GEN Starters Club is a community of talented founders leading promising startups with access to training, support and a massive network of experienced entrepreneurs and mentors to help them scale no matter where they are in the world. Run by the Global Entrepreneurship Network, the club consists of members from every continent – all sourced from GEN programs and connected through a virtual platform with real-time access to knowledge and learning experiences.
It is commonly said that angel investors and venture capitalists don’t invest in startups, they invest in people – talented founders and founder teams. Likewise, GEN has observed that founders learn, not in classrooms, but on-demand and from their peers as they are practiced in the art of “building the plane while they fly it.” Founders need knowledge, capital and, most importantly, connections – including to each other.
GEN identifies prospective members through its Entrepreneurship World Cup, Startup Huddle and other programs that it runs directly for entrepreneurs. Those selected for inclusion in the club gain access to a screened community of peers as well as a massive network that starts in their ecosystem and stretches around the world.
GEN Starters Club empowers members by providing them with free training and mentorship through regular sessions with experts on stage-specific topics including: Startup Fundamentals; Digital Marketing; Equity + Finance; Data, Conversion + Metrics, Principles of Growth + Scale and more. They also gain additional visibility and access to support through curated networking opportunities at special events including the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, a gathering where thousands of startup champions and entrepreneurial support organizations share ideas and experiences while opening doors to new opportunities.
In exchange, GEN Starters serve as ambassadors in their own communities and countries – their voices and experiences helping shape the spectrum of GEN programs and extending the opportunity to engage and benefit to other founders around them.
The Global Entrepreneurship Network operates programs, like GEN Starters Club, that make it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a company. GEN divides its programs into four distinct categories: those that celebrate entrepreneurs and inspire others to follow in their footsteps; those intended to better understand the underlying conditions that best enable entrepreneurs to thrive; those that support entrepreneurs through proven policy and programmatic interventions; and those that connect entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders and community leaders to strengthen local ecosystems around the world.