Scotland Can Do Tech.

The strength of the line up at this year’s annual Turing Festival in Edinburgh shows the Scottish startup ecosystem has really come of age. Let me explain why I think it’s so important to be there this year. 

I remember coming back from a week long event at MIT in Boston. As part of that trip, we got to spend some time in the startup scene there, which beyond MIT, included Dog Patch Labs and Tech Stars. The energy and community that we experienced was both inspiring and contagious. Shortly after coming home, circumstances aligned to bring Edinburgh startups together with a physical space, and help form what eventually became the CodeBase tech hub. 

I’ve had the pleasure of being a part of that community now from early 2012, and I strongly believe it’s been a significant part of the growth and success of Float and many other startups over the past 5 years. 

Combating Tall Poppy Syndrome

Edinburgh was fortunate not only to have companies on an international stage like Skyscanner and FanDuel but also have the backing of Scottish Enterprise to bring great teachers like Bill Aulet and Noam Wasserman to Scotland and bring some of the “can do” mindset.

For me, being in Boston and surrounded by great minds and entrepreneurs on their 3rd or 4th startup, I realised there isn’t any secret sauce here, we have all the resources, support and talent we need to compete on the world stage in Scotland. Organisations like Entrepreneurial Scotland are already helping to build an incredible entrepreneurial community that believes that a rising tide lifts all boats, and fosters a desire for others' success.

One thing that was a catalyst was to travel to Silicon Valley in 2009 and get to hear and meet some of my startup heroes speaking at Startup School by Y-combinator. As part of that trip, I got to visit Dropbox’s office which wasn’t much bigger than our office today, and attend a party at Airbnb which I’d barely heard of back then. What happens is, you realise that while there is a unique history and heritage of Silicon Valley, these people are human and there isn’t that big a gulf between them and you. 

Turing Festival 2017

The Turing Festival that’s happening next month (2/3 August) has such an impressive line up this year. So much so, that we’ve decided to bring our whole team over the two days. Not only is this good for us to learn together and provide talking points for weeks to come, it’s what it does for the mindset. The bar is raised when you hear people speaking passionately about their work. It can reignite something that might have been buried, remind you of the reason you’re doing the work you do, and inspire you to do it better. And maybe one day share the learning with others on the same platform. 

I’ve just had this play out for me last week, by travelling to Berlin with a group of other founders and business leaders as part of FutureX and the Tech Open Air festival (Nick Freer did a good write up in the Scotsman). I think that Turing has the potential to become as big, and it’s awesome that we don’t need flights or accommodation to be a part of it!

So, if you’re in the startup world and interested in product, engineering, marketing or strategy, and you’re *not* planning to go to the Turing Festival you might well be missing one of the best opportunities in Europe this year to be inspired. Don’t just show up - bring your whole team, I can almost guarantee a great return on the investment. 

Turing Festival runs from 2nd to 3rd of August in the EICC