Jun 20, 2022

Connecting new ventures, and loads of studio news!

By Michael van Lier • Issue #19 • View online

Things have been vibrant since the start of our new and fresh Business Designer and Entrepreneur in Residence! Last month, they were researching and validating how companies optimise their employee experience to increase employee retention rates to lay the groundwork for our next venture. As part of this, there is work to be done, and people to be met.

Friendly Ask:

We are looking to get in touch with HR managers and owners of small businesses (up to 250 employees) active within one of the following sectors: IT, Business Services, Healthcare or Education.

If you fit this profile, or know someone who would, please get in touch with a reply to this email. Thanks!

News from our universe 🪐

With 161 successful campaigns and 1100 new influencers joining the platform, Influentials is the busiest it’s ever been! Mind you, we’re only halfway into the year. Can’t wait to see them soar even higher in the coming months.
Influentials CEO Dana de Koning will be on the speaker panel at the Social Media Summit organised by Digimedia on 24th June in Brussels Belgium.
With over 130 passionate members of the coliving sector tuning in, Obeyo held the season finale of its popular podcast Rooftalks with the livestream event Rooftalks Live on 31st May at Cohesion Cobana. You can rewatch the event here.
Obeyo is a finalist in not one, but TWO categories of the Coliving Awards 2022! They have been nominated in the PropTech & ConTech category, and their flagship Rooftalks podcast is a strong contender for the Content & Media category. We await the awards on the 29th of June and all the best to Obeyo!
Builders Partner and Managing Director Sharon Klaver was a panel member at Women in Venture Building - Diversity for Empowerment hosted by StudioHub featuring imminent female venture builders discussing the current state of diversity in the startup ecosystem, and how diversifying your organisation can be critical to your success as a workplace.
I was part of the GSSN summit featuring leading venture studio partners from around the world in Seattle, U.S.A.
I also hosted a webinar on ‘Company building cheat-sheet’ for potentials founders and investors as part of the Upstream Festival in Rotterdam on the 2nd June 2022.
Builders don’t just talk business, we talk business while we kill it at sports too. Sharon and I were part of the Padel tournament hosted by Arches Capital during the Upstream Festival week early this month.
Builders hosted its inaugural Investor dinner at Restaurant Aji in Rotterdam on 1st June 2022. It certainly was an evening of spirited (no pun intended) conversations over dinner and drinks!

What we’re following 👀

Builders Partner and Managing Director Sharon Klaver has penned her thoughts on the post-COVID work culture, as well as her tips on how to effectively lead a flexi-workplace in a Medium article. It’s a gripping and actionable read, so do check it out!
Our favourite media house Soaked by Slush has released an piece on the Journey toward Product-Market Fit that we as a startup studio massively resonate with. After all, the dream scenario of any startup is to achieve the perfect AHA! moment of product-market fit, and all resources that contribute to that moment are welcome.
Slush also featured a very interesting (and timely) article on How to choose your co-founder(s) – and where to find them. With our hunt for the next star Future Founder and CTO heating up, we couldn’t think of a better time to come across this - maybe you’ll love it as much as we did.
Veteran startup mentor Farokh Sahabi has detailed his experiences on What he’s learned from mentoring 100 startups in this article. He explore every aspect of the process, from team building, to trusting and learning from mistakes in the arduous process of venture building.