray is the CEO of Dig South Tech Conference, DIG SOUTH Media, ETC South, and the co-host of South Pod: Rise of a Region. In 2018, he was named one of Time magazine’s “31 People Changing the South.DIG SOUTH is the South's Tech Conference, the first and foremost event elevating the region's digital economy. The Conference connects leading brands to the top 500 tech companies in the South, focusing on innovation in technology, business, marketing, media, and entertainment. On this episode you'll learn: -How did Stanfield organize and fund the first Dig South Conference? -How did availability of early stage capital in South Carolina evolve since Stanfield started Dig South? -What gaps were in the South Carolina ecosystem back in 2011?

Alan Costello is the Venture Investment Leader for NDRC where he sources startups, supports them, pushes them towards customer validation and then think about scaling globally. He is also a Board member of the Institute of Management Consultants and Advisors as well as the Co-Chair of The Mill Enterprise Centre. On this episode you'll learn: -How much early stage capital is available in country relative to mainland Europe? -How has the VC ecosystem evolved since Alan entered the space 6 years ago? -What's the current sentiment towards cryptocurrencies in Ireland?

Marc Alain Boucicault is the founder of Banj, a local entrepreneurship hub in Port-au-Prince. He's worked in international development for 8 years based in Port-au-Prince and in Washington, DC at the World Bank then with the Inter-American Development Bank. In 2010, Marc co-founded Groupe ECHO Haiti, an organization valorizing the potential of young adults in development in Haiti through which he created and lead several innovative projects including ELAN Haiti, a platform that brings together a community of students, young leaders and entrepreneurs from Haiti, its diaspora and the world focused on taking joint actions in Haiti. He is also co-founder and chief external relations officer at HFund, a closed-ended micro-venture capital firm based in Haiti offering new modern and tailored financial instruments that bring capital to innovative businesses and contribute to the emergence of a new category of entrepreneurs in Haiti. On this episode you'll learn -How Marc originally raised sponsorship money for the Ba

Chris Heivly is one of the nation’s leading experts in how to turn startups into multimillion-dollar companies. Chris founded MapQuest in 1988 and served in leadership positions for global brands such as Rand McNally and Accenture. His latest book Build the Fort provides insight into getting through the earliest micro-steps of starting your own business through the lense of Chris’s 30 years of experiences in startups, investments, big-company entrepreneurship and community development. On this episode you'll learn: What it means to Chris to be an ecosystem builder? What have been the most important institutions and initiatives in the ecosystem that have catalyzed and created the increased startup activity in Raleigh-Durham? What are Chris' thoughts on how a university can implement an EIR role?

Richard Chowning is the Director of Africa Mentor, solving customers' entry and growth problems by providing sound guidance to navigate the cultural and business challenges in specific regions. This includes generating and vetting leads, providing entrepreneurs and business owners with business research related to their entry into the African marketplace, and mentoring business owners in developing strategies and business models that are culturally appropriate. On this episode you'll learn: What was the story and inspiration behind Africa Mentor? How does cultural nuance impact the VC conversation around Africa? What are the biggest sectors and opportunities Richard currently sees in Africa?

Leland Rice is the co-founder and CEO of Dedalus Global, an investment advisory firm focusing on emerging markets and emerging technologies. Chairment of the African Fintech Summit, is a global initiative to bring the issues, entrepreneurs, and opportunities revolutionizing finance in Africa to the world’s stage. This bi-annual event occurs each April in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF, and each November in a different African city. How niche does Leland feel a conference should be? How niche does Leland feel a conference should be? What are the biggest questions and challenges Dadalus is solving? What is the current conversation about blockchain in East Africa?

Mark Organ is the CEO and Founder of Influitive, which helps B2B companies mobilize their army of advocates for more rapid and profitable revenue growth. They leverage partners' past successes to produce massive increases in referral leads, reference calls, social media participation and more. Mark first revolutionized B2B marketing as the founding CEO of Eloqua, a world leader in marketing automation software, which was acquired by Oracle for $871M. Throughout his life, Mark has lived in Toronto, Silicon Valley, Chicago and Singapore. He has founded 6 companies, raised more than 15 rounds of financing, hired over 250 people, and built 7 offices around the world. On this episode you'll learn: What are some of the differences in starting a company the second time around? What are the differences in funding impact when obtained via angel investors vs local capital? What advice does Mark have to entrepreneurs navigating exiting a company for the first time?

Ryan Carson is the CEO & Founder of Treehouse, an online technology school that takes people from zero experience to job-ready in as little as six months. Ryan also founded Carsonified and DropSend. He graduated from Colorado State University in 2000 with a degree in Computer Science. He then moved to the United Kingdom, where he ended up meeting his wife. He and his wife and two boys now live in Portland, Oregon. On this episode you'll learn: How did Ryan and his company end up in Portland, Oregon? What has Ryan learned about creating and scaling a company culture? What is Ryan's stance on internal workforce development?

Lukonga Lindunda is co-founder and Executive Director of BongoHive, supporting the launch and growth of enterprises while making Zambia the next hotbed of innovation in Africa. His mission is to elevate Lusaka and the rest of Zambia as a top destination to live, work, learn, and play by helping entrepreneurs, startups, and growth companies to start, stay, and prosper in the local ecosystem. He has previously provided technical assistance in educational projects and programs by building sustainable and affordable ICT infrastructure and support systems. On this episode you'll learn: Back in 2011, what did Lukonga see that made him think Lusaka and Zambia needed an incubator or innovation hub? What niches are thriving locally in Lusaka? What is the sentiment towards bitcoin in Lusaka and how has it has evolved over the past year?

Quan Le is the Founder of Binkabi, a cross-border agricultural trading platform that leverages blockchain technology. Binkabi's core innovation empowers people in developing countries to trade securely and cheaply without the use of a hard currency. Quan also worked with PWC for almost 17 years in London, Sydney, and Hanoi. On this episode you'll learn: What impact can drone technologies have on farmers in emerging markets? What impact can drone technologies have on farmers in emerging markets? What was the innovation in the Barter Block protocol that Quan created? How are the challenges different between African farmers and farmers in South East Asia?

Howard A. Tullman is the former CEO of 1871 and serves as the General Managing Partner for G2T3V, LLC and for the Chicago High Tech Investors, LLC; he is a Director of SnapSheet, Keeper Security, Dibit and VEHCON. 1871 is a non-profit startup hub located in Chicago. 1871 was founded in May 2012 and is home to over 495 digital startups. On this episode you'll learn: Does Howard see Edtech as a disruptive force, or a supplementary force to the current infrastructure? As a community incubator hub, is it better to focus your resources on a select number of outperforming startups, or to deploy more of a "spray and pray" approach? Where is the future of Edtech headed?