Weeks after we were the Startup of the Week in online startup and scaleup magazineMT/Sprout, we received an email from their editors: whether we wanted to attendHow I Did, a new event with startups and an inspirational (founder) speaker. This edition Kalo Bagijn, the former founder of BinckBank and Brand New Day, was going to be present. We did not have to think long about that answer.
MT/Sprout's daily newsletter reads wonderfully and delivers good content. From the newsletter we extract valuable information about investors, business models and newsworthy startup facts. For us it was an honor to be startup of the week and let's hope that we will also be mentioned one day in the daily newsletter!
Now you maybe wondering: why should you be interviewed as a startup? The answer is simple:because of the people who read the article. After the article we received one message after the other, from acquaintances, entrepreneurs and investors. Most messages were kind, some were less interesting, but there were certainly good leads among them. As an example: through the article we were found by an investor who contacted us and with whom we are now in talks for our new funding round.
Also read MT/Sprout's own article on the event and see if you can spot us.
In the past we attended these kinds of entrepreneurial events to talk to founders about our concept, to learn about starting your own business and about mistakes they have made (which you can then prevent yourself). It was so much fun to participate in such an event again and this was also the perfect opportunity to thank the editors of Sprout for the article!
Learning from another's experience is meaningful, and as entrepreneurs you should never stop with that. Often his or her experiences have been gained in a different market, time and environment, but the facts from their experience remain valuable (facts are key!). For example, Kalo's story showed that internationalizing to Belgium is not as easy as people often think. Flanders isDutch-speaking, but that does not mean that Dutch companies are welcomed withopen arms. The advantage of Flanders (no translation costs) apparently does not always outweigh the difficult market introduction. When one of the startups subsequently confirmed his experience and mentioned more disadvantages, we would be stupid not to take this knowledge into account because internationalization will also be relevant for GymStory within 1-2 years.
All in all it was a very nice and informative get together and we would recommend every founder to attend to them occasionally (but be picky to the event you visit)!