The Unsung Heroes of the Scottish early stage startup ecosystem are announced

It truly takes a supportive ecosystem to help a startup grow and develop. The Unsung Heroes survey recognises and celebrates those who go above an beyond in helping founders to succeed by providing advice, encouragement, connections and investment. Now these "heroes" have been announced.

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Russell Dalgleish is honoured to have been one of those recognised and celebrated by founders in the Scottish startup ecosystem. In this article Russell shares the news and his thoughts: Russell Dalgleish | Unsung Hero | LinkedIn

"We don't need another hero"

By Russell Dalgleish

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I was deeply humbled today to appear on a list entitled "Unsung heroes of the Scottish Ecosystem".

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I would like to thank the Scottish Founders Survey for this recognition but more importantly, I would like to use this as an opportunity to highlight the good work, driven by a desire to attain a common goal that is raising the ambition of all in Scotland.

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This quote from the founders themselves sums it up perfectly.

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"𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒔. 𝑻𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉-𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒑 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌. 𝑻𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅-𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔, 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅-𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔. 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒆.

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𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑮𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕'𝒔 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝑺𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑬𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑶𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏. 𝑭𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒖𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔.

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𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒄𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔' 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒚 & 𝑨𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅. 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 4 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒚𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒘𝒆'𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕. 𝑾𝒆'𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓."

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To be successful I believe we must be rigorously honest. Honest to accept praise (thank you) and honest to accept criticism. We must look to support each where we can and hunt out opportunities to collaborate.

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As Tina Turner so eloquently put it "we don't need another hero" in Scotland today we need to raise the concept of heroic, selfless, brave, and fearless actions to that of the norm.

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This is the role of the entrepreneur in our society, but our goal will only be achieved by acting together.

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- Russell Dalgleish

To read the full list and all the qualifying submissions for each person, read the report here: https://www.founderssurvey.com/blog/finishing-the-year-off-right-unsung-heroes-2022