GBX MEMBERS

What are the best and worst things about the Bay Area? BEST: The deep knowledge around tech and startups. The sunshine. The people. The nature. WORST: 8 hours time difference to friends and family back home.

"Moving to the US was important for us—we both saw it as a place where big things could happen—but it also meant we found ourselves far from family, friends, and communities we grew up with. So it was a lovely surprise to find the GBx community, all of whom moved here (to the US) to work on important problems, and are going through the ups and downs together”.

Over the last three years, HER raised $2.5M in funding from angel investors including GBx’s board members Michael Birch, Andy McLoughlin and Nicole Quinn, as well as Alexis Ohanian and YCombinator, and more. Tapping into the British community in San Francisco upon arrival not only helped Robyn to raise money for HER, but also made her committed to paying it forward: “Today I had an email from a woman who’s on her second or third startup and who wanted to meet certain VCs. She asked: Do I know anyone? I’m happy to introduce her to the people I know here. And I’m helpful to her because she is a British female founder who’s trying to make it in the US and I empathize with that.”

I enjoy the community of GBx, getting to know people who have also moved over to the Bay Area. It’s interesting and useful to have support and help around your arrival. I am motivated to hear what people are working on - everybody is doing something interesting and things they care about. I feel that I can also give a lot to the community in terms of sharing what I have gone through; from building a company, getting it up and raising money and our exit [to Airbnb]

“We wanted to go global, so we came to Silicon Valley because the money was here and that’s where companies are scaling at a global level that interests us... GBx is particularly helpful when you’re first coming and you need some friendly faces and advice on all kinds of topics... There is a bunch I’ve learned from making mistakes, so I’m happy to get involved and help the next generation of entrepreneurs. It seems that no matter how much technology evolves humankind will always appreciate real-connections.”