Last week I was pleased to attend Innovation Bay’s latest Focus Dinner. These events are an opportunity to sit down with an intimate group of entrepreneurs to share stories and ask questions of a featured speaker. We were spoilt for talent on this occasion with Julian Green – Founder of Jetpac (acquired by Google) and Houzz – leading the evening in conversation with Sam Shank – current CEO / Co-Founder of HotelTonight.

The evening discussed entrepreneurship, leadership, travel and travails across HotelTonight, TravelPost and DealBase, all of which Sam was involved in founding.

We covered lots of territory but one key insight I pulled out was that businesses have to truly seize their moment to maximise their growth before established players, or other startups catch on and make future growth more competitive. Sometimes that requires taking on more risk pumping more money into growth-related functions of the business earlier.

For current or aspiring entrepreneurs, investors or just those with an interest in the area, I suggest keeping an eye out for future Innovation Bay events. For those who don’t know about Innovation Bay they are an Australian / San Francisco-based non-profit networking group that helps bring people together who are passionate about innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.

This event was sponsored by Sequoia Benefits, Silicon Valley Bank and MitchelLake.