Guest Post: Recap of Startup Grind

By: Nick Lum

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This year’s Startup Grind conference was a huge event — it took over downtown Redwood City, sprawling across several blocks, and even making its way into the local movie theater.

Bigger isn’t always better, but fortunately Startup Grind lived up to its tight-knit reputation, and the attendees stuck to the “make friends, not contacts” ethos. As someone who works at in the accessibility world, I was pleasantly surprised to find a number of attendees who were interested in accessibility/disability inclusion.

First up: Comcast/NBCUniversal. I wandered over to their booth and asked what brought them to Startup Grind, since they’re clearly not a startup. A helpful rep told me that they’re looking for companies to join LIFT, an accelerator they’re running. I asked about stage/sector preference, and she said they’re stage agnostic but are targeting several sectors: 

• The Future of Work (seems like everyone is into this)

• Immersive Experiences (makes sense, given their business)

• Accessibility/Personalization (wait, what?!)

At this point, I had to interrupt to confirm that she meant “accessibility” as in disability inclusion. Much to my surprise, this was exactly what she meant. Apparently accessibility and personalization is one of their strategic priorities, and one of a handful of sectors they’re focused on for the LIFT accelerator. One of the women who runs the LIFT program joined the conversation and pointed out that Comcast’s focus on accessibility informed the design of their X1 remote control, which has many voice-activated features. Although I had seen the ads for the voice features of the remote, I never knew that it was intentionally designed that way to be more inclusive. What a cool discovery!

The team was thrilled to hear that I was attending the conference thanks to a ticket from the Diversability Community, and that my own work at BeeLine is focused on digital accessibility. We were mutually surprised and pleased to have bumped into fellow accessibility aficionados!

[Image Description: Nick and another conference attendee pose for a picture at the Comcast, NBCUniversal Lift Lab.]

As surprised as I was to learn that accessibility is a focus of a major corporate startup accelerator, it wasn’t the only time the topic came up at Startup Grind. 

When I met with an executive from another large telecom, he talked with me about the volunteer work he does with a national organization for the vision impaired (and in true Startup Grind spirit, he offered to connect me with their Executive Director, in case they’re interested in partnering with my startup.)

A manager from a large consulting firm shared with me about his work in social impact, his frustration that inclusion so often excludes people with disabilities, and his personal experience growing up with a family member with a cognitive disability. Fortunately, it sounds like he’s a rising star within his company, so he will soon be in a position to make sure that their inclusion efforts don’t leave PWD out of the conversation!

Lastly, several people also talked with me about their own reading-related disabilities, after learning about my startup’s software that helps make reading more accessible. Overall, it was heartening to have so many terrific conversations and mutual offers of assistance!

This was my first Startup Grind, but it surely won’t be my last. The community was awesome, thoughtful, and generous—plus, I had the opportunity to try out a Boosted Scooter and cricket-based protein powder. What more could anyone ask for?

[Image Description: Nick rides on a scooter down the street.]

Nick Lum is the founder of BeeLine Reader, a startup whose technology makes reading on-screen easier, faster, and more accessible. His work has won awards from the United Nations and been featured in the New York Times. 

[Image Description: A headshot of Nick in a grey shirt on a black background.]