My Startup Grind Manifesto.

7 years and counting.

I join Startup Grind back in 2013.

At that moment I interact with some entrepreneurial communities, (Hackers and Founders, Endeavor, Up Global, etc.) and there was something missing… I was a founder, living through the uncertainty that comes with it ( how to hire? how to fundraise? how to keep yourself motivated? etc.) and did not found a community that was built around helping these founders… Most of them are networking platforms, for people to meet, clubs for entrepreneurs or events to work on very early-stage ideas.

I learn about Startup Grind, from a VC friend, while I was explaining to him why, for me, it was fundamental that ecosystems support founders vs entrepreneurs and I imagined something like this:

1.-If you create better founders — — they will inspire and create better new entrepreneurs

2.-If you create better founders — — they will create better startups (jobs, revenue, investments, etc.)

3.-If you create better founders — -they will attract the creation of more and better VC’s and Angels.

It was the only part of the equation, that had a direct effect on all the stakeholders of an entrepreneurial ecosystem; as soon as I gave him all these ideas, he told me, “there is a guy in the Bay Area, that have very similar thoughts, you two should connect. That is how I connect with Derek Andersen, co-founder of Startup Grind.

One week later we jumped on a call, I started pitching my ideas, he is a really nice guy, he allows me to finish, and then he was like… that sounds cool, we are already doing that….

One month later, I launched Startup Grind in Mexico, with one goal in my mind, help founders become better… How? that was a little bit more complicated… events? big? small? tech? investors?

Those questions where a big part of the first couple of years….

In the first 2 years we accomplished:

• Runner up for 2 consecutive years for the national entrepreneurship award in Mexico.
• Our biggest Startup Grind event was over 5,000 people.
• We educate 2890 entrepreneurs and helped more than 150 founders.

In the backend of Startup Grind we pilot and launched:

• Country Managers
• Regional Managers

Then 2016 arrived, and with that, the Latam Entrepreneurial Ecosystem evolved:

Resources, funding, and support for Early-stage startups were all over the place, we started competing with Federal Governments and huge Universities, our impact was drastically reduced… So we decide to evolve by creating a manifesto inside my career, my life, my Startup Grind efforts, and in my companies:

THIS IS THE MANIFESTO:

1. -Identify what do you do better than anybody.
   You will need to answer a couple of questions:
   If you ask people around you what you do amazingly, what would be the common answer?
   If you only have one hour a month, and $50 USD what would be the biggest impact you could have?
2. -Find your impact location.
   If you imagine you can impact 1,000 people with a minimum impact or 10 people with a meaningful impact, what is your number?
3. -Become something amazing for a few.
   Nothing is for everyone, and demographics are not accurate. Every time I ask someone about their ideal “persona” and they say, age group, or demographic, I see that they don’t know for who they are optimizing. Think of a “persona” so specific that maybe you can only get 100–500 people.
4. -Challenge yourself and your actions all the time.
   We tried many many things… the biggest challenge is, something works… Today but not tomorrow, and something didn’t work today, but it might tomorrow.
5. -First time is about being brave, second time is hard.
   The first time you do something, the only requirement it courage… you might think is complicated, but in reality, you are only struggling with putting yourself out there for others to have an opinion. The first time will be better than you thought… now, the second one, well that one is hard, there are many reasons, you think you know what you are doing, you assume, second time have to be easier, and you are a bit more confident.

In 2017, after more than 100 monthly events in Mty, GDL and Mexico City, we decided it was time to shake things a little bit based on the Manifesto.

And we created:

• The Startup Grind Regional Conferences. The premise was, events sucks if you don’t get anything out of them. After evaluating a conference based on the manifesto we build the concept: An accredited founders and investors only conference, for 250 attendees, 25 speakers. This conference will have a clear concept, tech startups, for that we got some of the biggest tech companies in the world to sponsor and participate, the goal: grow Latam Startups, for that we need outsiders (VC’s and Tech Companies) and a bunch of regional founders and investors.

• 4Founders Form: I needed a new organization, that could take care of the top companies in the region, and replicate a small version of the Davos Economic Forum for Founders and top Investors. Our premise was:
  Entrepreneurial ecosystems grow correlated with the number of successful (big) startups, (there is no relation between ecosystem development and a total number of startups, or support for early-stage). And in that journey we have the privilege of working with some of the finest organizations in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem, a lot of them for the first time in the region:

Now, the learnings…

1. -Startup Grind. When I join SG was pretty small, compared to these days, and I can say the level of people that where part of SG was amazing, not just as facilitators, but as ethical, responsible, and nice people. Because of SG, I have built so much impact, not just by educating and inspiring, but it allowed me to learn and to teach to help. If you think about helping others, and others helping you, there is one of the most effective ways of making things better for everyone.
2. Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. I think there are many variables for ecosystems to succeed. Not just startups or vc’s; If I could say it in one sentence would be: Ecosystems are built by people that follow on for years. Many people help, but just for a bit, so much people take but don’t give back, and some founders and investors just participate when it serves a purpose. Thankfully we have people that keep showing up after many many years, and making work that matters, that makes a difference, and meeting them, and learning from them is one of the biggest privileges I have in my life.
3. Evolution. You are not the same person you use to be, and you will not be the same person you are. So, for many years I was a “cheerleader” of my ecosystem, now I am the one asking questions, challenging “the wins” and “the way we do things”. I use to be the early stage founder, criticizing investors, government, and companies for the lack of support or understanding, today I keep doing that but with more curiosity and empathy, than rebellion.

If you get all the way through here, thank you so much, this was a long post. But It feels good to share such an important part of my life.

Thank you SG Family.