What are your first thoughts that spring to mind when I mention Timisoara, Romania? Birthplace of the 1989 revolution? Chances are that your answer would probably be something like “Huh, where?” and not “a modern tech hub with a nascent startup scene and brilliant infrastructure”.
I’m stoked to announce it’s here again – We’re going for the third round of NEXT Cologne in STARTPLATZ!
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.
Recently I was invited to Idea Lab, the founder’s conference at WHU in Vallendar.
Sitar Teli on what they are looking for in startups to invest in
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:
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!
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.
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!