The importance of a strong startup community, guest post by Turing Fest CEO Brian Corcoran

Next week, on November 28th, the Turing Fest team will stage the second annual Scottish Tech Startups Awards in Edinburgh. After recently unveiling the finalists for the awards, it is clear that in 2019 we’re seeing a continuation of an encouraging trend in Scotland’s technology economy: Scottish founders and their teams are building ever stronger and more ambitious businesses that can generate huge economic impact.

There are many awards ceremonies on the business calendar, but this is the only one by and for the startup community; for the people who dream of building the next Skyscanner or FreeAgent. Like Turing Fest, the Startup Awards are an investment in developing a community that will benefit all of us, and we’re expecting over 600 people on the evening of the 28th at The Jam House.  

Tech ecosystems are collective organisms that are in effect startups themselves, where the strength of the community is a key determinant of success. It takes time and effort to cultivate, but a strong startup community can better attract and retain skilled people and new capital, develop a self-perpetuating skills funnel, and nurture entrepreneurial ‘folk wisdom’. Everyone in Scottish tech will benefit from investing in and nurturing the national startup community.

Since coming to Scotland to build my first software startup in 2010, I’ve watched Scotland’s tech economy grow in leaps and bounds. There is still much to do if we are to truly become a global tech hub, but we’re beginning to see more Scottish businesses reach the milestones that create a virtuous circle: talent and capital returning to the ecosystem to launch new ventures. Ambition has skyrocketed and learning cycles are shortening.

It’s increasingly clear that technology will be at the heart of the future of the Scottish economy. There is much work to be done — attracting and retaining technical and leadership talent in Scotland, ensuring access to the right types of investors, better connecting with other ecosystems, and further building our collective understanding of how to scale. This will enable Scotland’s technology sector to fulfil its promise and drive growth in the broader economy.  

Since last year’s awards, we have seen Scotland’s tech ecosystem continue to mature. Tech leaders and people with hard-won experience scaling have left later-stage tech companies like Skyscanner, FanDuel and FreeAgent to join earlier-stage tech companies like Care Sourcer, Current Health, Airts and TravelNest.  The currency of our fintech sector has risen, healthtech is in great shape and mobile technology is moving fast.    

American entrepreneur and venture capitalist Brad Feld developed the ‘Boulder Thesis’ — named after the tech community he helped forge in Boulder, Colorado, that in spite of a small population has become one of the leading startup hubs in the US. Essentially, the Boulder Thesis illustrates how tech success can be built far from Silicon Valley.  

Feld emphasises the roles of ‘leaders’ and ‘feeders’. Crucially, leaders must be entrepreneurs — who demonstrate long-term commitment, remain actively involved and put the ecosystem ahead of short-term interest. Our own leaders in Scotland are people like Gareth Williams, Mark Logan and Carolyn Jameson — all from Skyscanner alone. 

‘Feeders’ are all of the other actors in the ecosystem that, though not company builders, nonetheless play a significant role: government, universities, investors, mentors, incubators, accelerators, service providers and corporates. Again, we have some of these building blocks — the University of Edinburgh’s School of Informatics, CodeBase, CodeClan and Silicon Valley Bank, among others. The core philosophy of the Boulder Thesis centres on giving before you receive and thinking about network above hierarchy.

Chris McCann, founder of one of last year’s award-winning startups, Current Health spells it out like this: “Everyone in the tech community who can should be at the Awards; it is really the only night of the year when we can all come together to celebrate the whole ecosystem.” The more the merrier!  

An edited version of this article appeared in The Scotsman on Monday 18th November