Czech devoted to building an ecosystem for startups

Jan Smejkal

Email of the writer: 654789759@qq.com

When Jan Smejkal, now 26, came from the Czech Republic to study at Peking University HSBC Business School in Shenzhen three years ago, he didn’t know anybody. “I went somewhere to meet people every single day when I didn’t have classes or at least three times a week, be it a Chinese corner, networking events, or some meetups for expats,” said Smejkal.

One day, Smejkal stumbled upon Startup Grind, a global startup community powered by Google for Entrepreneurs and designed to educate, inspire and connect entrepreneurs. The community hosts monthly events in more than 300 cities in 115 countries featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons they’ve learned as they built up companies.

“It’s entrepreneurial and amazing. They offered me an opportunity to join them as a team member and a volunteer,” recalled Smejkal, who is now the organization’s Asia & Pacific community director.

Smejkal said that Startup Grind is called “TED for startups” due to its similar model of inviting speakers to present their ideas. What distinguishes Startup Grind from TED is that speakers do not deliver a speech. “We interview them. We don’t want them to just prepare a speech and deliver it. We want the interaction,” said Smejkal.

For Smejkal, the most important thing is building a comprehensive ecosystem for startups. “The event is nice. My mission for Startup Grind around the world, and especially in China, in Asia, is that we actually have those active people who are hosting events, they are very well-connected within the whole ecosystem. And if somebody comes, they can help. It’s not about charging money or selling services. It’s about the grassroots community.”

One of the events that Smejkal found unforgettable was inviting Gary Vaynerchuk, an entrepreneur, author, speaker and Internet personality, who is best known for his work in digital marketing and social media.

“He is basically my idol. He is building an agency for social media. He is helping people to advertise online,” said Smejkal excitedly.

Vaynerchuk was going to Hong Kong for another conference at that time, and Smejkal managed to get in touch with his team through a friend. “We started to talk about it. Although it was very hard, we managed to get him. It took me six months to figure out the right timing, the right value and communicating with his team.”

Smejkal wants to set up a company for Startup Grind in order to scale up and hold big conferences.