On October 4, 2010, I launched EU-Startups.com and published the very first article. It all started out of an excitement for entrepreneurship and tech\/web innovation, driven by a healthy dose of European patriotism, and with the goal of providing more visibility and opportunities to founders from across Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Long before Sifted, Tech.eu and Silicon Canals, EU-Startups was likely the very first online media brand out there focusing exclusively on startups from across Europe.<\/p>\n
Since then, my team and I have published over 12,700 articles, and organised many events of all shapes and sizes across Europe, ranging from a couple of people in a room to events with about 2,100 participants. Also we\u2019ve successfully contributed to quite a few EU-funded projects \u2013 always with the goal to strengthen the European startup ecosystem and to inspire and support the next generation of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
And even after those 181 months since the launch of EU-Startups.com, my team and I have the feeling that we\u2019re just getting started. In this article I\u2019m sharing some reflections on our path so far, revealing a new strong partner on our side, and where we are heading to in the future!<\/p>\n
Humble beginnings\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the first five years I ran EU-Startups as a side project, on top of working a full-time job in the German media industry during the day. I still remember writing those first 1,500 articles in the evenings after my day job, driven by caffeine, curiosity, and a belief that Europe\u2019s founders deserved a spotlight. During those first five years I did not pay myself anything. It was a pure passion project.<\/p>\n
In 2014, I hosted the first edition of our annual conference in Munich, and then for the next three years the event happened in Berlin. In the meantime, in January 2016 I quit my well-paid corporate job to fully focus on EU-Startups. About two years later, I relocated from Munich to Barcelona, founded Menlo Media SL, and hired my first full-time team member. Since then our online reach, event size, impact, and team size grew nicely and quite steadily throughout the years.<\/p>\n
Over the past 15 years we have seen several tech trends and buzzwords come and go. Founders going from underdogs to unicorn CEOs, investors discovering hidden gems in the ecosystem, and countless startups and projects that went bankrupt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While telling these stories, the EU-Startups audience and community has grown stronger and more engaged, with over 48,000 Facebook fans, 45,500 X followers, over 130,000 LinkedIn followers, 34,500 Instagram followers, and about 75,000 newsletter subscribers. In addition to EU-Startups.com, which reaches about 300,000 readers per month, these channels have been crucial in spreading our stories, further connecting with our audience, and fostering a space for dialogue and exchange.<\/p>\n
Our Impact throughout the years<\/p>\n
While bootstrapping EU-Startups and slowly\/steadily growing our media and events business, I\u2019m proud that also our positive impact on the European startup ecosystem and its players has been growing over the years.<\/p>\n
We have plenty of evidence and great stories about many founders who met their investors, new customers or future team members at our annual EU-Startups Summit. Here<\/a> you\u2019ll find some nice examples from this year. One of my favourite stories from the past is about a prominent angel investment that was spontaneously sealed live on stage by one of our jury members and one of the finalists during our pitch competition in 2022 in Barcelona.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also, there is a couple who met during the EU-Startups Summit<\/a> a few years ago and who got married earlier this year. Congrats again Remco!<\/p>\n Additionally, through our daily coverage, we helped countless startups from across Europe to get on the radar of international investors and international talent. We are proud that over the years we\u2019ve been able to support, inform and inspire thousands of readers, event attendees, and ultimately the current and next generation of founders and investors from across Europe. There is still a lot to come, and we\u2019re looking forward to further growing our impact over the coming years!<\/p>\n A few stumbling blocks along the way<\/p>\n As an organisation that is quite focused on events, the global pandemic was of course one of the biggest setbacks, which slowed us down a bit from a business perspective. But even during the pandemic, we kept organising events (online) and when it was safe to return to in-person, the EU-Startups Summit was one of the first startup events that returned with a bang and with a new attendee record.<\/p>\n Over the past 15 years, we\u2019ve seen many startup publications and startup events come and go. Already back in 2017, we\u00a0published an overview<\/a> regarding startup publications that had recently shut down, and we have continued growing EU-Startups since then. Also quite recently there had been the sentiment within the startup ecosystem that European startup media is experiencing some sort of downturn (TechCrunch Europe staff fired, TNW shutting down, etc.), and while it is true that this is not an easy market to operate in, we remain bullish about the future of our media and events activities.<\/p>\n There are of course always new trends that impact media businesses like ours \u2013 for example the gradual shift from desktop to mobile, the growing importance of social media in general, and the shrinking importance of some social media channels (like X).<\/p>\n Also, while new technologies like AI pose new challenges and opportunities, and while the excitement and activity around startups is moving in waves throughout the years, we are convinced that entrepreneurship, innovation, and technological progress will always be an important cornerstone of not just Europe\u2019s future, but for the future of mankind.\u00a0<\/p>\n And the EU-Startups team will keep you informed about those future developments and will continue to connect the makers and shakers of tomorrow through events, European projects, and other initiatives.<\/p>\n The Future of EU-Startups<\/p>\n Today, about one month after our 15-year anniversary, I\u2019m excited to share with you that we (EU-Startups \/ Menlo Media) just became part of\u00a0MeOut Group<\/a>, and that this next chapter will ensure the continued growth of the EU-Startups brand, an expansion of our future activities and our impact over the coming years.<\/p>\n MeOut Group consists of about one hundred bright souls, is headquartered in Budapest, but also has a representation in Brussels and Copenhagen. They are a leading organisation focused on innovation, education, and entrepreneurship, and are also quite actively involved in EU projects that are related to these areas. We have been successfully working with their team in the past and we feel it is a perfect match, and that the vision for EU-Startups is shared by them wholeheartedly.\u00a0<\/p>\n After this very recent acquisition I am continuing to stay on board as CEO, now and in the years to come, and the EU-Startups team will stay on board with me as well. Also, we will continue to operate independently from our offices in Barcelona.<\/p>\n Joining forces with MeOut Group marks the start of a new exciting chapter for EU-Startups. Together, we\u2019ll keep amplifying Europe\u2019s entrepreneurial spirit \u2013 connecting dreamers, doers, and investors from Lisbon to Helsinki, from Dublin to Budapest.<\/p>\n To everyone who\u2019s read, shared, pitched, attended, or worked with us over the years: Thank you! You\u2019re the reason EU-Startups has become what it is today. And trust me \u2013 the best is yet to come. We are looking forward to the next chapter. It still feels like we\u2019re just getting started!<\/p>\n A big thank you also goes out to our investors, like Seedrs founder Jeff Lynn, Translated.com founder Marco Trombetti, and many others who had joined us via our small equity crowdfunding round by the end of 2019.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s work together<\/p>\n Over the past 15 years we\u2019ve worked with hundreds of clients from across Europe and beyond. If you\u2019re not one of our lucky clients yet, we\u2019d be delighted to support you through our advertising options<\/a>, our startup sourcing<\/a> service, welcome you at next year\u2019s EU-Startups Summit<\/a> in Malta, and advise you regarding exhibition options<\/a> and sponsorship opportunities<\/a>.<\/p>\n Also, if you\u2019d like to gain unrestricted access to our editorial archive, our startup and investor database, post free\/premium job listings in our job board, get access to member-only content (like our weekly funding roundup) and benefit from discounts for a wide range of SaaS tools, then make sure to sign up for the EU-Startups CLUB.<\/a><\/p>\n Last but not least, the EU-Startups team remains open to join consortia for EU projects and tenders that are related to startups, venture capital, and tech entrepreneurship in Europe. We are quite selective regarding the projects and consortia that we are considering to support, but if we feel we can make an impact, we\u2019re open to join as dissemination, data\/insights or events lead.<\/p>\n To wrap up: 15 years after the initial launch, my team and I remain incredibly passionate about supporting and promoting startups and tech entrepreneurship across and beyond Europe. We\u2019re looking forward to working with many more startup and innovation ecosystem players over the coming years. Let\u2019s join forces and increase our combined impact. Together we grow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On October 4, 2010, I launched EU-Startups.com and published the very first article. 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