News • 23 Mars 2020
Earlier this year, our colleague Maaz Ullah Arshad had the unique opportunity to be part of a delegation to attend the Startup Grind Conference – a global conference powered by Google for Startups. DevPort is proud to have sponsored his trip!
Happy participants in the California sun.
Around 10,000 people from around the globe converged in Silicon Valley for 2-days of nonstop education, inspiration, and invaluable networking. During this trip, the delegation also visited Google, Amazon, Facebook and World Economic Forum to learn about how the leaders in these organizations strive to create an atmospere that fosters innovation as well as how they approach diversity & inclusion through an embedded perspective with a glocal approach.
Throughout the two day conference, Maaz gained invaluable knowledge and experience regarding how companies can create a culture where taking risks is encouraged such that employees learn how to fail fast and learn fast. Building such a culture leads to impressive innovation capabilities for individuals and for the organization as a whole.
Where startups are the rule
Maaz also found that in a place like Silicon Valley, the culture is heavily set around building a startup almost as if it were a norm. If people hadn’t already started a company, they would talk about starting one in the future as an inevitability. Moreover people were unafraid to share their knowledge and experiences even if it meant talking about their failures – they did so very openly and candidly.
Maaz Ullah Arshad.
The importance of balance for a prosperous life
The conference also had a lot of discussions around maintaining a sustainable work-life balance and how to care about one’s mental health even in the pursuit of building a startup; such tools can prove useful for every individual, whether in a startup or large corporate environment.
Lecture with Maaz
We look very much forward to Maaz’s talk where he will share more about his experiences from this learning journey across Silicon Valley!