New Sharing Wisdom From the Startup Summit at NC State!

We just concluded the Startup Summit Conference at North Carolina State University. It was an exciting day of over 20+ speakers with over 200+ people in attendance. A great interactive and educational conference featuring keynotes and panelists from top entrepreneurs, innovators, and executives here in Research Triangle Park.

The conference provided a great opportunity to meet people in the startup, venture, and tech world with crash courses taught by experts on important topics faced throughout the startup journey. Plus, during breaks the conference featured the "Consulting Corner" with a team of pros in various areas including sales, hiring, marketing, business intelligence, and funding offering 1v1 advice. The Startup Summit educated, inspired, and connected hundreds of startup minded people and founders from all over the region. A great day to learn and apply key insights needed to be successful.

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A huge special thanks to all the speakers for their time and sharing great advice. You can see all the kind speakers who contributed and made this conference possible along with the super sponsors here: http://startupsummitnc.com/schedule/ Enclosed are some wisdom points shared throughout the day from our keynotes David Gardner, Donald Thompson, and Jason Williamson to recap for you some key learnings:

• (Thanks to David Gardner from Cofounders Capital) Innovation will ultimately disrupt every industry and every company, 52% of all S&P 500 Top Companies over the last 61 years have gone away. Why? These bigger corporations have been beat out and taken over by new fast moving startups that emerged with new innovations that disrupted their business. Corporate leaders today must stay systematically involved with early stage innovation if they are to survive. Keep plugged in with startups and entrepreneurs with conversations and partnerships...
• Three examples of companies that missed out:

1. President of Western Union when given the opportunity to meet with and perhaps buy the patent rights to Alexanders Graham Bell’s telephone technology…“What use could we have for this electric toy?”
2. CEO of 20th Century Fox discussing the dominance of the movie theater in 1964 “Television won’t hold onto any market…people aren’t going to sit and stare into a plywood box every night.”
3. CEO of Blockbuster Video in 2008 when asked about steaming video services… “Netflix is not even on our radar in terms of competition”

• What hinders corporate innovation? 1)Belief that solutions are permanent. 2)Must be invented here syndrome. 3) Preference to build rather than to buy or partner. 4) Arrogance that innovation won’t profoundly affect the corporate business
• No Company Escapes the Wheel of Innovation. Corporate Rule of innovation: The thing that made you successful in the past is almost certainly not to be the thing that will make you successful in the future.
• Characteristics of high-performing corporations: 1)Formalized persistent innovation initiatives. 2) CEO is personally involved in leading innovation initiatives. 3)Regular access to and interactions with early stage companies 4)Twice as likely to partner and buy than to build internally 5)Failure in the pursuit of innovation is not punished but actually rewarded..
• The best way to predict the future is to help create it. Be a part of the inevitable disruption rather than under its wheel.

(Thanks to Donald Thompson from Walk West)

• Keys To Creating a Diverse and Inclusive Culture: 1)Recruit for talent and for different perspectives and alternative points of view. 2)The best idea wins. 3)Get diversity of thought by giving people a way to be a part of the conversation
• Diversity and Inclusion:

*“Diversity is about more than simply checking a box. It is about creating authentic opportunities for inclusion.”
*“Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”

• Good quotes and visuals (Thanks to Jason Williamson from Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem)

Good quotes and visuals (Thanks to Jason Williamson from Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem)Good quotes and visuals (Thanks to Jason Williamson from Oracle Global Startup Ecosystem)

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​​Overall a great conference thanks to the speakers, sponsors, experts, and NC State for hosting. A Big Thank you to Mark Bavisotto, Brooke Nivens, and Kristin Gabriele from the Startup Summit NC team to help make this conference come alive!