Startup Pass-port

Startup Pass-port
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Investing
  • Updated weekly

The Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker podcast series will serve as a platform to spotlight the inspiring stories and insights of ecosystem partners in leading startup communities. Each episode promises to offer valuable perspectives and expert advice, further enriching our understanding of this thriving ecosystem.

  1. 1 day ago

    Beyond the pitch with LUMO Labs: The big, hairy, audacious goal investors buy into

    Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 32 – Meron Mekonnen, Investment Associate at LUMO Labs. Meron Mekonnen discusses what investors look for in a short startup pitch, highlighting the importance of starting with a personal story or connection, clearly presenting the problem and solution, and showing the "magic" that gives a venture its competitive advantage. She also discusses the Draper Challenge and how founders can gain exposure to an international community, practise their pitch and positioning, and connect with investors and potential funding opportunities in Silicon Valley. Drawing from her experience working with founders, Meron reflects on the obsession, passion, ambition, dedication, and grit behind entrepreneurship, as well as why LUMO Labs focuses on quality founding teams.  This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon!

  2. 3 days ago

    Rotterdam Square connects clinicians and researchers with entrepreneurs

    Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 31 – Sharon Mullen, Senior Account Manager at Rotterdam Square. Sharon Mullen discusses Rotterdam Square's role in positioning Rotterdam as a location for health and tech and in connecting the healthcare ecosystem with businesses and entrepreneurs. She explains how the organisation works with scientists, researchers, and clinicians to understand their expertise and connect them with businesses and entrepreneurs, helping to validate science and research more quickly and find new solutions that can impact the way healthcare is delivered in the future. She also discusses the need for new ways of delivering healthcare as the volume of patients and healthcare needed increases, highlighting digitalisation, better use of data, technology, and medtech. Sharon explains that a strong innovation ecosystem needs good leadership, a clear plan, the right governance model, and funding, while bringing together academic knowledge and talent with entrepreneurship and industry to turn it into actual solutions. This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon!

  3. 5 days ago

    V.O. Patents & Trademarks supports startups with patents and IP strategy

    Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 30 - Tamara Elmore, Patent Attorney at V.O. Patents & Trademarks. Tamara Elmore discusses the role of patents and intellectual property for entrepreneurs, and why the important question is not always when to file, but when to speak to a patent attorney. She explains that entrepreneurs can start with a conversation without immediately taking on high costs, and that sometimes the right advice is to wait until they have more data and are further along. She also shares how her work varies across technologies, from antibodies, gene technology and diagnostics to vaccines. Tamara also explains why patents can have very different importance depending on the industry. While products such as telephones, electronics and coffee machines can have hundreds of incremental patents, a medicine may have only one or two patents covering the product, making those patents particularly important. She discusses why patents were part of the conversation around COVID-19 vaccines, while noting that manufacturing capabilities and GMP standards could also be significant barriers. She also shares why startups should consider their IP position when approaching investors, who may ask about it early in the process. In the quick-fire section, Tamara chooses patent over trademark and wait over filing early, before reflecting on one of her biggest learnings: things do not always go as planned, and it is important to learn from mistakes. She also notes that founders may overlook how a large upfront investment in IP can actually save money in the long run. This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon!

  4. 11 Sept

    Why Achmea looks beyond the idea when choosing founders

    Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 29 – Iselde van Beurden, Talent Lead at Achmea Impact Ventures. Iselde shares how Achmea moved from an internal ideas factory to a fully fledged startup studio. Instead of focusing only on innovations connected to Achmea's core products, the studio builds independent startups where Achmea can add value and where there is societal impact to be made. This can include resources such as customers, data, and internal expertise. Drawing from her own experience as an entrepreneur, Iselde explains how that background helps her understand what founders may face, from working without certainty of income to investing in product development and staff. When evaluating founders, she looks beyond the idea itself, emphasizing that even the best idea needs the right founder. A strong founder can pivot an idea, while "the idea and the founder go hand in hand." In the rapid-fire section, Iselde shares her views on co-founders, gut feeling, risk-taking, revenue and impact, and serial versus first-time founders. She chooses co-founders to "spread the risk," prefers gut feeling over relying solely on track record, and explains Achmea's approach: "We build, we do both, but impact follows revenue." This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon! #Frontwalker #podcast #StartupPassport #rotterdam #ErasmusEnterprise

  5. 9 Sept

    BlueCity: From swimming pool to innovation hub

    Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 28 – William Vuijik, Venture Lead at BlueCity.   William Vuijik, Venture Lead at BlueCity, discusses how BlueCity is a hub for circular innovations in Rotterdam, with around 60 impact entrepreneurs working on technologies including solar technology, solar panels and new building materials with mycelium. He explains his role in managing BlueCity's incubator, where he helps ideas turn into scalable businesses, and shares his view that impact is mainly about the motivation behind an idea and how entrepreneurs want to make a difference for people, organizations and society.   He also discusses the challenges impact entrepreneurs face, particularly when idealism comes before the business mindset. William explains that entrepreneurs can have ideas with a lot of impact without considering who will buy the solution, who will pay, how much they will pay or what competing solutions exist. He also shares how impact and a profitable business can go hand in hand, and why having co-founders with different skill sets, mindsets and cultural backgrounds can add value to a team.   William also talks about what makes a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem, identifying talent, money and a facilitating ecosystem as three necessary inputs. He explains how universities and places like BlueCity can support research, validation and prototype development, and says that what is key for a successful ecosystem is having "more givers than takers." He closes by sharing his goal of helping companies move from "an idea on the back of a napkin" towards technical and commercial validation, with the hope of seeing one of the companies he has worked with grow into a unicorn.   This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, recorded at the Upstream Festival in Rotterdam in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise.   These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon!

  6. 7 Sept

    Rabobank funds startups before they have any revenue

    Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 27 – Robin Hempel, Start and Scale Up Banker at Rabobank. Robin Hempel discusses how startups can combine different forms of funding, including equity and bank financing. He explains that while startups may initially turn to equity, bank financing can become an option once there is a proven market or customers in place. He also introduces Rabobank's €25,000 innovation contribution for companies in the validation phase, as well as its €200,000 fully subordinated loan for companies further along in their development. He also shares how he evaluates startups, looking beyond traditional financial figures to the people running the company, their experience, the market they are in, and the problem they are solving. For Robin, a company also needs customers to actually grow, while the size of its potential market depends on the type of business model. Robin reflects on Rabobank's role in stimulating innovation in the Netherlands by giving back to communities and supporting companies at an early stage. He also shares what motivates him about working with entrepreneurs, explaining that helping founders at the start of their journey and guiding them in the right direction gives him "way more joy and pleasure" than his previous jobs. This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon!

  7. 4 Sept

    A scale-up here is a startup there

    Season 07 of Startup Passport by Frontwalker continues with Episode 26 – Bernadeta Karpavičiūtė, Scale Up Lead at Up! Rotterdam. Bernadeta Karpavičiūtė, Scale Up Lead, at Up! Rotterdam, discusses Upstream's separation from Up!Rotterdam and why the festival needed "the freedom that independence brings" to serve its target audience of founders and continue evolving. She explains how being part of the municipality brought benefits but also restrictions, and why the festival needs to be able to adapt and move forward. She also shares her perspective on entrepreneurship in Rotterdam, where support organizations and partners are available but "it's still really tough work to build a company that lasts." Bernadeta discusses the changing meaning of "scale up" in Europe, differences between European and US startup culture around risk and failure, and why building a startup is "a process of figuring all of it out as you go."  Bernadeta also talks about why getting the right contact can still be difficult in Europe and the work needed to make those connections easier for founders. She closes with a personal reminder that "you can become your own source of motivation" and "your own source of inspiration," finding it within yourself rather than always looking elsewhere. This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon! #Frontwalker #podcast #StartupPassport #rotterdam #ErasmusEnterprise #NLstartupecosystem

  8. 2 Sept

    Qonto builds all-in-one financial software for startups

    Season 07 of Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker continues with Episode 25 – Remco Molendijk, Account Executive at Qonto. Remco Molendijk, Account Executive at Qonto, explains why starting entrepreneurs are where the French fintech makes "most impact." Invoices, a bank account, debit and credit cards all land on a founder in the first months of a company, and Qonto puts them in one place so there's "an overview and a cash flow in one cockpit." He describes what that replaced: the bank on one side, the accounting software on the other, and something that "had to match at the end of the month." Qonto now serves around 600,000 customers across eight European markets, with what Remco calls "a laser focus on software that actually works" for SMEs. He also talks about Qonto's first year in the Netherlands, spent localising the product rather than launching it, and why brand awareness is the challenge now that the product is live. Drawing on his own years as a freelancer, he explains how knowing the frustration first-hand helps him "relate to the customer's pains." And on the biggest financial mistake early-stage startups make, his answer was immediate: taking on "too many subscriptions at the same time that are irrelevant." This new season brings conversations with founders, innovators, investors, and ecosystem leaders shaping the future of entrepreneurship, in partnership with Erasmus Enterprise and the NL Startup Competition. These conversations are powerful, inspiring, and game-changing, and we can't wait for you to hear them. Stay tuned! New episodes dropping soon!

See All (115)

Ratings & Reviews

About

The Startup Pass-port by Frontwalker podcast series will serve as a platform to spotlight the inspiring stories and insights of ecosystem partners in leading startup communities. Each episode promises to offer valuable perspectives and expert advice, further enriching our understanding of this thriving ecosystem.

Information

  • Creator
    Startup Pass-port
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    115
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Startup Pass-port