What’s the Startup Circle’s Back Story?
PDEC was founded by Kaliya “Identity Woman” in 2010 to connect those interested in creating a personal data ecosystem. In 2010 she was approached by many of the startups that now belong to the Startup Circle to consult with them about the existing industry landscape, and consider joining their advisory boards. She started this circle to connect and advise all the startups aspiring to make the personal data ecosystem vision real, regardless of which technologies and companies succeed.
The startup circle began in the summer of 2011 by formalizing what had been an informal community of entrepreneurs from around the world focused on bringing users value from their personal data and giving them control. A few had been active participants in user-centric identity efforts since before the first Internet Identity Workshop in 2005. Others discovered and worked on these ideas on their own for many years.
Originally there was an idea to support the long term viability of the consortium with equity contributions from companies joining. This plan has been set to the side but is could be a way to support long term viability of an organization committed to the core principles with long term accountability for remaining true to them.