A report published recently by The Center for American Progress indicates that startups and business formation are booming across the US, with the number of startups surging in 2022 and 2023 and surpassing the levels existing before the Great Recession. Nationally, the number of businesses that are under one year old increased by 16 percent, and the growth shows no signs of slowing down, encompassing multiple industries. A significant part of the growth occurred in 2022 and 2023, which defined post-pandemic years as the period of economic recovery and created a positive trend for the U.S. economy as a whole.
However, it is worth mentioning that the initial years have a defining influence on the fate of a young company. According to the data presented by the Economic Innovation Group, the closure rate rose in the latter years, along with the creation of new businesses. This illustrates the crucial role of the first years of the company’s existence when the lack of connections or the absence of an established place on the market can deem it to be a failure. This is what Danil Kislinskiy’s Go Global World is attempting to change by creating a platform to match startups with investors and establish an interconnected and enriching startup community.
The Road to Silicon Valley
The story of Danil Kislinskiy begins in the Urals part of Russia. Since early years, he was driven by the desire to see the world and explore new opportunities. He recalls visiting the US in 2002 by the “Work and Travel” program as one of the pivotal moments of his career, as he recognized the ability to shape his own fate. Since then, he uses every opportunity to acquire and develop new skills.
In the following eight years, Danil Kislinskiy worked in Philip Morris International in Yekaterinburg and then in Moscow, ending up on an international manager position at the company’s global operations headquarters in Switzerland. However, eventually he decided to pursue new opportunities and moved to Silicon Valley, where he pursued a Doctorate degree at Lincoln University, as well as studied entrepreneurship at Stanford.
Danil Kislinskiy considers the launching of his first business a valuable learning experience, which helped him to succeed in the next attempts. While turning his knowledge and skills into practical working strategies and gaining experience in creating successful startups, he wanted to share what he learned. As a result, he participated in several teaching programs, taking the role of a lecturer and a mentor at Skolkovo Business School, teaching seven classes in total. He also was invited as a startup mentor to Stanford University and to RUDN University.
However, his efforts to teach and share his unique experience went beyond the formal academic setting. To this date, more than 200 podcasts and webinars with leading business experts have been released, accumulating more than 60,000 views in total.
The Network of Opportunities
In the following years, Danil Kislinskiy put immense input into creating a thriving startup ecosystem. He consulted with Silicon Valley tech startups, helping them to grow and establish their place on the market, as well as participated in launching and monetizing several apps in North and South America. His achievements are many, and here are just several of the most recent examples:
In the second half of 2023, he participated in Globalize GE startup mentorship sessions in Georgia, providing feedback to local startups and helping them refine their pitches and successfully emerge to an international level. In January of 2024, he judged at the CES Pitch event in Las Vegas. In March, he participated as a speaker at the Super Founder Series. He regularly organizes and moderates his own startup events known as GGW Sharks.
These examples, to name just a few, demonstrate the recognition and respect he acquired in the text startup community in Silicon Valley and around the world and the valuable impact he makes by sharing his knowledge and experience with the startups that are at the beginning of the journey.
A Year of Realization
In June 2023, the largest of Kislinskiy’s projects came to life with the launch of the Go Global World. In less than a year, the platform became a thriving hub with more than 5000 investors on its network. Within a short period of time, an incredible result of 500 relevant matches between founders and investors, with the efficient pitch format saving their time and allowing connections to develop and flourish.
Go Global World established partnerships with business accelerators and other organizations and events prominent in the world of tech startups, including Techstars Accelerator, Foundercon, and TechWeek. Moreover, Danil Kislinskiy not only remains one of its leaders but also puts his personal efforts into helping young startups by organizing GGW Sharks pitch events. They are freely accessible for startup founders and present a unique opportunity for them to connect with investors from Silicon Valley and from other parts of the world.
The Future of the Startup Community
Currently, 60 percent of GGW participants are experts and speakers from the US, with 30 percent being venture investors. Thanks to their GGW Sharks regular event, the platform, and the community, they have already created more than 1000 relevant matches between founders and investors.
However, Danil Kislinskiy does not plan to rest upon his laurels. One of the main goals for Go Global World for 2024 and beyond is to put innovative AI technology to service for the benefit of the startup community. Intelligent algorithms are already applied on the platform to find optimal matches between innovators and investors, but further developing AI-based tools to facilitate the process of scouting and fundraising may be the revolutionary leap forward the growing startup and venture capital community needs at the current moment.
