Entrepreneurs—the modern gold rush

I had the pleasure of visiting Nicaragua for a short holiday recently. I loved the scenery, friendly people and, unexpectedly, learning about Nicaragua’s role in the California gold rush. Back in the 1850s Nicaragua was a key route for those dashing to the west coast as it was quicker and cheaper to sail from New York to Nicaragua, cross the country (most of it by boat over Granada Lake) and then go from San Juan del Sur to San Francisco. It was easy to picture rugged men navigating the tropical climate.

Last week I am convinced I saw the modern equivalent. Less rugged, but weary, men in suits—with a gold rush hunger to find something special—were zipping across the globe. At Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress executives were assessing whether their investments in technology start ups (today’s gold) were still cutting edge. In Tyson’s Corner, just outside of DC, the South East Venture Capital (SEVC) community was also assessing the possible gold mines in the form of 50 start ups. My UKTI team was there promoting the UK gold mine that is East London’s Tech City.

The venture capitalists I met at SEVC said the gold they are searching for is actually the entrepreneurs behind the start ups. Their mantra is: Great ideas fail without leadership; good ideas with great leaders have no limits. They were looking for entrepreneurs with the Midas touch.

I met one of the UK’s most admired entrepreneurs last Friday, Ella’s Kitchen founder Paul Lindley. His daughter Ella inspired him to make healthy baby food packaged in a way that excites young children. His passion and leadership has grown the company to the point that every second of every day, someone somewhere around the world is eating an Ella’s product. Our Prime Minister recently made him an Ambassador for entrepreneurship as our government, like most governments, is trying all it can to encourage entrepreneurship and the jobs they quickly create.

This week, SouthBySouthWest in Austin, TX will receive thousands of prospectors hunting for more “modern gold”—entrepreneurs in technology, music and film. They won’t have taken boats across the Pacific or had to avoid erupting Nicaraguan volcanoes, but Twitter feeds tell us the rush is on for “any bed still available” and that “schedules are already jammed.”  I hope they manage to meet some members of the UKTI delegation of companies looking for partnerships and investment—the largest international delegation at SXSW.

Having traced the old gold rush route, and seen a modernised version this week, I can just about picture them in action, their iPads and Blackberrys as their 21st century pans and sluices.