Hey, dear reader.
This week I want to share with you something very personal.
Today is Ukraine's Independence Day. A day that has never meant more to me than now.
I'm Ukrainian and I come from a big industrial city in central Ukraine, Kryvyi Rih. A city where I grew up and where my family lives today.
Last Friday, the rest of the world learned it exists. Last Friday, Russians brutally attacked a shopping mall a few kilometers away from my home. 16 dead, 140 injured.
My granddad helped build that mall. My family would go there for groceries. My friends and I would learn how to land an ollie in the parking lot.
I wish news headlines would tell you a different story: that my city is the longest in Europe, that it's the birthplace of many great people. But not this.
I see a lot of indifference around. I see people with agency who decide to turn a blind eye to what's going on in Ukraine and on our continent.
I'm sharing this because I believe our startup community is different.
For us, agency is a given. We believe that our actions can affect outcomes. We don't shy away from problems, we embrace them and look for ways to solve them. Being among people like you, who live it every day, is the greatest gift.
I desperately want to see this kind of agency in our society: in Hamburg, in Germany, in Europe.
The future is dark unless we face the reality we live in today. The continent is in its biggest war since 1945. Our unity is being threatened, from the outside and from within. And the only thing that changes any of it is what each of us decides.
Agency is contagious. It starts with one decision to show up. Indifference is deadly. It starts with one decision to stay silent.
found community 🤝
Our WhatsApp group for Hamburg founders and operators.
Need an intro, a first hire, or an honest second opinion? Just ask in the community.
Save the Date 🗓️
The events I'm most excited about in the weeks ahead.
Wednesday, September 2
Resilience Forum vol. II (German) — Look at what defence and resilience tech means for Hamburg's deep tech founders in the second edition of the forum.
Thursday, September 3
Works in Progress #3 (English) — See the messy middle of creative work: live workflows, tool stacks and half-finished projects, shown by the people building them.
Monday, September 7
Hamburg Frontier Research Club: Series Launch (English) — Dig into frontier AI papers over dinner with researchers and engineers, in the launch edition of a new technical series.
Tuesday, September 8
AI Summit 2026 (German) — Spend a free full day on where AI is actually being applied across Hamburg's industry and research.
Thursday, September 10
AI day-to-day: use cases for work & life (English) — Pick up practical AI use cases for work and life, in a session built for people with no prior experience.
Weekly Picks 📍
All the events on my radar for this week.
This Issue's Gem 💎
Friday-Sunday, August 28-30
European Defense Tech Hackathon (English) — Build defence tech across three days with 100+ hackers from across Europe, from blank page to working prototype.
AI Everywhere 🤖
Thursday, August 27
GEO Hackathon (German) — Build something that actually surfaces in AI search, alongside teams from OMR Reviews, OpenAI, awork and Rankscale.
Saturday, August 29
agentic coding studio (English) — Build with coding agents next to other developers in the bi-weekly working session, no talks and no slides.
Tech Bite 🧑💻
Thursday, August 27
1st Hamburg Hardware Meetup (English) — Meet the people building physical products in Hamburg at the first edition of a hardware-focused meetup.
Thursday, August 27
ProductTank Hamburg August (English) — Talk product with Hamburg's PM community outdoors, bring your own drinks.
Startup 101 🔨
Monday, August 24
Co-working Day (English) — Work alongside other founders and operators for the day instead of from your kitchen table, no membership and no application.
Thursday, August 27
Meet the Mentor (German) — Get direct feedback on your business from mentors who have already built and scaled companies.
Friday, August 28
build fridays (English) — Work on your startup alongside other founders for the afternoon and end the week with real progress instead of a to-do list.
Get Inspired ✨
Monday, August 24
Deep Tech Club Fireside Chat with Prof. Angela Relógio (English) — Hear how TimeTeller turned circadian rhythm research into a company, straight from the founder scientist.
Wednesday, August 26
Health Network Hamburg Apéro Vol. 16 (English) — Meet health and biotech founders, clinicians and investors over drinks at the 16th edition of the city's health network.
Thursday, August 27
Founders' Tap Summer Edition (English) — Trade notes with deep tech founders over beer in the summer edition of Hamburg's founder afterwork.
Thursday, August 27
Honeymoon Startup Pitch #16 (English) — Watch early-stage founders pitch to a room of investors and operators, and see what actually lands.
Saturday, August 29
Founders Running Club (English) — Run a relaxed 5K with founders and tech people, with a shorter option and coffee once everyone is back.
Open Calls 📣
Grants, programs, and opportunities waiting for your application.
Next Big Brand — For startups headquartered in Hamburg or Schleswig-Holstein with something to make visible, physical product or digital. The winner takes an €85,000 out-of-home campaign: 250 premium city-light posters across the city, decided at a pitch night in the Speicherstadt on September 23. Deadline: September 4.
AI-BOOST AI Challenge Competition — For developers, researchers and startups building generative AI. Five teams per challenge take €28,500 each, then compete for a €100,000 final prize. Two tracks are open: synthetic data to fill gaps in clinical imaging sets with EUCAIM, and automatic test case generation from crash databases with Siemens. Deadline: September 8.
Job Picks 💼
3 open roles worth a look this week.
Senior Software Engineer, Frontend at awork, a work management SaaS.
Senior Partner Manager at Kubermatic, a cloud-native infrastructure company.
Founders Associate at Holy Technologies, a deeptech making fully recyclable carbon fibre parts.
Want to feature your job and put it in front of 1.300+ readers? Submit it here.
That’s a wrap!
Check out the tune of the week from the found playlist
🏄♂
Share found Hamburg with your friends
See you next week,
Kyrylo from found Hamburg