🙏🏼 Thanks(for)giving me a chance
A moment of gratitude in a year that changed my life
Welcome to Startup ROI, where I, Kyle O'Brien, share European Tech insights from my perch in Paris, France. You can expect to find articles covering startups & ecosystem trends, interviews with founders and investors, as well as updates on in-person events for community thought leaders.
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Since its inception, this newsletter has been a social experiment and professional catalyst. It's evolved quite drastically — in terms of ambition, subject matter and format — but the objective has always been to distill my findings across the European technology ecosystem into digestible, informative and hopefully (*cringes*) funny & informative content. If you've been around for a while, thanks for sticking with me. If you’re new here, strap in, we're just getting started!
In the past year and a half I've:
started this newsletter
launched a video interview series / podcast
initiated & hosted 4 dinner clubs and a happy hour for the tech & VC community
led media strategy for a growth equity fund
and advised an eFounders startup
While the variety of work has been exhilarating, the inner-workings of my brain have looked something like this:
Running multiple “operations” in parallel has been exciting, intellectually stimulating and at times, chaotic. I'm incredibly lucky to have had these opportunities and I'm grateful for all the people I've met along the way.
Come 2023, however, I'll be consolidating my work into a single project. More to come on this in a future post!
Without giving too much away… if the above picture is a representation of me for the past couple years (i.e. scatter-brained), the below graphic is how I envision my career for the next decade. Interpret that as you will!
And before you ask, yes, I did get carried away with the Stable Diffusion text-to-image craze — more here.
All the projects I've been involved in have been a real pleasure. But I have to say, one of the great joys resulting from this unusual journey has been meeting and developing personal & professional friendships with some amazing people. This has happened organically and through projects like the Content & Community Dinner Series I started earlier this year. We are now ±50 strong and growing — an incredible thing to witness first-hand.
I get the sense we are hitting critical mass. Following our last dinner, I received a bunch of inbound interest from some quality candidates. If you feel you could be a good fit and want to join, reach out. My inbox is always open!
In 2023, I hope to expand and diversify even more. More community members. New restaurants and experiences. Additional cities. Themed meet-ups for optimal connections and discussions.
There's so much potential to unlock here and I'm looking forward to collaborating with you to make it happen!
If you’re looking for some tech-content with a Thanksgiving vibe, check out last year’s post from this very holiday:
For some previous food-related posts, here's the spread:
Re-Inventing the Food Chain — alternative insect protein
Pizza, Payments & Product-Market Fit — How an Italian restaurant group in Paris made paying the check cool
The 401K Meal Plan — “Tickets Restos” in the Digital Age
CRISPR & Cannabis — Gene-Editing Plants for a Better Future