Hi there – and welcome to the first blog post!
Here we will be inviting local entrepreneurs, startups, experts and other interesting and inspiring people to write/talk/film widely about the field of innovation and entrepreneurship. Some of the authors will tell you their own story, while others will use the blog for giving out useful advices and tips. Basically we would like to offer a place, where people from the startup community in and around Odense can share their voice – for others to be inspired, motivated and enlightened.
This first blog post will put ourselves, Startup Odense, under the magnifying glass to tell a bit more about our purpose, the process and the activities. A wise man (Simon Sinek, red.) once said that inspiring leaders and organizations (no matter their size) think and communicate from the inside and out. Therefore we will start with elaborating on the why, the purpose of Startup Odense, and end with what we are working on.
Why?
Change brings opportunity
Odense is currently undergoing an interesting transformation and is growing in several different aspects. A lot of great activities is happening around the city, and within the startup ecosystem many actors offer valuable means and events for those interested within these fields.
The issue
Unfortunately, there is a big lack of overview of all the entrepreneurial activities and the relevant actors, resources and physical facilities to gain from. This decrease both the exposure and the impact of these great opportunities and offers. Additionally, the startup community is not fully up’n going and community events are rarely held. Some entrepreneurs and grassroots have been good at arranging different networking events, but together we agree that a higher momentum and recurrence is essential for engagement of the entire community.
The aim
Therefore, the overall aim of Startup Odense is to support the startup ecosystem and startup community, in and around Odense, by creating an overview and emphasizing the solidarity.
How?
For the community and by the community
In order to create an overview, we decided to make an online platform, which compile and unify all the entrepreneurial activities, resources and actors in and around Odense. The platform is intended to be used by the community – and therefore it is important that it is community-driven. Consequently, relevant stakeholders and parties are asked to get involved in terms of delivering content to the site (e.g. by adding their own events), but also to be part of the development process, in order to ensure the platform’s relevance, influence and impact.
Organizational format
Being community-driven also means that the organization shouldn’t be rooted into one specific player within the ecosystem, but be autonomous and driven by local entrepreneurial forces. That is also why the intention for Startup Odense is to be established as a non-profit organization, where any potential profit generated can be diverted back to the ecosystem, e.g. through different value-creating activities. Having a flexible non-profit organization also makes it easier to pass on the baton to other motivated people in the future.
What?
First features
Our initial focus has been to offer an event calendar, which all the different actors, who organize and conduct events within the fields of entrepreneurship and innovation, can use in their favour. This not only creates an easy-accessible overview of activities happening, for convenience to both possible participants and the actors themselves, but also reduces the chances of organizers scheduling similar events too closely. The website also features an overview of local startup companies and physical places like co-working spaces, incubators, labs, and more.
Community events
Furthermore, together with some of the city’s startups, we decided to organize a monthly networking meetup for the entire startup community. This is being held once each month on a Friday, since networking over the enjoyment of a beer is a fantastic combination. Our first “Startup Odense Friday Bar”, together with Edentic as host, went superb with around 50 people stumbling by for informal networking.
House of Code will be hosting the next event on Friday the 23rd of September, which you should definitely attend to if you want to be part of enhancing the startup community in Odense.
More to come
So, now we also started a blog. It will be fun testing whether it will generate value for the startup community and in what way.
Nonetheless, we continuously aim towards supporting the startup ecosystem in and around Odense in different relevant ways, so if you are sitting with any desirable wishes, ideas, inputs, or just want to drink a cup of coffee, feel free to contact us at coffee@startupodense.com. Cheers!
On behalf of the Startup Odense team,
Rasmus
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