Girl Meets Startup World

A few weeks ago, I attended Startup Grind 2015. A couple days before that, I had one problem: I had no idea what Startup Grind 2015 was.

Living in Sonoma County, I hadn’t yet ventured to the tech mecca that is Silicon Valley, but I did have my idea of what it was like- If North America was The Grove, Silicon Valley was the Apple Store, releasing a new iphone everyday with a never-ending line of eager and devoted customers. I didn’t want to get in line. I didn’t even want to work at the Genius Bar. I wanted to be Steve Jobs.

As a 22-year-old female student at Sonoma State University, I feel like a bit of an outlier for choosing to take a semester off to build a social/style app (notice how I didn’t say crazy person; I said outlier. It’s a euphemism.) I honestly didn’t know a lot about the tech industry before Startup Grind. The only knowledge I had was gained from the few months I had been working on my startup, plus watching season 1 of Silicon Valley and making TechCrunch my Chrome homepage. But I do have a lot of passion and belief in myself and my idea. And that’s a combination that makes you feel like you can do anything.

I had so many questions before the event: How much can I share about my startup? Will someone steal my idea? Will people take me seriously? Should I put on Converse? (Yes, I brought Converse.) What if I get nervous and don’t talk to anyone? What if I’m the only woman? About a three-hour drive later, I regained my confidence and arrived at Fox Theater with suspense built, heels on, and ready to take on the startup world.

The conference agenda consisted of blocks of speaker sessions and workshops with designated breaks for networking. Mikkel Svane of Zendesk and Sam Altman of Y Combinator were the first two speakers. I pulled out my white notebook and blue pen and promptly began jotting down the inspiring words they were offering. There I was, in the heart of Silicon Valley- home to the world’s largest high tech corporations and tech startups by the thousands- writing things down in a notebook. Nice one, Kels. But no shame. Okay, maybe a little bit of shame. I slowly pulled out my phone and recorded the rest of Sam’s speech in Voice Memos.

The speakers were brilliant. Each story was compelling and honest. There was a common theme of expecting failure, but doing everything you can to reduce its probability. “90% of startups fail.” I heard that statistic many times over the course of those few days. But what I learned from Startup Grind 2015, is that although I have a 90% chance of failure, my passion and belief in the 10% chance of success are so much greater. And on the third day, Vinod Khosla spoke. When asked about his experience with failures he said, “My willingness to fail is entirely responsible for my success. It enabled my success. My willingness to take risks that others wouldn’t is what made me successful. That plus a lot of luck.”

He wins at life.

Everyone in attendance was so diverse in their background, but at the same time, so similar in their spirit. More than 60 countries were represented. People had traveled far and wide to be in that theater, but when I spoke to a fellow founder or entrepreneur it felt like I had known them for years. Each one had that startup sparkle in their eye, that tone of voice that had a slightly higher pitch when talking about their ideas, and that smile of pure excitement for the future painted across their face.

The entire experience was so much more than I could have ever imagined it to be. I made friends that I’ll keep for a lifetime and gained knowledge it takes some a lifetime to learn.

It was a pleasure to meet you, Silicon Valley. You haven’t seen the last of me!