The folks at UP Global are busy this week at a summit in Las Vegas, but that has not kept them from announcing a notable hiring.
Enrique Godreau III was named a senior vice president with the organization, which runs programs to mentor and encourage entrepreneurs to build their ideas into businesses. Godreau will officially start June 30 and will be based in New York to head up business development in the local scene. “Clearly New York is undergoing an entrepreneurial renaissance,” Godreau says. He says UP Global is eager to participate in the care and feeding of entrepreneurship and innovation across the city’s ecosystem.
Seattle-based UP Global—the parent of Startup Weekend, Startup Digest, and Startup Next—was formed from last year’s merger of Startup America and Startup Weekend.
The business of entrepreneurship, Godreau says, tends to follow a certain timeline—at least for the successful efforts. “At the beginning is the idea that comes to you in the shower,” he says. “At the end is the opportunity to press that button at an IPO or have your company acquired.” That can take many years, he says, and UP Global is focused on the earliest stages of that process.
Godreau’s hiring adds a seasoned hand from the entrepreneurship community. He is a partner with Seattle’s 9Mile Labs accelerator, which got its start last year, and he previously co-founded early-stage venture firm Voyager Capital and consulting firm GSharp Ventures. Godreau is also a native of New York.
UP Global says operates in 126 countries and has partnered with other entities such as Google of Entrepreneurs to further its efforts. In recent months, UP Global has expanded to Malaysia and Brazil, Godreau says. At the moment, the organization works in some 500 communities and plans to expand to 1,000 by 2016. Godreau says the UP Global team will need to grow a bit to achieve that goal.
“There’s an opportunity to refine our global strategy and expand our partnership opportunities,” he says. While there is a lot of insight available for running a business, Godreau says, UP Global believes there is a shortage in insight on how to build a business.
The organization already has community managers, who run local programs such as Startup Weekend, in New York and Godreau says that network will expand. UP Global also wants to work more with local foundations, and corporate and government entities. “Our goal is to serve as a facilitator providing education that inspires entrepreneurs to pursue startup careers,” he says.
Godreau says he will spend the next few months in Seattle getting more familiar with the UP Global organization before moving east. “I expect to be in New York early in the fourth quarter of this year,” he says.
