Last week I was invited by the Georgian Government to judge in the country's first startup competition held at Tech Park Georgia,Tbilisi together with other investors and executives mainly from Silicon Valley. Since Georgia is known for its great mountains and fantastic outdoors, I decide to check out the mountain bike trails prior to the official event. More about my biking adventures here.
I must confess that I didn't have very high expectations regarding the startup ecosystem in Georgia prior to my trip. Fortunately I was proven wrong.
The California of the Caucasus
Georgia has been described as the California of the Caucasus and it is not difficult to see why. The country has an 8000 year of tradition of wine making, is a culinary party zone surrounded by amazing green lush mountains. It also has the world best natural mineral water that you can sip off a cliff (believe me, I've tried it).
The first evening we were invited to a traditional "supra" hosted by Deputy Minister, Ketevan Bochorishvili, A Supra (means "table cloth") is a traditional Georgian feast led by a tamida, a toast master, who introduces each toast during the feast. We toasted for Georgia, friendship, God, startups, women, men, you name it. Thank G-d I was made in Sweden, so I could handle it. Such a wonderful tradition but not for the faint hearted.
The Government of Georgia as a Model Government
During the dinner I learned some amazing facts about some of the works of the government of Georgia. This government is run by relatively young, energetic professionals with a can-do-attitude that basically runs the country like entrepreneurs would run a startup (with the focus of getting things done).
Most government buildings are glass structures in order to radiate transparency. This includes all police stations as well. You can receive a passport in 15 minutes via a drive-through service and many public service building are build as a one-shop-stop in order to fast and efficient service the public. And perhaps the most amazing thing, in order to fight police corruption, the whole police force was fired , numbering 30,000 police officers in one day and replaced them by new recruits in 2005.
In many ways, Georgia is a model for how a government should operate: like entrepreneurs, fast, efficient and most importantly focused on serving its people. Many governments around the world could learn a lot from Georgia.
Tech Park Georgia
Tech Park Georgia is an amazingly designed modern building, sort of Finish design meets Georgia located in a lush forrest overlooking Tbilisi. The place hosts several labs with state of the art 3D printers, laser cutters and any kind of prototyping tools you can think of.
Georgia Tech Park operates under Georgia's Technology and Innovation Agency (GITA) run by Irakli Kashibadze with help from the amazing Mariam Lashkhi, Avandil Kashradze and team. Together, they had selected 50 startups to participate in the competition. We had to pick 20 winners . The startups covered areas like Robotics, AI, Biotech, Fintech, Healthcare, Edtech and IoT.
The startups had been intensively mentored two weeks prior to the event by a group of Silicon Valley veterans lead my good friend Mark Iwanowsky (former CIO of Oracle) who ran the show.I really enjoyed seeing the passion and energy of the Georgian entrepreneurs. I was positively surprised by the creativity and the pitches. The reward of getting out of your own comfort zone and connect with other entrepreneurs around the world is something I can never get enough of.
The Results
Two days and fifty pitches later, we had the difficult task of picking the 20 winners. It wasn't easy and at the end of the day, we all felt that all the startups were winners. They all deserved the honor and ongoing support for their efforts. However, after a long discussion we managed to select on our picks.
Award Ceremony
The two days intensive event culminated in a speech by Prime Minister, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, followed by a very emotional award ceremony. I must say that I've never before witnessed such an emotional award ceremony. The excitement from all the entrepreneurs after each "winner" even by those that weren't selected was really touching. You could feel their happiness for each other and not one single eye in the audience was left dry. Try to find that in Silicon Valley...
Shortly after the award ceremony, we, the judges, had a private meeting with Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, and Vice Prime Minister, Dimitry Kumsishvili, It was clear that they really want to make Georgia a haven for entrepreneurs and a genuinely interested in how they can become better. The Prime Minister, listed carefully to our advice and ensured that this was just the beginning and that he would do whatever is needed in order to turn Georgia into a successful startup hub.
The Wrap
I found a very warm, hospitable and passionate people serious about making difference, improving Georgia and putting Georgia on the map. The passion, talent and its entrepreneural government has all the necessary components to make a dent in the world.
Finally, I am really grateful to Mark Iwanowsky and GITA for inviting me to Georgia and experience this beautiful country and its people. I am pretty sure that with these leaders, Georgia is on the right path.
Sourse: netjacobsson.com