It’s hard to believe that only a year has passed since we officially incorporated Sandbox on May 8, 2009. From the beginning, we were determined to find, connect, and accelerate the world’s most extraordinary young people. Before launching the current version of Sandbox, we considered organizing a major global conference bringing the best and brightest under the age of 30 together. We ultimately decided that unlike traditional conferences, we would first grow a close-knit community and think about organizing events at a later stage.

Nico and me with our lawyer, right after the incorporation

In a year we grew to almost 400 members from over 40 countries and launched Sandbox hubs in 20 cities lead by local super connectors. Through a tough selection process, we brought together entrepreneurial minds from dozens of unique disciplines, ranging from explorers, artists and scientists to politicians and business professionals. A Global Summit is now definitely back on the radar.

Building on our love for food and inspiring conversations, we organized over 150 local events in the last twelve months in cities like Austin, Bangalore, Bangkok, Berlin, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Dubai, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Melbourne, Mexico City, Munich, New Delhi, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Washington DC and Zurich.

Sandbox members worldwide

In the process of growing an internationally recognized community, we also started sharing ideas with outside organizations. With the help of Sandboxers, we solved challenges for well-known brands including Fraport, Volkswagen, UBS, and several others. Our consulting services are quickly expanding and we hope to share our collective knowledge with many more organizations in the coming months.

Fabian presenting at Arnold Worldwide in New York

To recap a few major milestones over the last year:

May 2010

- Antoine shares Sandbox thoughts on Work Culture at LIFT in Geneva
- Chris and Antoine present best practices in social media to Frankfurt Airport
- Sandboxers meet with the Cambodian Secretary of State and Swiss Ambassador to the US
- Team grows to 9 people, from which 4 full time in Zurich
- Sandboxers close a consulting project for an online music community
- Sandbox collaborates with WDHB for the organization of dinners connecting young and senior leaders
- New hubs open in Prague, in Barcelona and in Stockholm

April 2010

Participants to the US Retreat

- 20 members convene for an inaugural Sandbox Retreat. Many more to come around the world!
- Sandbox co-produces TEDxVolcano in London. All done in 36 hours.
- Brainstorming session with Victor Chan, personal advisor to the Dalai Lama
- New hubs open in Bangalore, New Dehli and Beijing

March 2010

- Sandbox organizes event at South by Southwest
- Fabian and Paul present at Ivy Leadership Forum and lead seminar on social entrepreneurship

February 2010

- We are featured in Wired UK after a nice dinner with their editor
- Fabian and Paul present Sandbox Six Themes to Arnold Worldwide.
- Christian presents at the NACUE conference
- A new hub opens in Cologne

January 2010

Antoine, Dominik and Guillaume at Singapore University

- Sandboxers meet at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
- Sandbox dinner at the DLD conference in Munich
- Joint Sandbox-Seedcamp event in New York City
- Sandbox publishes Six Themes for 2010 & Beyond
- Antoine is invited to Singapore by Swissnex and speaks about the Sandbox business model

December 2009

- First Sandbox global virtual call (with our Entrepreneurship Ambassador calling in from a plane!)
- Tashi Lassalle joins the Sandbox Advisory Board
- Sandbox team gathers in Zurich for a Christmas dinner – we miss Chris who is blocked at London City Airport
- New Hub opens in Hong Kong
- Paul joins the Sandbox team as Head of business development US

November 2009

At Palomar5 Summit in Berlin

- Sandboxers organize Palomar5 “Future of Work Camp” in Berlin
- Online platform introduces a geolocator, introduction concierge, coworking, couchsurfing, and idea sharing tool
- Introduction of a Twitter list of all tweeting Sandboxers
- Dinner in Zurich with Raymond Abelin – Director of the Nanyang Technopreneurship Center in Singapore (NTU)
- Sandbox partners up with Europe’s leading Speaker Agency

October 2009

- Sandbox supports launch of Venture Lectures in London
- New partnership with Mexican Ministry of the Economy
- Kick-off of first phase of a project with Frankfurt Airport
- Sandbox Advisory Board Welcomes Ambassador David A. Gross
- A new hub opens in Mexico

September 2009

First San Francisco dinner

- Organization of a workshop in collaboration with UBS
- Sandboxers consult a German city about their communication strategy
- Several dinners around the world
- A new hub opens in San Francisco

August 2009

- Antoine goes to South Caucasus and organizes first Sandbox dinner in Istanbul on the way
- A new application process is put in place
- A new hub opens in Washington DC

July 2009

- Fabian joins the team in Zurich for the Summer
- We brainstorm Sandbox Strategy and ask…what comes next?

June 2009

Screenshot of Sandbox online community

- Application for Sandbox membership opens
- Joint event in London with the What Took You So Long Foundation before their 10-week africa journey

May 2009

- Sandbox AG is born!
- Antoine organizes an Ivy-League Fondue in Geneva with Sandboxers and students visiting
- Sandbox hubs open in Zurich, London, Singapore, New York, Shanghai, Berlin, Madrid

Antoine is the CEO and one of the Co-Founders of Sandbox. He is constantly amazed to see how much positive energy streams from the community and he would love to know what will happen in the next couple of years. Unfortunately, no Sandboxer has invented the time machine. Yet.

GEOLOCATOR (new!)

The Geolocator is a great tool to meet fellow Sandboxers when on the way. It also gives some statistics about our travel habits: ever wondered how many kilometers Sandboxers travel every year?

INTRODUCTION CONCIERGE (new!)

Feeling lonely in a new city? Looking for someone with specific knowledge in the Sandbox network? Our Introduction Concierge will do everything in his power to answer your request.

COWORKING (new!)

Are you looking for a temporary office somewhere? Maybe a Sandboxer can help! Check out this map, and if you have a free space in your own office, don’t hesitate to leave a comment.

RESOURCES (new!)

Access a great list of resources selected by the community and by the Sandbox team. Learn about academia, business & career, starting up, how to find employees, innovation, leadership, networking and others.

IDEAS (new!)

Access a stream of fresh ideas and discussions by fellow Sandboxers. Ask your questions, help other members, or post your craziest ideas and the most inspiring links you come across!

COUCHSURFING

Are you traveling and are looking for a place to stay? Do you have a
couch or a spare bed that could be used by fellow Sandboxers
visiting your city? Try Sandbox Couchsurfing!

AMBASSADORS

The Ambassadors are the core of our offline network. They are among the best connected people in the network, organize local events and are your main point of contact in all the cities where we are represented.

Antoine is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Sandbox. He is flying to Berlin tomorrow morning where he will attend the Palomar5 final Summit, together with a dozen other Sandboxers from all around.

A month ago, we sent out a survey to the members, with the objective to learn more about what they are expecting from the Sandbox community. A key point was the access to senior leaders, and we are currently working on creating this kind of opportunity accessible to a large number of Sandboxers.

In the meanwhile, we are preparing the launch of a small pack of services, that are currently being beta tested by some members. Among them, we have a Geolocator, an Introduction Concierge and a platform for idea exchange. If you are a member and would also like to be part of this beta test, don’t hesitate to write me an email! We are always happy to get fresh feedback.

Antoine is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Sandbox. He just sent a newsletter using Campaign Monitor, a newsletter management tool, and is fascinated by all the possibilities offered for creating mailings and improving them over time (and is not paid to say that!).

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