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Rahul Sood presents at GeekWire Startup Day 2015

According to Unikrn CEO and former Microsoft Ventures General Manager Rahul Sood, entrepreneurs building their companies in Seattle have a great tool at their disposal: a powerful and loyal talent pool.

unikrn“Seattle is the best place to build a startup company right now because of the talent pool. There is no better talent pool on the planet,” Sood said during his presentation at GeekWire’s Startup Day. “The second thing is that it’s not nearly as bloodthirsty and cutthroat as it is in (Silicon Valley). In the Valley, people are fickle. They leave, they go to the next startup, they leave, and it’s all a bunch of kids. Coming out of school, and they have this sort of air about themselves, and they think they’re worth more than they are, and they’re not.”

On top of the suggestions about location, Sood had a number of other tips for people who are considering starting a company. He stressed the importance of building a diverse team, and creating a good company culture, along with finding a co-founder who compliments their weaknesses.

“And then, you don’t want to be an entrepreneur if you want to impress people,” he said. “There’s nothing impressive about calling yourself a CEO of a startup that’s not doing anything. You don’t want to worry about impressing people. What you want to do is go create something of value to yourself, you want to go feel good about something you’re creating, and help your team be successful.”

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