2014

Creating impact for

startup communities

2014 was another year of tremendous

growth and change for our community 

UP Global expanded again internationally, moved HQ into Startup Hall, renamed the Education Entrepreneurs program, and launched the UP Global visual identity. Amidst all these organizational enhancements—our mission and beliefs have not changed.

One of our core beliefs is that everyone should be able to experience entrepreneurship.

It is by all of us working together that we begin to make this belief a reality. I describe these collective efforts as radical inclusion, a term borrowed from the Burning Man Community. 

It calls for an expansive perspective and attitude that includes all groups who may be underserved, unrecognized, or on the sideline of the global startup movement.

It is through radical inclusion that communities, teams, and entrepreneurship will grow stronger. You will see examples of radical inclusion in the stories we’ve highlighted this year—stories of community leaders and entrepreneurs being supported by their local startup ecosystem regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, politics, disability, religion, or socio-economic standing.

Continued   >

From Marc Nager, Co-Founder & CEO

Marc Nager

Co-Founder & CEO, UP Global

Entrepreneurship helps transcend divisions because it taps an essential human need to create. Our 2014 Impact Report highlights people overcoming their differences to organize and attend events in order to challenge the status quo and solve real problems. This is why participants write things like, “Don’t let the fire of the weekend die.” The demand for experiential programming continues to grow because it unlocks the creative potential within all of us.

Thank you for including UP Global in your 2014, now let’s all set our sights even higher for 2015!

UP Global welcomed

8,000 new community leaders

Into a worldwide family of 16,000

people working to build communities

This powerful family is also driven

by over 275,000 alumni and volunteers

from 600 cities, 120 countries,  

and 6 continents.

In June, 530 community leaders

from 75 countries rallied at the UP Global

Summit in Las Vegas to share their stories

Additional regional  summits occurred in Brasil, Spain, Colombia, and the United States.

Turkish Facilitators Ece Idil Kasap and Emin Okutan kicked off the Startup Weekend in Armenia’s capital of Yerevan. 54 hours later teams pitched in Gyumri. This was the first shared Startup Weekend between countries that have no diplomatic relations. The distance between these two cities is quite small compared to the historic, political, and ethnic divides that mark the region. Yet, on Sunday night six blended teams found themselves united in entrepreneurship and competing to win first prize.

Stories like this historic

Startup Weekend in Turkey/Armenia

Syria’s economy has shrunk between 15%-20% during the last three years of civil war, and is ranked among the most difficult national economies in which to do business. This includes difficulties around important ecosystem ingredients like permits, utilities, property, investment, and personal credit. Additionally, Startup Weekend organizers faced fundamental challenges of safety, electricity, and internet access. All of that did not stop 400 young entrepreneurs from attending the first ever Startup Weekend Damascus. Startup Weekends like these have been a community rallying point across the Arab world for several years. Prior to Damascus, Startup Weekends have been hosted in Ramallah, Amman, Jeddah and Beirut, as well as Cairo, Dubai, and Casablanca, and the first startup weekend in Iran.

Syrian entrepreneurship

thrives against all odds

12 year old Brooke Martin attended a Startup Weekend in Spokane, WA. Her pet care concept won top prize—much to the surprise and delight of the 39 adult participants. Brooke has since been recognized as an entrepreneur in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Women 2.0 and recently appeared on the television show Shark Tank. Her product, iCPooch, is available on Amazon and at Bed Bath & Beyond stores.

Entrepreneur Brook Martin

proves age is a state of mind

Entrepreneurs and community members gathered in Morro da Providencia, the first slum in Brasil to make a difference in daily lives. “Make Your Own Luck” was the emerging theme of the weekend. The top three teams developed ideas directed at health care, youth sports education, and support of local crafts-people through ecommerce. Pedacinho de Mim, an ecommerce bedding products website managed to sell a thousand dollars of merchandise in their first five hours.

Solving grassroots

problems in a Brazilian slum

Startup Weekend Access proved that with a few small tweaks, any event team can encourage a welcoming and collaborative environment for people with disabilities. Todd Bachmann, Cory Klatik, Shashi Jain, Jeff Martens, and the Organizing team pioneered the Access Edition.

Some of the guidelines included:

venue selection access for people with mobility aids

flyers printed in braille

sign-language interpreters for Friday and Sunday nights

microphones with FM transmitting capacity

transcription and large print formatting of presentation decks

Portland Organizers seek

to provide access to all

With the help of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, female participation at Startup Weekend has increased from 17% to 26.5%. This initiative took a broad approach that highlighted successful women entrepreneurs from across the world, facilitating connections within the community, and hosting local Startup Weekend Women’s Edition events.

Our Startup Women initiative

launched to increase startup diversity

Programs continued to flourish in

unique communities around the world

Startup Weekend

now in more countries than Starbucks

80K

Attendees

905

Startup Weekends

501

Cities

135

Countries

*2014 statistics

Startup Digest

connecting people, events, and topics

588K

Subscriptions

503

Curators

28

Reading Lists

321 Active Cities

 

*2014 statistics

Education Entrepreneurs

empowered educators to be entrepreneurs

1000

Educator participants

700

Teams

61

Events

22

Countries

*2014 statistics

Startup Next

helping teams take the next big step

41

Programs

34

Teams in accelerators

$10.38M

Alumni funding raised

85%

Alumni still operating

*2014 statistics

Startup Week

uniting startup communities in celebration

14

Cities

18K

Attendees

700

Volunteers

600

Events

*2014 statistics

2014 was a year

of organizational growth

We opened new offices in Brasil, 

Malaysia, and India

Latam

Brasil

Europe

India

United States

Malaysia

UP Global HQ becomes

founding partner of Startup Hall

The world's largest startup competition returned for it's 5th year! On the weekends of November 15th and 22nd, thousands of entrepreneurs across the globe joined together for two of the most innovative weekends of 2014.

Global Startup Battle

Your City. Your Idea. Your Future.

83

Countries

236

Cities

25K

Participants

321K

Total Votes

This year, United States Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith met with a group of founders from Startup Weekend and Startup Next programs to discuss immigration.

We worked with government leaders

to support and inspire innovation

White Paper: A roadmap

for building community

In partnership with Google, we put together everything the experts know on how best to foster a thriving startup ecosystem. The resulting white paper served as a starting point for action in communities everywhere.

All in our inclusive

efforts to change the world

Supported globally, regionally,

and locally by the world's finest partners

Thanks for being a part of the global family supporting each other and entrepreneurs in 2014.

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