Hey, dear reader!
Can you build trust?
Last week at Waterkant Festival, I sat on a panel dedicated to the role of trust in cross-border startup collaboration, alongside ecosystem builders from Denmark, Sweden, and Germany.
Denmark is the highest-trust society in the world, around three-quarters of Danes say most people can be trusted. Sweden sits close behind at 63%. Germany sits closer to 42%. The Nordics trust by default, while Germans often start with control.
Maybe that's part of why Sweden has one of the highest unicorn densities in Europe, far ahead of us here. When trust is the baseline, people share earlier, collaborate faster, and open doors without keeping score.
In Germany, I feel like trust is something you earn, slowly. If you're from another city, another country, or a first-time founder with no exit to point to, it's much harder. We even have a word for the shortcut, Vitamin B: the right connections get you everything from an apartment to your first customer. But building that network is painfully slow, and some doors never open no matter how hard you knock.
What if trust was the default?
I trust you unless you prove me wrong. I don't care about your background or where you come from, the only important thing is what you're doing now and that you're willing to give more than take.
To me, building found has always been about trust and mutual help. Every Monday you trust me to connect you with the startup ecosystem. You ask for help and share your feedback. That's invaluable. This community thrives, only because we trust each other. Trust creates a space where we feel safe to connect, grow, and build together.
So this week, try extending trust to someone before they've earned it. A stranger at an event, a founder who just landed here, someone with no track record yet. See what comes back.
P.S. I'm taking a short summer break for a week and will come back with the next issue of the newsletter on the 6th of July. Happy Summer!
New Podcast Episode
Featuring Alina Klarner
On this episode of the found podcast, we sat down with Alina Klarner, Founding Partner & GP of Impact Shakers, a €20M VC backing diverse impact founders across Europe, who left a decade in finance and PE to bet on climate, inclusion, and impact.
Save the Date 🗓
The events I'm most excited about in the weeks ahead.
Monday, June 29
Sustainable Tech in the Age of AI (English) — Unpack AI's real environmental and societal footprint, from raw materials to data centers, with practical takes on building sustainable tech.
Tuesday, June 30
Afterwork Special (English) — Practice your pitch at the PwC booth, speed-network over a table-tennis tourney, and refuel at the superfood and smoothie station, no panel, pure networking.
Wednesday, July 1
Works in Progress #2 (English) — See how designers and creatives actually work, sharing real workflows for how AI and new tools are reshaping creative work.
Thursday, July 2
THE FORGE Kick-Off (German) — Connect with founders, investors, and decision-makers building in European defense, dual-use tech, critical infrastructure, and space.
Tuesday, July 7
Agentic Coding Meetup #6 (English) — Dive into two talks, an open lightning-talk slot, and networking with people building AI and agentic applications.
Weekly Picks📍
All the events on my radar for this week.
This Issue’s Gem 💎
Saturday, June 27
Global AI at CollabDays Hamburg (English) — Spend a full community-run conference day diving into AI and cloud sessions with practitioners from around the world.
AI Everywhere 🤖
Monday, June 22
AI Finance & Insurance Circle (German) — Trade practical insights with banking, insurance, and finance decision-makers on AI applications, regulation, and where the industry is heading.
Wednesday, June 24
Deep Dive: Building Startups with AI (English) — Get a compact, practical read on Hamburg's AI startup ecosystem and how to actually execute, from Startup City Hamburg and ARIC.
Tech Bite 🧑💻
Tuesday, June 23
n8n Hamburg Meetup (English) — Master workflow automation and AI agents through talks, breakout sessions, and networking on practical n8n use cases.
Friday, June 26
ITCS Hamburg (English/German) — Explore a tech conference, careers fair, and festival with 100+ companies under one roof.
Sunday, June 28
Claude Code Sunday for Beginners (English) — Get hands-on with Claude Code and agentic AI in a beginner-friendly weekly session.
Startup 101 🔨
Monday, June 22
found Co-working Day (English) — Spend the day working alongside Hamburg's founders, operators, and techies, no membership, no application, just drop in.
Tuesday, June 23
The Ultimate Branding for Startups (German) — Get art director Michel Guss's honest, concrete branding feedback as he reviews six startup teams live.
From Lab to Launch: Building Entrepreneurial Skills and Strong Teams (English) — Build entrepreneurial skills and find a co-founder at Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld, with keynotes, panels, and matching.
Thursday, June 25
Digital Health on Campus (German) — Watch digital-health startups and student teams pitch ideas, with keynotes and a scaling panel.
Friday, June 26
build fridays (English) — Ship your product alongside other builders, demo your progress, and get unstuck with feedback from fellow founders.
Get Inspired ✨
Wednesday, June 24
Impact Lunch: Social Entrepreneurship City Edition (English/German) — Swap ideas over a vegan lunch with impulses and talks on social entrepreneurship.
Thursday, June 25
Climate Coffee (English/German) — Connect over coffee with Hamburg's climate-tech and impact-investing community in a relaxed monthly meetup.
Bagels & Business Stories (English) — Hear how the New York Bagel Bar founders built and scaled their business, then connect over bagels with other women founders and founders-to-be.
Saturday, June 27
Founders Running Club (English) — Energize your Saturday with founders and tech folks for an easy run, coffee, and conversations after.
Open Calls 📣
Grants, programs, and opportunities waiting for your application.
Gründergeist Startup Competition 2026 — For Hamburg-based founders and teams in the founding phase. Over €20,000 in cash and prizes split among the top three, plus coaching for the seven finalists and access to Hamburg's business network. The 20th edition, with pitches on September 12. Deadline: July 1.
NVIDIA Inception — For AI and tech startups under 10 years old with a working product and at least one developer. A free, no-equity membership: preferred pricing on GPUs and software, cloud credits, technical training, and introductions to NVIDIA's VC network. Rolling applications.
Carbon13 Venture Builder — For climate-focused founders across the EU (no need to be based in Germany). A venture builder where teams that pass the second phase receive €150K in investment to build companies that cut megatonnes of CO2. Applications open for the autumn cohort. Rolling applications.
Job Picks 💼
3 open roles worth a look this week.
Founder's Associate at Exaere, a deeptech startup recovering critical metals for clean-energy supply chains.
Senior Backend Engineer – API & Platform at suena energy, an energy-storage platform optimizing batteries for the grid.
MarTech & AI Manager at Evernest, a tech-driven residential real estate platform.
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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