Chit-chat with Startup Cup founder Sean Griffin

He has many identities: serial entrepreneur, startup mentor and visionary – these are probably amongst the most popular ones. He is considered as a pioneer of the global startup movement and is highly admired amongst startup communities for his outside-the-box philosophy. We're talking about Sean Griffin, CEO and Founder of Startup Cup, a global startup-based business model competition. On the occasion of the grand finale of Bangladesh Startup Cup, Sean flew in Dhaka to have a hands-on experience of the local startup culture. During his trip in Bangladesh he talked about his passion, mission and vision with Shahriar Rahman from Next Step. 

Firstly, tell us about Startup Cup. What is it? And how is it operated?

Simply put, Startup Cup is a platform to showcase the business potential of a group. We test and verify a person's knack for entrepreneurship, how proactive they are, how willing they are to take risks. Our mission is to change the course of the world through entrepreneurship. In order to meet our objective we focus on:

1. Developing the quality and quantity of entrepreneurs

2. Developing the quality and quantity of local mentors

3. Supporting  the local entrepreneurial ecosystem

Unlike many other startup incubators, we operate on a global scale. While developing the website of Startup Cup we got to realize that emerging economies of the developing countries have enormous potential. Thus Startup Cup became a global initiative.

Bangladesh Startup Cup just announced its first champion. How was this journey? What's next?

Yes we just had the first Bangladesh Startup Cup champion. The entire competition started last year, where we got 46 teams competing for the title. After the boot camp, 35 teams survived. Then we had the top 12, and ultimately the top three. Each of the top three teams has great business potential.

We plan to launch the second season of Startup Cup in June. We're expecting great ideas for businesses again. We also plan to incorporate more industry veterans with our initiative so that the startups get the best mentoring. I am not going to divulge everything right now. We want to it to be a surprise.

You are a classic 'drop-out' turned Silicon Valley entrepreneur. Did not having a degree ever bother you?

Not really. I am a Silicon Valley serial entrepreneur, that's true. It's also true that many successful entrepreneurs are drop-outs. But it must be also mentioned that many entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley are Ivy League graduates. From my experience, I have found that in order to succeed in life the importance of a degree depends on you. I personally felt my high school degree was delaying my efforts to be an entrepreneur. So I dropped out from high school. I founded my first company at the age of 12. And I never looked back. To be even more honest, I strongly believe that a PhD and MBA means you're lot less likely to be a successful entrepreneur – because creativity has been 'taught' out of you, and you've been taught judgment and fear and less risk-taking.

There are many startups in Bangladesh right now. What would be your advice for them?

Well there are several traits we found common in successful startups. Some of them are really interesting. For example, successful entrepreneurs are able to properly articulate the challenges in a particular industry. So they are also more open to discuss and coach fellow startups. We also found that successful entrepreneurs are doers, rather than planners. They are focused on aggressive yet innovative marketing. Hence they are able to secure customers and generate revenue in a very short span of time.  Successful entrepreneurs are great team leaders and team builders. I think if you possess these qualities, you are bound to succeed in the long run.

Shahriar Rahman is Sub-editor and Feature Writer at Bytes, and Head of Operations at HiFi public