[Co-founders’ Corner] Connecting London with Amsterdam
One of my observations is that most of the LSE startups are very UK focused while their technology can be applied globally in most circumstances
November seemed to be a month of technology for Orientis. Just before our visit to Slush 2024, we were invited by a delegation of student startups from London School of Economics (“LSE”) Entrepreneurs, who wished to get a better understanding of the tech ecosystem in the Netherlands.
We began our journey at Startup Village of Amsterdam Science Park. We were glad to meet the management and some of the startups and ended the morning program with a tour of the campus, and the students were amazed about the eco-friendly architecture.
The afternoon was show time, the LSE startups presented their pitch deck and received comments from the investors on the spot. Unlike the British, Dutchmen are more direct. Luckily these young fellows appreciated the investors’ input. One of the investors is Lucien Burm, chairman of Dutch Startup Association. One of his ventures is Prompting Europe, his mission is to create a pan European startup platform.
We ended the day at The Next Web (TNW) downtown Amsterdam for happy hour. TNW is the oldest tech incubator venue in the Netherlands and the location is next to the flower market.
The last part of the program is a visit to CLEAR Corp Finance where the LSE startups learnt about the difference of the investors between US/UK vs continental Europe, latest update of development of hydrogen.
One of my observations is that most of the LSE startups are very UK focused while their technology can be applied globally in most circumstances. I sincerely hope that one of the take-aways of this trip is to broaden their horizon to Europe, the Old Continental that needs more tech than ever!
#London #Amsterdam #technology #LSE #techecosystem #Netherlands #LucienBurm #DutchStartupAssociation