June « 2011 « nowEurope

The Vienna-based startup cluster InitialFactor employs a relaxed approach to bringing startups together with startups and investors: Each month the office invites up to 100 people to join in for 30 minutes of pitches, followed up by a small office party with drinks, snacks and music.

The event is very international – usually at least one pitch is presented by a team from abroad, especially from close-by: Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

InitialFactor Afterworx always takes place on the second Thursday of each month, starting at 6.00 p.m. at Spengergasse 37, 1050 Vienna.

If you’d like to be invited, write a short mail containing your full name, your organization as well as a 1-sentence-statement about why you are interested in startups to afterworx@initialfactor.com .

If you’re looking for a little inspiration with your morning coffee, this video would be a good way to start the day.

The 12 Entrepreneurs are a recently-formed group of European entrepreneurs that want to shake up the EU startup scene. As the narrative goes, they met each other in Silicon Valley, but rediscovered Europe.

Each of these young entrepreneurs had come to the United States because the opportunity wasn’t sufficient at home. Rather than accept the status quo they decided to change it.

If that video whets your appetite, you can also read this five-page interview (links to a PDF).

Here’s a pithy quote from that interview:

Europe doesn’t believe in its own assets, Europe is not a risk-taker; there are multiple barriers to capital and growth for European entrepreneurs and no culture of failure. - Emmanuel Carraud

Naturally, you can also find The 12 Entrepreneurs on Facebook and LinkedIn.