Edinburgh’s strapline of ‘Inspiring Capital’ was as if it was purposefully chosen for entrepreneurs. From Finance and Technology to Life Sciences, Oil and Gas, Edinburgh has produced some truly amazing companies.
Think pensions and Scottish Widows will not be far from your mind. Think travel websites and Skyscanner will certainly be at the forefront. Think Life Sciences and you can’t help but get excited about Edinburgh BioQuarter and the innovations coming out of there.
All these companies and a host of others in Edinburgh, started from just an idea. No doubt their journeys have not necessarily been without challenges, however at the helm of these companies have been individuals who had relentless focus, tenacity and the vision to build something great. Brick by brick, customer by customer, client by client, employee by employee there is an amazing story behind each and every company.
It is therefore befitting that Startup Grind, the global start-up community designed to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs through monthly events featuring founders, innovators, educators and investors should launch their next Chapter in Edinburgh, Scotland’s inspiring capital. Powered by the Google for Entrepreneurs programme, Startup Grind has over 50 Chapters worldwide, including two in the UK, one in London and the other in Cambridge. The Edinburgh Chapter will mark the third in the UK and certainly not the last as the movement spreads across cities.
Spearheading the Startup Grind movement in Edinburgh is adopted Scot, Phin Mpofu, Founder of HOMESPLACE, the start-up that he believes will revolutionise the way properties are transacted in the UK - Estate Agents beware.
Asked why a Startup Grind Chapter in Edinburgh, Phin had this to say; “Why not! I’ve learned that as an entrepreneur you are on a journey and that journey is filled with numerous challenges and obstacles you need to overcome. Hearing from an entrepreneur who is further along the journey than you are is very important. It puts many things in perspective. That’s why Startup Grind is important globally and certainly for the Edinburgh start-up ecosystem. Everyone is welcome, regardless of what stage they are at on their entrepreneurial journey, it is also not solely for tech start-ups. At our events, you’ll have an opportunity to hear someone share their story and gleam something from it, be it insight, motivation, reassurance or just simply perspective in relation to whatever obstacle you may currently be facing. In addition it is an amazing way to meet and connect with other people and not purely for exchanging business cards, but establishing great, long term friendships.”
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Gareth Williams | CEO & Co-founder Skyscanner[/caption]
The inaugural Startup Grind Edinburgh event will be held at Skyscanner’s HQ at Quartermile One on the 24th February 2014, starting at 6pm with drinks, nibbles and getting to know each other, before the guest interview. The inaugural guest will be Skyscanner’s very own CEO and co-founder Gareth Williams, who will share his story as one of the co-founders of Skyscanner, an amazing success story in the travel search engine sector.
Full details of the event are available here. We encourage you to reserve your ticket as numbers are limited.
We have 2 ticket types a Free Ticket and a Philanthropic Ticket for £10.90 of which 50% of the proceeds from the Philanthropic Ticket go towards funding education for children in Africa through Dr Strive Masiyiwa's (Founder & Chairman of Econet Wireless Group) foundation Higher Life Foundation. Naturally we would like to sell more Philanthropic Tickets than free ones, so we implore you to purchase a Philanthropic Ticket as it is for such an amazing cause :-).
Edinburgh Image Montage courtesy of Wikipedia - a compilation by user Scottfree92.