At the recent TiEcon 2024 conference, the TiE Board of Trustees
discussed its ambitious short- and long-term goals, including how TiE — the world’s largest nonprofit focused on fostering entrepreneurship through mentorship, networking, education and funding access — can continue to be the North Star for entrepreneurs.
The annual conference in Santa Clara, Calif., organized by TiE Silicon Valley, brings together a global audience of industry leaders, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs to explore the cutting edge of innovation and foster connections that drive future progress.
Founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley, TiE has grown into a global network of 61 chapters (with over 15,000 members), impacting millions of entrepreneurs directly and indirectly. The organization boasts a long track record of supporting startups, with many of its charter members and mentees going on to build billion-dollar companies. As per an independent KPMG report published in 2022, TiE’s impact in the entrepreneur ecosystem over the last 32 years has been quantified as $1 trillion in value globally.
TiEcon is always a valuable resource for entrepreneurs, capped by one fact: The success stories of startups that have benefited from TiE’s mentorship programs never cease to amaze. (For more Avasant coverage of TiEcon 2024, see, ESG Experts Call Out Lack of Meaningful Progress and Decentralized AI in Healthcare: Preparing for ‘GOD AI’ and Its Agents.)
The Board of Trustees discussed many goals, starting with its vision statement: “Our vision is to be the global platform that shapes the future of entrepreneurship by fostering innovation and creating value with the goal of building a world that is equitable, sustainable, and inclusive.”
Other top priorities for the board include the following:
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- Being the “voice of the entrepreneur” across its many chapters
- Building on TiE’s core purposes: mentoring, network access and funding for entrepreneurs
- Standardizing success metrics and measuring the impact of programs around the SDG goals
- Building corporate sponsorships and endowments for purposeful and sustained growth
- Collaborative leadership that builds a long-term strategy with continuity at the core
- Futureproofing TiE for the next generation of entrepreneurs
Amit Gupta, Chairman, Board of Trustees, TiE, was joined by fellow TiE Board of Trustees (pictured) Kevin Parikh, BJ Arun, Dharti Desai, and Amit Mookim, along with Vijay Menon from the TiE Secretariat and TiE presidents from various global locations. The TiE Board of Trustees members addressed the body on several topics, including how TiE is growing globally, promoting ESG among startups, what the future holds, and how best to accomplish those goals.
Gupta said: “Entrepreneurship is not just good for business, it is good for the world. TiE has the opportunity to serve as a catalyst for capacity building to create jobs, drive economic growth, and shape innovation to transform and uplift societies and economies. In order to make this a reality, it is also crucial to steer the entrepreneur ecosystem towards establishing a gold standard for ethics, integrity, and transparency.”
Parikh said the TiE leadership and chapters are doing a great job, but the chapters could also find places to work across borders and identify ways to support a broader global impact and sustainability goals: “As we see our programs succeed, for example TiE Women, it is very important from an ESG perspective to measure the global impact of our programs.”
TiE needs to be looking to the future, Mookim added. “In a world where innovations are growing at an exponential rate with artificial intelligence and next generation technologies, TiE needs to find new ways to embrace these forward leaning entrepreneurs. We shouldn’t be looking backward. We should be thinking about what’s to come.”
The Board of Trustees goals show how TiE is solidifying its position as a premier resource for entrepreneurs while ensuring its long-term sustainability. Overall, the board is committed to ensuring the organization’s continued evolution and its role as a North Star for entrepreneurs around the world.
By Tom Dunlap, Director, Avasant Research