Silicon Valley in Riga?Innovations at TechHub

Andris K. Berzins @akberzins

Who is Andris K. Berzins?

Stanford Business School

Bain & Company - strategy consulting

AeroScout – real-time location solutions

Livebookings – online restaurant reservations

Amooz – digital loyalty solution for restaurants

Reach.ly – behavioural analytics for e-commerce

Creandum – Stockholm-based venture capital fund

BuzzTale – Instagram meets Storify for enterprises

What is TechHub Riga?

Co-working space for “product oriented” startups

30+ startup teams, 75+ residents

First intl. branch of TechHub London

Startup event organiser

Goal to help create the environment for the “Skype of Latvia” to emerge

Non-profit foundation

Run by entrepreneurs

Funded by membership fees, some sponsorship and events

Moving to new space double the size!

What is a Startup?

A startup is an organization in search of a repeatable and scalable business model

- Steve Blank

Why do startups innovate effectively?

Take risks.

Fail.

Take more risks.

Fail.

Take even more risks.

Usually die.

Sometimes succeed…..

Why do startups innovate effectively?

Take risks.

Fail.

Take more risks.

Fail.

Take even more risks.

Usually die.

Sometimes succeed….. if they focus on what they are good at and learn from their mistakes.

Why can corporates learn from startups?

Take risks.

Embrace and celebrate failure (“it is better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission”).

More small experiments than grand plans (the Post-it story)

Give innovators room to experiment and the time to focus.

Pick up what works and scale it.

Questions? @techhubriga@akberzins