Kim Balle's Linkedin Analytics

As CEO and Co-founder of XO Group, I have spent over a decade building and connecting innovation ecosystems globally. Our flagship initiative, Global Startup Awards (GSA), is the world’s largest startup ecosystem competition, operating in over 154 countries across 19 regions and all six inhabited continents. We’ve received 820,000+ public votes and 160,000+ nominations, engaging thousands of startups, corporates, governments, and investors. GSA identifies the top tier of each local ecosystem, culminating in a global alumni (former winners, finalists, and expert-juries) network of 10,000+ standout founders and ecosystem leaders across SDG-aligned verticals within green tech, fintech, health tech, inclusive entrepreneurship to name a few, with growing focus on emerging fields like AI. GSA serves as a powerful communications platform that gives voice to underrepresented founders and emerging regions. We have garnered an organic online reach of over 90 million across all of our channels in 2024 alone, significantly amplifying innovation stories on a global scale. GSA has proven highly effective in sourcing top-tier innovation talent and has provided me with strong data and insights into emerging trends, talent dynamics, and founder needs.