Feeding the local startup ecosystems
Many of us have heard about Marc Nager, the guy who is responsible for turning Startup Weekend into a global initiative with over 3,000 events happening annually.
That same guy has turned local and the reasons for doing so are fascinating to me. He is a firm believer that the next wave of entrepreneurship lies
in small towns and across the forgotten parts of America.
To lead by example Marc recently relocated to Telluride, Colorado — population 2,319. He and his wife moved there this summer so that he could take the positions of VP of Innovation at Telluride Foundation and Managing Director at Telluride Venture Accelerator.
His objective — to transform the startup scene in this tiny little town — and bring forth an example for other tiny little towns across the world.
Marc is firm in his assertion that the present Babe Ruth effect way of thinking which dominates the thinking of most VC houses is harmful for more local startup scenes that try to emerge beyond the traditional hubs of innovation such as San Francisco. The world needs more VCs who won’t necessarily aim for creating world conquering startups that could bring 100x returns.
Being in a country like India with a mission to discover and fund unique companies makes one contemplate about his way of thinking.
India is already a home to a well known generation of ambitious startup founders, aiming for global markets.
But that is not even half of the entire Indian story. The country possesses far more immense potential for creating local small and mid size companies which would be considered small in the global context but large enough to transform their local economies.
Here in India local first is not just an alternative lifestyle — it goes deeper into the core of the Indian maker.
This is why India is for example most suited for leading the global organic food production movement. For the Indian organic farmer organic is not just about the local economy. The connection goes deeper into one’s deep beliefs where one believes to be his spiritual duty a debt towards the gods of nature to produce organically and consume locally.
Such deep rooted value system has helped the state of Punjab for example to slowly re-emerge and recover from the devastating consequences it suffered under the green movement project 30 years ago.
Another interesting example in India comes from the state of Assam which has recently protested against the allotment of land for Patanjali Yogpeeth, one of the largest an fastest growing consumer brands in India nowadays on the account that such “free” privileges will devastate the local production and the cultural fabric of these extraordinary areas.
It is worth mentioning in this context that the Indian state of Sikkim which lies in the same area has become India’s first fully organic state.
What an amazing time to be in India..
These examples are mentioned to prove that local community driven companies hold immense potential for both investors and founders but as long as we allow the 100x return mindset to prevail we will mechanically shun them away from our agendas.
These companies will counteract the current world dominating narrative of Silicon Valley startups and instead will be obsessed with creating and impacting local communities and diversity.
This is the message of Marc’s prophetic move. He is a firm believer that the current generation of fast growing 100x return startup powered by economy of scale will not prevail on the long run and that the future belongs to these micro cellular community driven startups small in global context but enormous in their local one.
I tend to share his opinion that the next entrepreneurial wave will lie scattered across tiny corners of the world but in order to grasp them we need to change the entire rhetoric the language even the methodology we use to assess future prospective companies.
