Category Archives: Events

Customer Development, entrepreneurship, Events, Lean Startup, startup

NEXT Cologne is here again, starting October 23rd!

I’m stoked to announce it’s here again – We’re going for the third round of NEXT Cologne in STARTPLATZ!

NEXT Powered by Google for Entrepreneurs

For those of you who may not know, NEXT Powered by Google for Entrepreneurs is the premier experiential educational program teaching early stage startups how to build the skills and tactics your startup needs to prepare for an accelerator, investor, or early product launch, accessible at a nominal fee and on a schedule allowing for your day-job or studies in parallel.

NEXT is brought to you by the non-profit organization that also brings you Startup Weekends and Startup Digests – UP Global (recently mentioned by POTUS Obama) – and our partners include Steve Blank, TechStars and GAN – Global Accelerator Network.

It consists of a three hour evening meet-up, five times across six weeks, digital learning material with homework in between – and is adapted to people with day-jobs and university students.

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entrepreneurship, Events

Idea Lab @ WHU

Recently I was invited to Idea Lab, the founder’s conference at WHU in Vallendar.

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Sitar Teli on what they are looking for in startups to invest in

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My friend Liam “Rude Baguette” Boogar moderating the panel on Crowdfunding

The absolute highlight for me was seeing Oliver Samwer talk about how founders must be willing and able to live in the dirt for a long time to be successful:

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entrepreneurship, Events, hustling

Producing StartupBus BeNeLux – 72hrs of road trip mayhem

The BeNeLux Bus

The BeNeLux Bus

I was recently honored and thrilled to be invited by Hans van Gent and Mike van Hoenselaar to produce this year’s StartupBus Europe BeNeLux bus bound for Pioneers Festival in Vienna, together with Magnus Petersen-Paasche, after my previous stint with Startupbus.

And after a lot of preparations, we finally went on the road last week – and what an EPIC trip it was: It took us from Amsterdam to Pioneers Festival in Vienna via Antwerp, Cologne, Berlin, Prague and Munich – all within 72 hours!

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Events, Lessons Learned, pitching

Pitch Your Startup Like a Pro

As I’ve been around the world pitching my own startup at some of the world’s most prestigious pitching events, one of the ways I’m paying it forward to our local startup ecosystem is by teaching our startups how to pitch at the Rhineland Pitch in Cologne, Germany – a tier one startup pitching event that aims to educate our regional startups and raise our pitching quality to better compete worldwide.

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If you want to practice your own pitch, I’ve shared the slide deck I use at the free pitch coaching session each month below. And don’t forget to apply for the next Rhineland Pitch – See you there!

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entrepreneurship, Events

Entrepreneurship – Nature or Nurture at Maastricht Week of Entrepreneurship 2013?

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I was honored and delighted to be invited to moderate a day of discussing if entrepreneurship is something you need to be born with or something you can nurture, something you can teach everybody, at the Maastricht Week of Entrepreneurship 2013 and interview the father of the Lean Startup, Steve Blank live on skype in front of an full university auditorium.

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The Maastricht Week of Entrepreneurship is Maastricht’s largest entrepreneurship event. Happening yearly, the ME Week brings together over 200 students and entrepreneurs for an exciting 5 day program highlighted by workshops, presentations and lectures. Participants get inspired, network, share practices, and ask for advice.

Here’s a fun little excerpt from the interview with Steve Blank. He was kind enough to help us send greetings to Startup Weekend Giza in Egypt:

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Moderating the panel debate on entrepreneurship, nature vs nurture

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As a bonus for you, I recorded this interesting talk by Paul Campbell on corporate innovation and entrepreneurship:

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