Back in 2013, Tech Crunch’s, editor at large, Mike Butcher MBE, put out a tweet about start-ups, asking for ideas about establishing an event where universities could come together to discuss this subject – not a single university responded. But Joseph Spear, in the thread, suggested that John Fagan of Sync Norwich and Professor Fiona Lettice from the University of East Anglia (UEA) could help develop the idea further. In 2014 the vision became a reality and Sync the City was born.
Sponsored by local business and UEA, make no mistake, the process is gruelling. This year’s event started on Thursday 28 November at 16.00 hours and finished with a grand finale at 20.00 hrs on Saturday 30 November, with the Thursday and Friday sessions starting at 8.00 am lasting until 11.00pm.
120 people had bought tickets to participate. They possessed a wide range of talents from programmers and business experts to marketing and design specialists and students from a wide array of disciplines. They gathered together at Norwich’s King’s Centre to let their imaginations run riot and, importantly, create a viable start up by the close of proceedings. Technology, and this year, AI, is at the heart of the event.
Building a start-up
Mentors were on hand to guide the participants, encourage those who had never pitched in public, and offer suggestions about balance sheets, financial projections and tech. An arts facilitator, Simon Floyd, helped teach pitch-delivery to promote confidence and led warm-up exercises at the start of the day.
Every step of the way advisors were on hand to coach. Along the ten years of its existence, Sync has attracted over 12,000 challengers, (40% of these were from the student community) who have drunk 10,000 coffees and four successful businesses have evolved from the process.
The process
Anyone ticket-holder who wants to, can pitch on the Thursday night. There were 50 initial, individual one-minute pitches.
Many in the room are strangers. Not everyone has an idea for a business, and some are students who want to simply join a team and learn from the experience. One of the objectives of Sync the City is to foster creativity, collaboration, and entrepreneurship.
Following on from the one-minute initial pitches, made by anyone who has an idea that they really feel can become a business, there is a ballot. The ideas are voted on by all the participants and the successful ten ideas creators can go ahead and form a team, aided by a mentor. If this sounds simple, it isn’t. Plenty of scratching of heads, grimaces and occasionally – groans – are evinced by the different teams. The expression ‘back to the drawing board’ is no stranger here.
A collaboration
Sync the City is a combination of Dragon’s Den, The X Factor and The Apprentice all rolled together. One joyous thought is that the process isn’t bogged down by countless, time-wasting meetings, or pompous egos. The teams just get on with developing their idea to morph into a successful start-up. There are disagreements along the way, but overcoming those differences of opinion is part of the learning. You’re never going to get that number of strangers working together, not knowing each other’s individual skillsets, without some minor conflict.
It began with an idea
One of Sync’s outstanding successes is Callum Coombes, who after an unsettled youth, followed by a stint in the army, was accepted by UEA to study for a degree in computer science. In 2017 Callum’s presented his idea at Sync and Safepoint for an app to protect lone outside workers, and his idea won. This company is still flourishing and performs a fantastic job in helping keep remote workers, often operating in difficult terrains, safe.
The 2024 finale
Open to the public the finale is akin to a revival meeting. Under the guidance of mentors, Tom Wood, Hayley Johnson and Tom Haczewski, the audience was encouraged to whoop, cheer, and stamp their feet in appreciation of all of the participants. This year, John Fagan and Professor Fiona Lettice both gave rousing speeches looking back at the ten years of Sync the City. Each of the final ten presentations received a rapturous appreciation for their hard work and their start-up ideas.
The prize winners
£1,000 was up for grabs by the community award team, voted for by the audience. This year it went to The Good Eggs, promoting greater access to farm fresh produce.
£3,000 was awarded by the illustrious four-person judging team to Brightpath, an app that aims to help children’s emotional resilience.
Sync the City is a superb event that promotes creativity, technology, problem-solving and resilience. It shows that the Norfolk and Norwich tech ecosphere is flourishing and is truly intergenerational. Happy anniversary!
