Startup culture is a basic response to rapidly increasing social and economic disparity in the global economy. In a win-lose system, you are going to try your hardest to win. Startups do this by getting venture funding, working in small ‘agile’ groups, ‘growth hacking’, and constantly trying to improve upon the way they run their business.
In short, startup people care deeply about methodology. There is a process to finding success, they believe, and it requires deep and constant analysis. Those who work within this philosophy dogmatically believe in the scientific method for success in business. Actually, they believe in it for success in almost all things, even urban planning.
I have emerged out of university and into an arena where research methodology is exercised and discussed. Key performance indicators, statistical analysis, numbers, success metrics – startups live and die by these terms.
This philosophy birthed WeAreYVR. How can we improve the state of startups in the city (of Vancouver, Canada) if we don’t have metrics to measure? No one knows how many startups there are in the city. No one knows how many jobs are available. Every statement about digital startups in BC is based on conjecture.
WeAreYVR is meant to improve upon this. Together with Startup Genome and a number of other international databases, we are building an open data, synchronized database of startups in Vancouver. Because we like to measure things.
Helpful Links:
- Twitter for WeAreYVR
- Denim and Steel’s case study on the design work
- The founder of WeAreYVR, Boris Mann
Claire Atkin 