The Global Startup Movement - Startup Ecosystem Leaders, Global Entrepreneurship, and Emerging Market Innovation

Yariv Lotan is the Head of Strategic Sector Development for Startup Nation Central. Start-Up Nation Central is an independent non-profit that builds bridges for Israeli innovation. They connect business, government, and NGO leaders from around the world with Israeli innovation, offering Israeli innovators access to high-potential and previously inaccessible markets, through highly customized business engagements, and through Start-Up Nation Finder – an easy to use, up-to-date, free online platform for discovering and connecting with the thousands of relevant innovators.

Yariv previously headed the primary private-equity investment arm of a major insurance group in Israel where he Invested $100m in private-equity, venture-capital and real-estate.

On this episode you'll learn:

-What sectors are Israel leading and where are their gaps in the ecosystem?

-What countries have been most active in investing in the Israeli ecosystem?

-What are the other ecosystems besides Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that are growing startup hubs in the country?

Brian Park is a startup evangelist, advisor, and angel investor. He is the director for Startup Grind DC and Managing Director at the SparkLabs Cyber+Blockchain (formerly Fishbowl Labs), which is the premiere startup accelerator in the Washington DC area. He was also formerly the global COO of Startup Grind, which is the one of the largest hi-tech startup communities in the world with over 1,000,000 startup entrepreneurs in 600 cities. He has been featured in Forbes as “17 Top Business Gurus to Follow on Snapchat” and other publications such as TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Business Insider, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Politico, and Washington Business Journal.

On this episode you'll learn:

-How did Fishbowl Labs originally get started?

-What similarities do the Cyber and Blockchain industries share?

-Why DC hasn't emerged as a top startup ecosystem on a global scale?

Leland Rice is the co-founder and CEO of Dedalus Global, an investment advisory firm focusing on emerging markets and emerging technologies. Chairment of the African Fintech Summit, is a global initiative to bring the issues, entrepreneurs, and opportunities revolutionizing finance in Africa to the world’s stage. This bi-annual event occurs each April in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF, and each November in a different African city.

On this episode you'll learn:

-How has the African Fintech Landscape evolved in the past year?

-What does Leland think about African startups going to SE Asia or Latin America?

-How is data aggregation creating opportunities for Africa's SMEs?

Toni Eberhart serves as Executive Director for Alabama’s leading non-profit ideation accelerator, Urban Engine. Toni's past achievements focus on economic impact primarily within the Southeast Region of the United States spanning across diverse industries such as medicine, energy infrastructure, higher education, and federal program & policy operations. Toni is known as a distinguished leader in the evolution of robust and dynamic innovation ecosystems, often advocating for burgeoning business & technology communities in the State of Alabama.

On this episode you'll learn:

-What are the advantages and disadvantages of structuring your local innovation hub as a 501c3

-What are Urban Engine's successes for other small town ecosystems to replicate?

-What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Huntsville startup ecosystem

Scott Resnick is a founder and Entrepreneur in Residence of StartingBlock Madison, a 50,000 sq foot entrepreneurial hub opened in 2018. StartingBlock connects startups to corporate partners clustered in the healthcare, manufacturing, insurance and gaming industries, and provides links to mentors and capital partners. Scott is also the cofounder of Hardin Design & Development, a startup focused on full cycle software development and enterprise web creation. He currently is the company's Chief Operating Officer. Headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, he grew the company to an eight figure revenue.

On this episode you'll learn:

-How did the founding team of StartingBlock Madison put the pieces together to secure funding?

-What metrics besides venture capital can be used to gauge a startup ecosystems health?

-What are the biggest strengths of the Madison Startup Ecosystem?