The GUILD in Chiang Mai: From Freelancer to Entrepreneur
An enthusiastic, connected community of passionate people is on nearly every early-stage tech startup’s wishlist. Throw in global and thriving and you’ll understand why The GUILD is growing its network in the US, Europe and now Asia.
We bid a proper farewell to the decade by hosting our inaugural workshop on December 30th with our Chiang Mai partner Punspace. And since teamwork (with the right people) is dreamwork, Yonca Braeckman and Ching-Ping Lin joined me to mentor a bigger group than what I had originally expected.
At The Guild, we enjoy tinkering with our outlook and this first event in Asia was the perfect opportunity to try a workshop on how to go from freelancer to entrepreneur.
Chiang Mai has an international pool of talent and is a temporary home to many digital nomads so the workshop’s topic seemed a natural fit for it.
Since we got a big group of women interested in joining the workshop, we divided them into three groups according to the stage of their businesses. The idea seekers, the early ideas entrepreneurs that needed to validate their assumptions and the ‘almost-ready-to-launch’ entrepreneurs.
It was refreshing to see most of the participants belonged to the third group and were fine-tuning details to launch or monetize their businesses.
The Chiang Mai workshop also brought us a lot of diversity: we were proud to count with a nice mix of expats, nomads and Thai participants.
Lastly, we were excited to see so many people ready to put some hard work in setting business goals for 2020. The takeaways from the workshop were concrete next steps and action-driven deadlines.
My personal highlight was that many of the participants will need each other for market research, soft pitching or just to get some encouragement and support. It never ceases to amaze me how powerful a small group of people can become by simply holding each other accountable.
By the time this article is published, most of the participants will have already moved forward with their next steps. The goals they set during the workshop may have changed or perhaps they have become obsolete. In any case, we’re thrilled to know they are closer to launching their own businesses.
How about our own next steps? More URL and IRL action
Communities, online or offline, are all about our need to connect with others and bring forward our preference of experiences over things.
For those women looking for a supportive business community, The GUILD continues to offer a platform to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs to connect online and offline through multiple global events.
We also understand that many are still seeking for learning resources and meaningful connections so that’s why The GUILD Academy has just kicked off its first online cohort with 25 entrepreneurs hailing from eight different countries.
They will all go through a 12-week-long journey from Idea to prototype and I’m looking forward to seeing their achievements in mobility, tourism, HR, foodtech, wellness, sustainability, fashion and education.
Applications are now open for the second cohort of The GUILD Academy at a special early-bird rate until March 1st. Check it out here
