Earlier this month, I was fortunate enough to visit some global businesses and leaders in California’s Silicon Valley, along with 8 other business as part of the Scottish Governments #UnlockingAmbition programme. The journey was seamlessly programmed and executed by Scottish Enterprise, FutureX and Entrepreneurial Scotland.
Honestly, the trip was utterly amazing and there is far too much for just one blog, however, I have done my best to describe the highlights of the journey:
- James Hui, Partner at WSGR – Hearing James’s unique insight into the legal aspects of investment in Silicon Valley was incredible.
- Lightspeed Ventures – Meeting with the VC’s that backed giants like Giphy and Snapchat was a unique and interesting experience.
- 1 Hacker Way (Facebook Campus) – Lunch with Abesh Thakur who sold his Edinburgh based start-up to the social media giant and is now a product manager at the SV headquarters. His story was as amazing as it sounds! The campus itself is everything you dreamed it was. Free ice-cream shop, video game arcade and people getting from A-B on scooters. It's like Disneyland for business.
- Pivotal – Probably the company that has influenced your day to day life in an immeasurable way and you’ve never heard of them, from the workplace communication platforms, we work on, to our digital banking app. These guys have a hand in everything. Their R&D process was fascinating!
Probably the biggest highlight of the week, however, was the interaction, group learning and shared experience of the cohort of 9 businesses attending. Some lifetime connections were made and each business was able to bring real value, advice or assistance to each other….priceless.
Thank you to:
Ian Arbuckle