We have an important announcement to make…

Today, I have made an important announcement. As you might have learned as a regular reader of Silicon Canals, I am a vigorous supporter of the Dutch startup ecosystem. One of the things a strong ecosystem needs is a regular meetup where founders can meet, mingle, and moan about the startup struggle.

Silicon Drinkabout

In the past few years, together with an amazing crew of co-organizers, we have been running the Amsterdam-franchise of Silicon Drinkabout. For various reasons, that didn’t work. We rebranded to SD Amsterdam, as we were already a merger with the Amsterdam Startups Drinks initiative. That went well until we didn’t have a Meetup in almost a year.

Community of 1500 startup founders

Now, I am revitalizing our amazing Meetup community of 1500 (!) startup founders and -aficionados. It made absolute sense to name it after the most well-known brand in the community: Silicon Canals. Our first host is a long-term friend, visitor and partner of ours: boat-sharing platform Barqo. Our other partner crime is Amazon Web Services. I’d like to thank them here and now for their amazing contribution to our efforts already.

Apply

Below’s the message I’ve sent to our community. Apply for the event via email here. We are hiring: a Community Manager (junior) to run our events.

Dearest of dearest founders,

You may have noticed, or you may have not, that Silicon Drinkabout Amsterdam (or, as it was later called, SD Amsterdam) grew ever more silent.

That, my friends, is about to change. For good.

As the Chief Drinking Officer of the Meetup, and as the founder of Silicon Canals, I decided it is probably best to merge efforts. From now on, this group will also be called Silicon Canals.

The format will change, too. Most importantly, there’s no format. We are destined to create great events – some big, others small – that provide real value to entrepreneurs and founders in the Netherlands.

To achieve this “mission”, one important aspect of this group will radically improve. Although we keep membership open, we will heavily curate attendees.

Why?

Because we believe that truly helping each other out as entrepreneurs/founders, it’s incremental that we bring together like-minded people.

People that are in the same boat, basically. That said, here’s our first event! You guessed it, it’s on a boat!

Muddy Waters
You ever had that feeling you have set a course, but you still don’t know where you’re heading? Together with our boat sponsor, Barqo, and our Gold Partner and sponsor, Amazon Web Services, we try to bring you from Muddy Waters to a Blue Ocean.

With, of course, the help of some refreshments (read: lots of beers & wines) and snacks (probably pizza). For this event, we’re bringing together startup-founders with a launched product, who have a minimum of 250.000 euro funding or 120.000 euro ARR.

We’re on a boat!

• Date: June 14th
• Rendez-vous time: 5.30 PM
• Start time (boat leaves!): 6PM
• End: 8.30PM
• Crowd: 40 pax
• Curation: 75% (co-)founders, 25% investors/influencers.
• Pick-up point: To be announced
• Want to join? Apply via [email protected]­.
• When confirmed, you will receive an RSVP link.

Thanks! Hope to see you in two weeks time!

Cheers, Remco Janssen
Founder, editor in chief Silicon Canals
[A.k.a. Chief Drinking Officer]
Image: boat party by Shutterstock