In defence of the ‘Hashtag Startup Communities’
This morning I opened up the daily CB Insights email, an email typically filled with interesting links, and stats and facts on startups and funding, to instead find it filled with scorn and mockery.
With a subject line of “The Next Silicon Valley” and a headline of “Dude, you need a hashtag”, Anand Sanwal, the Founder of CB Insights goes on to attack the framework of bringing start-up ecosystems together around a hashtag, describing it as a ruse to sell consultancy. I assume he is referring to the fact that Tyler Crowley, the man credited with creating this framework was being hired by the Stockholm Business Region to help promote the Stockholm startup scene.
Of course, there is no denying that Tyler was hired as a consultant, but there is also no denying that the framework works, and that the knock-on effect not just in Stockholm but in other European Cities who have followed a similar recipe is there for all to see.
Other European Cities have seen the success that Stockholm have had by following this “simplistic framework for a complex problem” (as Anand states) and it has since been replicated in Copenhagen, Oslo, Holland and Belguim.
Anand makes it sound sleazy and disingenious. But there is nothing more honest than three guys meeting for a coffee in Copenhagen to discuss what could be done to bring the ecosystem together.
This was how the CPHFTW community started, NOT by hiring a consultant.
Incidentally, the formula that Anand is referring to is:
1. An established hashtag everyone in the community can use to share photos and event info.
2. Have a venue that is cheap and central, where meetups can take place.
3. A monthly event where all of the startups gather.
4. A coworking space that is open 24/7 so that when an outsider lands in the city, they have a place to go and meet tons of people in the scene
Look, of course it is not as simple as following these four steps, with that he has a point. But the point he is missing, is that it is not the objective of the framework. The frameworks objective is to start bringing people together, as if everyone is working towards the same goal then more can be achieved.
It is not about being the next Silicon Valley, it is about being the best version of your ecosystem that you can be, and if you can bring people together around a common vision, it certainly helps.
Anand goes on to state:
We have lots of cities and countries using our data to try and figure this out, but who knew it was as easy as setting up a hashtag. FML.
Bizarrely, it appears that he sees this framework as a threat to his business, which is perhaps why he is on the offensive. But surely the more thriving ecosystems there are around the world the more startups there will be, the more investment there will be, and therefore the more customers for his Venture Capital database.
I know Tyler, but I wouldn’t say we are ‘friends’ and this is not a defence of him. This is a defence of his framework, as I have seen first hand the effect and power it can have not just on a startup community, but startup communities.
Anand, unfortunately ‘Dude’, it’s not all about numbers and data, it’s about people.
What do you think of the ‘Hashtag Startup Communities’?
Let me know on Twitter @neilswmurray
I write about Nordic Startups here.
