Solution broker and founder of Startup Grind Luxembourg Steve Glange talks about the European Startup Universe, a new platform launching in March.
Jess Bauldry: For those not familiar with Startup Grind, what is the goal of this platform?
Steve Glange: With Startup Grind Luxembourg, we want to show by example that startups don’t need to be a rockstar but everyone has the same path. We aim to show how others mastered the journey or approached the journey. We organise Fireside Chats and try to examine how they developed the idea or how it started.
For the last two years Startup Grind has been hosted virtually during the lunch hour once a month because of the pandemic. How do you see it evolving this year?
This year we will try to go hybrid. The fireside chat will be virtual but partners can broadcast the event from their offices, so people can ask questions and interact. Those at the co-working spaces or venues are there anyway, that’s the premise. We don’t believe that we will have fully physical events again before the end of the year.
This year you’re involved with a new European initiative called European Startup Universe. Can you tell us more about the initiative?
The project – European Startup Universe – was developed in Greece and the idea is to have a jury once a month, and every week to have workshops on a specific topic. There will also be office hours to create connections with other European companies, investors and so on.
The goal is to enable all of the participating countries to have their companies on the same level so that they have more or less the same knowledge and can eventually exchange with other companies in Europe or investors. The project is endorsed by the European Commission and finances itself through partnerships. There is no participation fee. That’s why I accepted to sponsor it for Luxembourg.
How can Luxembourg startups get involved?
The launch event is in March. We’ve teamed up with Startup Grind chapters in Hungary and Netherlands to cover 6 topics. Because the events are virtual, companies from the three countries can participate. We will cover how to recruit and how to market for the consumer product.
In Luxembourg, we’ve so many players offering services and workshops, we don’t want to reinvent the wheel. But we do think this platform will be beneficial for linking international players, that brings more value and it opens the mind.
The idea is to get different countries in Europe to the same knowledge level so it’s easier for companies to go abroad. All of the events will be in English.
Anything else coming up for Startup Grind?
From 12-13 April we will have the international Startup Grind conference, which will also move from a physical to a hybrid event. The other thing is that Startup Grind will focus more on covering web 3.0.
