Startup Grind, an event series designed to help entrepreneurs, has launched a Halifax chapter and will hold its first gathering tomorrow with a livestream by famed tech evangelist and author Guy Kawasaki.
The Halifax group is being led by Oleg Yefymov, a former Israeli venture capital fund manager who moved to Halifax last year. He is now working on his own startup Yomes, a feedback service for tenants and landlords.
Backed by Google for Entrepreneurs, Startup Grind is a global network active in almost 200 cities that aims to link and educate entrepreneurs. It generally features a meeting with a speaker about once a month, some in person and some by video link.
“A month ago I flew to San Francisco to attend Startup Grind's global event and I realized even more what power this community has and how it can benefit Atlantic Canada,” said Yefymov on Monday. “They are very well connected to the legends of the venture capital world, which means that all Startup Grind members in the Halifax chapter will have access to this vast worldwide network in almost 200 cities.”
He added that Google has just extended its contract with Startup Grind for three more years, and that could mean a lot to Halifax, where Google does not have a strong presence.
Yefymov first learned about the power of Startup Grind at Tel Aviv chapter, and he found there was a tremendous spirit of people helping each other.
The first event for Startup Grind Halifax, to be held at 2 pm Wednesday at Volta, will feature a livestream by Guy Kawasaki, who is now marketing his book The Art of the Start 2.0. He is also the author or co-author of such books as The Art of Social Media and APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur.
Yefymov said events such as the Kawasaki livestream will be free. There will also be more formal events with food and networking, and there will be a small charge. The first of these events will be a talk by East Valley Ventures Co-Founder Gerry Pond on March 25 at 6 pm.
“The goal is to interview 10 incredible and inspiring people a year,” said Yefymov. “We are now trying to get one of the top entrepreneurs from Israel.”
He is also working with the Toronto chapter to co-organize an event in Halifax in the summer and bring some Toronto VCs to the city.
Yefymov started his career in Israel, where funded and founded several companies. He owns a digital agency serving clients like the Israeli government, advertising agencies and startups. He also took an active part in founding Tel Aviv University's Entrepreneurship Center.
Disclaimer: Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support startup companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies and individuals are featured in this column, nor do they review columns before they are published.
