Hey, dear reader!
I received a lot of replies from you to the last newsletter. I'm deeply touched and can't tell you how much it means. Thank you.
I ended that issue with a line I keep coming back to: agency is contagious. But what does it actually need to spread? I kept thinking about it until I found an answer in our own community.
A few weeks ago, our community member, Pascal, shared a call by SPRIND in our WhatsApp group: teams were invited to tackle German bureaucracy, each taking on one of 14 specific problems.
Shortly after, Christian picked it up and proposed to assemble a task force. Ian, Cyril, and Alex all replied to his call. After a couple of intense workshops, the team came up with a solution to develop one place where citizens describe what they need in plain language, and the system routes it to the right authority.
Team "found Hamburg". I didn't insist on the name 😁
To me, this story shows a perfect formula for agency.
It starts with an impulse. Then a carrier. Then supporters to carry it forward. And lastly, a room where people with innate agency already are.
I'm proud that we're creating exactly this kind of room with found.
All it takes is one decision to share, one decision to respond, and one decision to show up.
This week, pick one. Make that call, push that code, reach out to that person you thought would ignore you, tell a stranger about your idea. Be that impulse, and let it spread.
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.
Tuesday, September 8
Hub-Fokus: Storytelling feat. Aaron Night (German) — Turn your positioning into a story that sounds like you and not like a pitch deck.
Wednesday, September 9
ElevenLabs Voice AI Meetup (English) — Get hands-on with voice AI alongside the people building on the ElevenLabs stack.
Thursday, September 10
Deep Tech Afterwork (English) — Meet the deep tech founders and researchers building hard things in Hamburg, over a drink.
Saturday-Sunday, September 12-13
AI.WOMEN Hackathon (English) — Two full days to experiment and build with AI, in a space created for women.
Wednesday, September 16
Autonomous Intelligence Forum #2 (English) — Dig into how AI agents are changing the way companies decide and operate, in the second edition.
Weekly Picks 📍
All the events on my radar for this week.
This Issue's Gem 💎
Thursday, September 3
Works in Progress #3 (English) — Show something half-finished and get useful feedback before it ships, in a night built for unpolished work.
AI Everywhere 🤖
Tuesday, September 1
Free Vibe Coding Meetup: Never Code Alone x Etribes (German) — Build a working prototype by prompt in an evening, free, with two Hamburg communities running it together.
Thursday, September 3
LangChain Meetup: Building Great Agents (English) — Get into what actually makes an LLM agent work in production, with the people shipping them.
Thursday, September 3
AI Insight vol. 16: Uncovering the Blind Spots (German) — Look at where AI quietly widens your security gaps, and what to do about it.
Tech Bite 🧑💻
Tuesday, September 1
The Captain's Table: Innovation Demo Day (English) — Watch working products get demoed rather than pitched, then talk to the people who built them.
Thursday, September 3
A Secure Future: Your Guide to the Cyber Resilience Act (German) — Work out what the EU Cyber Resilience Act actually requires of your product, before it bites.
Startup 101 🔨
Friday, September 4
build fridays hamburg (English/German) — Spend the day working on your own startup alongside other founders doing the same.
Friday-Sunday, September 4-6
Startup Camp (German) — Take an idea from blank page to pitch across three days with mentors and other first-time founders.
Get Inspired ✨
Wednesday, September 2
Impact Academy: Scaling Impact, What Recup Teaches Us (German) — Hear how Recup scaled a reuse system nationwide, from the founder who did it.
Friday-Saturday, September 4-5
AiDiA Business & Culture Fest (German/English) — Spend two days between business, culture and impact programming.
Saturday, September 5
Founders Running Club (English/German) — Run with other founders first, network second, no pitch deck required.
Open Calls 📣
Grants, programs, and opportunities waiting for your application.
Antler ONE Residency — For founders at the very start, including solo ones still looking for a co-founder or an idea. Up to €500,000 invested at inception, then up to €30M through Series C, plus €650,000 in AI, software and cloud credits. Run from Berlin, roughly 100 founders picked from around 10,000 applicants. Rolling applications, residencies start each March and September.
EWOR Fellowship — For founders anywhere between a rough idea and €2M ARR. Up to €300,000 to turn an idea into a fundable company, or €500,000 invested immediately if you are already scaling. Virtual-first, and a 3% equity tuition fee applies only if they invest. Rolling applications.
Job Picks 💼
3 open roles worth a look this week.
Senior Backend Engineer at SCAYLE, a commerce platform spun out of ABOUT YOU.
Founders' Associate at Anio, impact scale-up building kids’ smartwatches as an alternative to the first smartphone.
Technical Co-Founder at shop a room, an early e-commerce startup looking for the person who will build the product.
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