YTILI in Austin— a learning experience
For as long as I can remember I have admired the American entrepreneurial spirit, the apparent ease with which Americans pursue their ambitions, the way they embrace risk as a motivator, instead of fearing it, and, of course, the sometimes unbelievable success that all of this breeds. It has, without a doubt, influenced my life and the decisions that have led me start Prior.
That is why I did not hesitate to apply to become a fellow when I found out about the Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative (YTILI), a US Department of State program, implemented by the German Marshal Fund of the United States (GMF), that aims to develop and strengthen transatlantic relationships between European and American entrepreneurs. Being selected has been both an honour and a great opportunity for me to get a first-hand experience of the American entrepreneurial ecosystem and, looking back, I think I could have hardly asked for a better city than Austin for my two weeks stay in the US this past September.
Austin exceeded even my highest expectations, raised to almost impossible levels by all the things I had learned about it before my arrival. With its cultural background, its friendly people and its great food, it is truly a city to enjoy. Add to that the vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem and you might start to understand why it has become one of the best cities for startups, providing strong competition for Silicon Valley and New York.
Get Andu Fratu’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
As an entrepreneur in Austin you have all the resources you need at your disposal. Great places to work and meet fellow entrepreneurs, like Capital Factory and Impact Hub, meetups, pitching and networking events and, probably most important, amazing people that do amazing work and are always happy to help one another and to mentor the less experienced ones.
And therein lies what I think is one great secret ingredient that makes Austin a unique place for startups and entrepreneurs. It is the people that will dedicate their time to sharing their story with you, to talking you through your marketing strategy and helping you improve it, to listening to you and asking the kind of questions that breed new ideas and open new perspectives. It is the well established and widely accepted fact that you make your own success, but the only way forward is to pay it forward and help others succeed too.
The story of my time in Austin, in particular, and the YTILI program, in general, would not be complete, though, without mentioning the amazing people that have been my fellows, young leaders and innovators from all over Europe, working on great projects, each with its own unique story, coming together for this excellent opportunity to learn from each other and from our American hosts, and, of course, GMF and its staff, who painstakingly organized every little detail of the trip to ensure we made the most out of it.
It has been, without a doubt, one of the most enriching and inspiring experiences in my life and it has left a long lasting mark on the way I think about entrepreneurship, innovation and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur and leader. I can only hope that I can rise up to the challenge and follow into the footsteps of the amazing people I have met and make my contribution to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain, while building the best solutions to the problems I am working to solve. And I encourage everyone to do the same and maybe apply for next year, you stand only to win from it.
