A party and you are invited ??

A party and you are invited. That's Silicon Valley to me.

I am reflecting on a fantastic week and learning journey together with deb. in the Valley, meeting with companies, investors, board professionals, and educators like 英伟达 , Snowflake , DNX Ventures , Katarina G Bonde , Donna Hamlin , Andreessen Horowitz , 美国斯坦福大学 , and Startup Grind .

So, what did people chat about at the party? Generative AI. But here, generative AI is not a buzzword; it's in the making and present in every discussion.

But something else sticks with me upon reflection. Of course, I knew that the Valley was special for startups, but I could not imagine how special it was.

What truly stands out in the Valley is the culture of inclusiveness and dedication to building companies that scale. This culture extends from educators to entrepreneurs, creating a holistic ecosystem that fosters growth and scalability.

Everyone is here to build something big.

The sky is not the limit.

It's the ??.

The entrepreneur is the spotlight

This collective ambition of building and scaling fuels the innovation and growth the Valley is renowned for, and it's all around me.

I can touch the drive to build, and the Valley is the first place I visited where billboard ads target entrepreneurs. The entrepreneur is the spotlight ??

Build like Silicon Valley

But how does one build like a Silicon Valley startup?

I was fortunate to tap into the ecosystem and some of the world's most renowned investors, thought leaders, and companies to gather a list of the mantras/how-to.

Here are some takeaways on the "magic sauce" in the Valley behind some of the world shapers:

1. Share Ideas openly: Share your idea on a 10,000-foot level

2. Network generously: Make introductions freely, without expecting anything in return

3. Democratize innovation: Remember, anyone could have the next groundbreaking idea

4. Align people: You are somebody if you can bring people together

5. Empower from below: A bottom-up approach to innovation

6. Navigate obstacles: Trees on the path, go around

7. Use data for consensus: Bring people together on facts rather than gut feeling

8. Build with speed: Critical in turning ideas into reality

9. Clarify direction continually: Keep asking and defining where you're headed

10. Practice humble bragging

And the list is growing... with you all adding to it:

11. Do not stop while making your idea a new reality: Stop only when you succeed by a life-changing positive exit or fail and then take a break to recover; then, go after something new again.

Anyone can have the next idea. It doesn't matter what color you are — black, yellow, or purple. If you can get people with you, you're somebody. - Eva Nahari , DNX Ventures .

Taking the Valley to Sweden

If I was dedicated before now I feel even more urged to build leading impact companies (more on that in Impact Loop later) after my visit to the Valley.

With its spirit and a new toolbox ?? that I will embrace in Sweden ???? (zooming in on aligning people and using data for consensus to name some).

Thank you deb. ?? for organizing this fantastic learning journey, Hanna Moisander , Sara Almgren , Emelie Meurk Demerud , Elsa Hyland , and all fellow participants and new friends for all our chats and laughs Camilla Wallin , Johanna Schottenius , Patrice Lusth , Moa Tyborn , Suvi Uski , Anton Hellkvist , Lotten Skeppstedt Lena Dyfverman Ekaterina Garbaruk Monnot Irina Ionova Felicia Nordg?rd Beata Enwall Fati Hakim Vincent Weir and Melina H?gglund Juselius .

And last but not least, a heartfelt thank you ?? to every one of you whom we met for dedicating your time and effort to meet, contributing with your knowledge and passion, and making my learning journey to the Valley truly memorable:

Denise Persson (Snowflake) Eva Nahari (DNX Ventures) Chander S Chawla Donna Hamlin Katarina G Bonde Elise Brownell, PhD Dr. Annika Steiber Rikard Steiber (GoodTrust) Vanessa Ching (NVIDIA) Nola Masterson Viveka Rydell-Anderson JD, MSc Zeljka Lemaster (Ericsson) Anna Lekvall Andreas Netz (Vinnova) Leonard Lee (500 Global) Sandy Sandhu (Business Sweden) Jessica Alba, TDM-CP (Stanford University) Olivia Gorajewski Andreas Klintberg (Meltwater) Norah Klintberg Sakal ?