43North started as trial-and-error, pulling 7,000 to 8,000 applications its first year and jumping to 12,000 to 13,000 the second, from every Canadian province and U.S. state. The low-barrier entry and aggressive marketing fueled the growth. Organizers gradually raised requirements while positioning Buffalo as a global founder hub.
But I always am curious about the early days of these types of things because like, how do they start? Like, what does it look like in the early days, like the first version? Because you were there. Tell me more about that.
Yeah, I mean, we did a lot of reflecting, particularly last year around our tenure. So it's rare that we lift our heads. We really didn't know what we were doing, right? It was largely trial and error. The first year we had, I think, 7,000 or 8,000 applications. The second year we had 12,000 or 13,000 from all over the globe, every province of Canada, every state, you know. So the marketing engine was certainly working. It was obviously low barrier of entry to apply. We've, we've changed that quite a bit, very purposefully. But we were, we were largely building a brand, right? We were trying to put Buffalo on the map and this little competition that was named after the latitude line of our city as an outlet for, for founders from around the globe to consider.
