William Falcon’s Post

Day 3 Startupfest A few takeaways You are never too young or too old to start. No matter what you do you gotta learn to sell. There is no room for big egos at a startup.

Long Term Wins. It's one of our core values here at Rotessa. It comes up in almost every planning meeting as a reminder that we shouldn't take shortcuts. It can be infuriating at times when you just want to move quickly, or get to the next thing. But in the SaaS world, when you're constantly scaling, bandaids never last long. Shortcuts often become detours. It's pretty different from the usual scale or die mentality of the startup world. But most startups never make it past year 5. Rotessa is wrapping up our 13th year. Here's to 13 more.

One of my top rules to live by at a startup: momentum creates more momentum. When you get it going do whatever it takes to keep it going…. …cause if it goes away, it takes a whole lot more effort to get that momentum back than it does to keep it going. 

A week ago today we did something big – something that changes the way we see ourselves, and how others see us. Comms specialists from the Latvian startup ecosystem came together to define a new narrative – one to replace the common phrases that we have inadvertently internalized and repeat, but which don’t leave a good impression about the perspective of the country, and which undermine our success (not to mention ones that can be easily refuted with facts). You know the ones. Instead, we’re replacing them with phrases that we know to be true: - we have incredible startup policies - we have an unusual amount of talented people - we are successful, we just don’t like to shout about it. Over a multiple-hour workshop, this new narrative (read the full narrative in the Labs of Latvia article) was refined and honed by the startup community. It was important that this comes from the community, rather than some higher-up government institution, or some foreign branding specialist. And yes, that meant embracing concepts that speak to the Latvian character. We are “normāli”, we are “small”. And you know? These terms hold a lot of potential in them. I’d be happy to talk to anybody interested and go deeper into each meticulously chosen word in the narrative. Many thanks to everyone who participated: Latvian Startup Association Startin.LV, Latvian Startup Awards, Olga Barreto Goncalves, Nikola Matjusenko, Katrina Krievane, Karlis Skuja, Jānis Palkavnieks, Kristine Tarvida ⚡️, Ieva Treija, Anda Asere, Lelde Beņķe-Lungeviča, Aiva Streļča, Maija Milbrete, Mara Perkuma-Maslakova, Jānis Jēkabsons, Elina Lidere, Raimonds Jurgelis, Biruta Elīza Kirmuška, Andris Rubins, Anete Kiseļeva.

Not entirely sure what I’ve let myself in for but: 1. Techstars do startup well 2. In weekend workshops, you get a different mindset 3. Always exciting to help founders to get their idea, service or product climb further up the startup mountain Techstars Startup Weekend Techstars Techstars Tech Central Sydney Accelerator

❓What do the companies on Matchstiq.io's top 100 list have in common❓ They have all been selected by a panel of NZ's startup ecosystem heavy-hitters as high-growth kiwi businesses that are solving ambitious problems and are considered excellent companies to work for. Not to mention most are Orchestra customers 😉 There are some impressive names in there, so I am thrilled that Orchestra.io features in this years list!

A must Read "We built a startup within a startup, “by accident” by Jay Thakrar 🚀 Excited to share an amazing journey at Langtrace.ai! 🎉 We accidentally built a startup within a startup! Originally a tool for internal use, Langtrace evolved into a vital platform for LLM application observability and evaluations. We've addressed key pain points for developers, ensuring trust and visibility in LLM performance. Our SDKs have been downloaded over 460K times in just three months, helping 300+ developers enhance their LLM-powered applications. 🌟 Read the full story and learn how we did it here: [Langtrace Blog](https://lnkd.in/gA7x-mac)

📘 This is the blueprint for the ideal LLM observability tech stack! Learn how we "accidentally" built Langtrace, and transformed observability in our LLM application development. #LLM #Observability #AI #TechStack #Opensource

Failing a startup has a ton of advantages: - You learn a lot about building a SaaS - You produce artifacts that you can reuse - You create a network of founders and makers All things that will help your second (or third, or fourth) startup succeed. Get going! 2024 is the perfect year to start failing some startups 💪

Check out the vlog by my friend Sun Knudsen where we had a blast at Startupfest. Watch closely at 4:45 to see me, and make sure to watch until the end to see all the winners! 🎥 🌟 the winner of the Startupfest Student Entrepreneur $50k Prize: Xatoms represented by their CEO Diana Virgovicova from University of Toronto and their COO Shirley Zhong from Western University.🎉 This deep tech startup is revolutionizing water purification by discovering new materials with quantum chemistry and AI. Xatoms didn’t just win one prize... they secured not one, not two, but THREE major prizes at this year’s festival: 🔹 Best of the Fest Prize - $100,000 investment in the form of a convertible note. 🔹 Women in Tech Investment Prize - $100,000 investment from The Firehood’s angel investors. 🔹 Front Row Ventures Student Entrepreneur Prize - $50,000 investment for startups with university co-founders. Additionally, the BDC has offered to match Xatoms’ winnings, potentially bringing their total prize money from Startupfest to an incredible $500,000. 💸 Join me in congratulating Xatoms and all the winners at Startupfest! 🌍💧🚀