Startup Iceland

I am the Master of my fate

I have been debating this internally, I would really like your feedback on this. Do you feel that there is value in a conference like Startup Iceland? I think there should be, here are my reasons:

1. Inspiration and Knowledge: The purpose of events and conferences is not just to listen to someone talk about their success but to get inspired to act. Take ownership of challenges and act on them. Having people who have walked that path share their experiences gives us motivation and courage. My guess is if you hear some of the speakers share their troubles and tribulations, you may say, hey, that does not sound so bad maybe I can do it. I think we have a fantastic line of speakers, any conference around the world would love to have this roaster…
2. Networking: One of the most popular blog posts that I wrote was about the 2 Must have skills for Entrepreneurs, you guessed it right it is Networking and Selling. During the conference, you as an entrepreneur get the opportunity to have a booth where you can sell your idea and while doing that get a fantastic chance to network with local participants as well as all the guests who are coming into to Iceland. The guests who are coming are curious about Iceland and want to learn more about it and guess what you are the expert there, you live in Iceland. It is a fantastic opportunity for you to present Iceland and your company or your idea or your dream, whatever to build a relationship with someone across the pond. Having contacts around the world is invaluable to doing business. If your idea takes off and you need to go sell it in the US or Europe or wherever, having someone who you have met, connected in Iceland gives an excellent bridge into whatever you need to do in that persons home market. Don’t believe me ask Gunnar Holmsteinn, how he built CLARA’s presence in Silicon Valley. It is all networking and building relationships.
3. Participation: Not everyone has the time or the energy to organize events like what we are trying to do with Startup Iceland, but we are doing this to bring value to the Startup and Entrepreneurial Community here in Iceland. We have fantastic press coverage, a lot of people want to come to Iceland and see this miracle of a recovery that is happening in Iceland. Dont you want to participate in this transformation? How can you contribute? well, it is simple, just show up! if you don’t have time to volunteer, then you can take the time to attend the event. There are 3 events, the Hackathon which does not require any fee, you just need to have a computer and know how to write software programs in any language, we provide the food, drinks and all the help you need to build something of value. The last hackathon winner got recruited into GreenQloud and the solution he build was released as a service by Twitter 2 week after he had built it. So, you don’t have software development skills no worries, show up for the Unconference event, where all we need is for you to participate and share your ideas on how to build a sustainable, antifragile startup/entrepreneurial ecosystem in Iceland and in the world over. All of us have ideas, here is a platform for you to contribute. You are shy and don’t want to do that, no worries, the 3rd event is a simple conference where you just participate and listen to those who have walked the path.

…all this being said, I hear people complain about the cost of the conference. I believe very strongly that the ticket price to participate in Startup Iceland is an Investment not an expense. An investment you are making in yourself, your company or your idea or your dream. Why would you not want to invest to build yourself? rather than focusing on the cost, focus on the value, what is the value you derive from participating? If you don’t think there is value in this event, I want to hear about it please share it with me, I have my email in the public domain it is bala at startupiceland dot com. We are here to build something and those who give feedback do it only when they care. So please care!

We had the same discussion last year, and I wrote a blog post on who should attend the event. Lets talk about costs, it costs thousands of ISK to get a flight ticket, hotel room etc to go to a similar event outside of Iceland. It should be obvious that having all these speakers come to Iceland would be beneficial to the local Entrepreneurial community. Still people complain. All I say is try organizing an event like this and provide food, drinks, venue for 250+ participants, flight tickets to 9 guests, hotels, taxi etc I have thrown the challenge out to many people, you have better ideas to organize this event please contact me and tell me how we can do this better. Every member of the group that is organizing Startup Iceland is a volunteer, none of us get paid to do this and if you thought this does not take time and effort, please reach out to me I will buy you coffee and you can tell me how we can do this better. I am not an expert but I am committed and motivated to build a startup ecosystem in Iceland to help the future enterpreneurs… help me to help them. Participate! nothing happens by magic or miracles, it is the age old saying, a lot of blood, sweat and tears have been spilt to build society. This effort is no different.

Related articles

• How Iceland Got Its Own Tech Conference (arcticstartup.com)