BC Business
Danny Robinson, Perch | BCBusiness
BCBusiness had the opportunity to chat with Perch founder and CEO Danny Robinson, who will be delivering the opening remarks to launch the first day of the 2013 GROW Conference. What makes this year’s GROW Conference better or different than last year? It’s much more legitimized than it has been in the past. Now it’s become a serious event that people are moving from “I’m coming up as a favour to Debbie [Landa],” or me or something to now having to be there. That was the goal from the beginning but we knew it would take a few years before it clicked into that. I think this is the first year I’ve been hearing people saying you can’t miss it. And that’s not just people in Canada, we’re talking about some really good speakers who are paying their own way to come up here to visit with some pretty promising entrepreneurs, which is the whole point. It’s exposure for us and allows us to cross-pollinate with everybody who is making things happen. What do you think solidified this year’s conference as being “legitimate?” I’m not sure I can put my finger on it. It just feels like the respect is there now. I mean, it’s always been there as in this is cool and hopefully it lasts. Now it’s one of those things that’s expected and looked forward to. I think that makes it feel to me like a SXSW. We’d like to make it a destination for all entrepreneurs to come by and really develop relationships. That’s why it’s a multi-day conference. What do you hope the business community (particularly in B.C.) takes away from this year’s conference? We want them to think bigger. We want them to see the way that Silicon Valley thinks sometimes, that there’s a more shoot-for-the-moon kind of attitude. We’re conservative on one level, and that’s a good thing, and I think our entrepreneurs have more successes because they have more patience but the successes are smaller. We need a couple of big winners. Obviously HootSuite is doing really well and they’re probably going to be our first big Internet winner in the city. If we can foster more of that attitude, then that’s really what GROW is all about. What are your picks for not-to-miss sessions this year?Josh Elman from Greylock is one of the foremost product guys out there. He just became partner at Greylock. And when product guys become VCs, I think only good things can happen. I’m obviously moderating a panel with four female VCs, and I think that’s a trend there with more female entrepreneurs coming up. That’s a big one not to miss especially if you’re a woman trying to raise money and start a company. Those are the two I’m excited about. Where do you see GROW going from here? Debbie has created a great scalable conference. Whether we grow the conference itself but also the socializing that comes along with it, you can see that doubling and quadrupling it in size without adjusting the format as much.