Thursday 27th August 2009, 3:38pm
Why We All Should Care About Promoting Entrepreneurialism Globally
Doug Richard, Founder of School for Startups
South by Southwest or SXSW as it has become known has become the center of gravity for the interactive and web community in the last few years largely I think because its NOT in the valley and also it sits side by side with one of the best music and film festivals in the country. (In fairness both of which preceded the interactive festival). Of course, SXSW achieved it’s true noteriety when Twitter was launched there in 2007.
It also has an unusual process of deciding its own lineup, the famous “panel picker” process where everyone submits their suggestions for a panel and the judges then use the vote to influence though not determine the outcome. I chose to submit a panel this year because I think that there are very few international forums for discussing or exploring how the entrperenurial culture that makes SXSW and the Valley successful exist. Even at SXSW there is a natural “US-centricity” which is not bad just inevitable.
Unfortuantely European events are equally parochial. What is unfortunate is that there are thriving entreprenurial cultures expanding globally from Mumbai to Buenos Aires and for all the fact that we live in a connected world, they seem as distant as ever from one another.
More importantly, we face awkward economic times and the truth is that sustainable new jobs and increased productivity most often arise in the creation of innovation centric small businesses. Thus encouraging entrepreneurs and an entreprenurial culture beyond the normal hot spots should be a matter of global interest. Yet the world still clings to romantically outdated notions of the entrepreneur as a cowboy and an intuitive visionary. As though somehow you must be born with the right stuff and it cannot be taught or learned. While there is no doubt that a great violinist has something special that sets them apart, we often forget that decades of training and hard effort are what permit that bit of uniqueness to reveal itself.
The same can be said of entrepreneurship which means that by definition we can teach a great deal of value and it follow that if something can be taught it can be shared.
Tags: entrepreneuers, sxsw
I have just voted for Doug!
I was fortunate enough to attend one of Doug’s School for Startups events up in Edinburgh last year – I live in London and dont normally attend business events outside of the capital but I knew it would be worth my while and indeed it was!! Never before have a sat through a 9 hour seminar and still felt motivated and inspired at the end. Doug has an amazing gift for being able to connect with an array of entrepreneurs from startups right through to established folk – everyone there was hanging off Doug’s every word and the queue to speak to him well – it was a long one! I also found him humorously entertaining and had me in stitches a few times – he’s no ordinary serial entrepreneur – if you want to learn the ins and outs of business success and how you and your business can get there – then don’t be shy and vote for Doug!
Oh by the way Doug Richard and his School for Startups entrepreneurial training programme are both on Twitter:
@DouglasRichard
@S4Startups
Happy tweeting!! If you’d like to see Doug in action at SXSW he needs your votes -why not tweet this:
Your VOTES needed! @DouglasRichard masterclass on “How To Teach Entrepreneurialism Globally” at SXSW 2010 #PanelPicker http://bit.ly/Nagg5
Ha – I love social media