Amsterdam is a great place to build a startup, but most of the early-stage entrepreneurs we speak to are not aware of the local resources that are available to help them.

With applications for the Amsterdam Founder Institute now open, we are excited to release the Amsterdam Startup Ecosystem Canvas! It was developed by the Amsterdam Founder Institute and local leaders Ana Radulvolski, Ivo Radulvolski, Orkun Ozbatur and Amine Khobba.

We spent about 20 hours doing this research, but this is just the first draft. More input is needed, so please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document and it will be considered for the next update.

Are you looking to build a startup in Amsterdam? Then apply to the Amsterdam Founder Institute today! 

A text version is included below, for searchability:

Startup Stages

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There is no one right way to build a technology company, but for the sake of simplicity we have outlined a basic, common, sequential framework.

1. IDEA-STAGE

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.

Inspire:

• Startup Media: Centralized local information, listings, and news. (i.e. startup blogs/ publications/ lists/ FB groups/ newsletters, Startup Digest)

1. Emerce

2. Impact Hub Amsterdam Blog
3. Innovation Exchange Amsterdam News
4. Silicon Canals
5. Silicon Luxembourg
6. Sprout
7. StartupAmsterdam News
8. StartupDelta
9. Startup Digest Amsterdam
10. StartupJuncture

• Inspirational Events: Open, inclusive, beginner startup events (i.e. Startup Weekend, idea fairs, and inspirational meetups)

1. Amsterdam TechMeetups

2. Big Data Amsterdam
3. Bitcoin Wednesday Amsterdam
4. Blockchain Startup Weekend Amsterdam
5. Blockchain Talks
6. Creative Mornings
7. Girl Code
8. Golang Amsterdam
9. GOTO Nights Amsterdam
10. Growth Hacker Talk
11. Hackers & Founders
12. Impact Hub Amsterdam | Events
13. IT Development Café
14. ITNEXT
15. Ladies that UX Amsterdam
16. Let's Code Together - Women's Code Club in Amsterdam
17. Permanent Beta
18. Permissionless Society Blockchains
19. R-Ladies Amsterdam
20. Rockstart Amsterdam
21. Silicon Veluwe
22. Startup Weekend Amsterdam
23. Tech Leader Club
24. TECH Talks Meetup Amsterdam
25. TNW Conference

Educate

1. Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like Startup Founder 101, etc).

1. AEM Developer Meetup NL

2. Agilists Sharing Knowledge
3. Amsterdam Java User Group
4. AmsterdamPHP
5. Amsterdam Python Meetup Group
6. Amsterdam Salesforce User Group / Meetup
7. Amsterdam UX
8. AWS Amsterdam
9. Cloud Architectures Meetup
10. Data Analytics Amsterdam Meetup
11. Data Donderdag
12. DesignThinkers Academy
13. Dutch Devops Engineers
14. Dutch Legal Tech Meetup
15. Elastic User Group NL
16. Frontend Developer Meetup Amsterdam
17. Holacracy Meetup Group
18. Honeypot Tech Talks Amsterdam
19. I amsterdam
20. ING Banking of Things
21. JavaScript Lab Amsterdam
22. Lead Developers Amsterdam
23. Learning to Code Amsterdam
24. Machine Learning Netherlands
25. NLHTML5
26. PipelineAI Advanced Spark and TensorFlow Meetup Amsterdam
27. Startup Founder 101 Amsterdam
28. Startup Grind Amsterdam
29. Toon Tech Talks
30. Uber Engineering Events: Amsterdam
31. VueJS Meetup Amsterdam

2. Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, etc)

1. amst-R-dam

2. Amsterdam Data Science Meetup
3. Amsterdam Kubernetes/Cloud-Native Meetup
4. Amsterdam Medical Data Science
5. Amsterdam Startup: Idea to IPO
6. Analytics & Data Science by Dataiku Amsterdam
7. Analytics & Optimization Meetup Group
8. B. Startup School Amsterdam
9. Behavior Design AMS
10. Blue Harvest Meetups
11. Business Model Challenge
12. CocoaHeadsNL
13. Codaisseur Academy Amsterdam
14. Codam
15. Codestar Night
16. DataLab Amsterdam
17. Data Science Dojo
18. Delitelabs
19. DevOps Amsterdam
20. DigitalOcean Amsterdam
21. Domain Driven Design Nederland
22. Figma Amsterdam
23. Founder Institute
24. Google Developer Groups Netherlands
25. Growth Tribe Academy
26. Hack Your Future
27. How To F$&^% Manage Lean Startups
28. IBM Code Amsterdam
29. Insurtech Amsterdam
30. Ironhack
31. Javascript Workshops
32. Lean Startup Machine
33. Lean Startup Workshop
34. Lean UX Amsterdam
35. Le Wagon Amsterdam
36. Le Wagon Amsterdam Meetup
37. Liberating Structures User Group
38. Machine Learning Amsterdam
39. PostgreSQL User Group NL
40. Rust Amsterdam
41. Startup Boot
42. Startupbootcamp Amsterdam
43. Startup in Residence Amsterdam
44. Startup Founder 101
45. StartupMaze Meetup Amsterdam
46. Startup Nation @ Amsterdam
47. Startups Amsterdam
48. Strategic Design Sandbox
49. Tech Leader  Club
50. The App Academy
51. The Talent Institute
52. Ubiqum
53. Visser & Van Baars - The BI & Big Data Network
54. Women Startups & Entrepreneurs Amsterdam

Validate:

1. Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching”)

1. Amsterdam.rb

2. Amsterdam UX Cocktail Hours
3. Amsterdam Women in Technology
4. Code Nomads
5. CoFoundersLab
6. Expats in Tech (Amsterdam & The Netherlands)
7. Food Integrity Blockchained
8. FounderDating
9. Holland FinTech Meetup
10. Innovation Exchange Amsterdam
11. Next Generation Startup – Amsterdam
12. PWN Amsterdam
13. Spark
14. StartupBlink Amsterdam
15. Startup Boot
16. Startup Boot Businesses Networking Meetup
17. Startup Sucht
18. Talent Acquisition | Recruitment in Startups and Scale Ups
19. The Happy Startup School Amsterdam Meetup

2. Build First Product: Hackathons & resources to build. (i.e. hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources)

1. ADE Hackathon

2. adidas Hackathon
3. Coding with Craftsmen
4. Design Thinking Masterclass Hackathon
5. eiOS HACKATHON
6. Hackers and Founders Amsterdam
7. Hacks/Hackers Amsterdam
8. Holland FinTech & Rehive: Blockchain & Fintech Hackathon
9. Holochain Hackathon
10. Internet-of-Things Sensemakers
11. Lag
12. Makerversity
13. Pop-Up Creativity Hub Meetup
14. Smart City Hackathon
15. Stupid Hackathon
16. Technologia Incognita
17. VR 020 Meetup
18. ZB45 Makerspace

2. LAUNCH-STAGE

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.

Start:

1. Establish: Law firms & banks for startups  

1. ABN AMRO

2. Baker McKenzie
3. Blenheim
4. Dentons
5. Deutsche Bank
6. Hogan Lovells
7. HSBC
8. ING
9. Innoleaps
10. LXA The Law Firm
11. Rabobank
12. Russell Advocaten
13. SNS Bank
14. We are Builders
15. Wintertaling Advocaten & Notarissen

2. Workspace: Co-working and flexible workspaces (note: “official” office space goes in 3.1.a. Infrastructure)

1. #Workmode

2. A Lab
3. Atoomclub
4. B. Amsterdam
5. Bouncespace Amsterdam
6. Charley’s
7. Chateau
8. Hackers & Founders
9. Impact Hub Amsterdam
10. Mindspace
11. Nest
12. Plant22
13. Primalbase
14. ScaleHub
15. Spaces (various locations)
16. Spring House
17. StartDock
18. Startup Village
19. The Thinking Hut
20. TSH CollabHome
21. WeWork
22. Wheelhouse
23. Workspace 6
24. TNW

Develop

1. Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups.

1. 100grams

2. Adams Multilingual Recruitment
3. Amsterdam Bookkeeper
4. Biglyft
5. Blue Lynx
6. Broadstreet
7. Dutch Accountants
8. ENDROiT
9. Expatax
10. Hillbrook
11. iBault
12. Label305
13. Lighthouse Finance
14. M2mobi
15. Projob
16. Sprigs
17. Undutchables Recruitment Agency

2. Prepare for Seed: Incubators and advanced mentorship. (i.e. advanced knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup TEAMS)

1. 15KM

2. ACE Incubator
3. Amsterdam Innovation Arena
4. Amsterdam Venture Studios
5. Antler
6. Clinic
7. Impact Hub Amsterdam
8. Innovation Exchange Amsterdam
9. Kitchen Republic
10. Let It Grow Lab Incubator
11. NLC
12. Open-House
13. StartupDelta
14. theGROUNDS
15. TQ Amsterdam
16. UtrechtInc
17. Viisi Labs
18. XRBase
19. YesDelft!
20. zorgInc

Launch

1. Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)

1. 512 Concepts

2. Accelerate Impact Hub Amsterdam

3. Booking Booster

4. Business Accelerator

5. Collider

6. Fashion for Good - Plug and Play Accelerator

7. HealthInc

8. ING Innovation Studio

9. Investment Ready Program

10. Marriott TestBED

11. Million Monkeys

12. NEXT Amsterdam

13. Open-House

14. Present Your Startup

15. Rockstart Accelerator

16. Startupbootcamp Commerce Amsterdam

17. Startupbootcamp FinTech & CyberSecurity Amsterdam

18. Startupbootcamp Smart City & IoT Amsterdam

19. Startup in Residence

20. Startup Launch Class

21. Techstars Arcadis City of 2030 Accelerator

22. The Main Ingredient

23. VR Base

2. Pitch & Demo: Show local startups for investment (i.e. demo days for companies seeking seed investment)

1. ACE Demo Day

2. Amsterdam Capital Week 2018 Pitch Events
3. Amsterdam Smart City Open House
4. Amsterdam Startup Pitch Night
5. Music Pitch
6. Pitch Perfect- How to make sure your ideas have a voice.
7. Present Your Startup
8. Startupbootcamp Commerce Amsterdam 2018 Demo Day
9. StartUp Scan
10. TheNextWomen Pitch Competition
11. TNW Startup Pitch Program

3. GROWTH-STAGE

Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition, and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs, and ways to connect them to startups.

Recognition

1. Investor Networking:  Connect professional investors with founders. (i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors)

1. Access Silicon Valley Amsterdam

2. Amsterdam Capital Week 2018
3. Amsterdam Investor Forum 2018
4. Business Angels Netwerk Nederland
5. Capital Tour XXL
6. Innovation Holland
7. Leapfunder
8. Netherlands Investment Network
9. Startup Angels

2. Major Media: Mainstream local business press. (i.e. major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses)

1. De Telegraaf

2. De Volkskrant
3. DutchNews
4. Het Financieele Dagblad
5. Metro
6. NL Times
7. NRC
8. Parool
9. The Next Web (TNW)
10. TROUW

Funding

1. Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors (search AngelList, Gust, Crunchbase)

1. Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten

2. Chang Ng
3. Cok Mudde
4. Dag Ainsoo
5. Ernstjan Albers
6. Floris RvT
7. Ian Zein
8. Johan van Mil
9. Koen Bok
10. Michael Kinsbergen
11. Patrick de Laive
12. Patrick de Zeeuw
13. Raymond Spanjar
14. Ray Quintana
15. Robert Verwaayen
16. Rune Theill
17. Ruud Hendriks
18. Sander van der Blonk
19. Steven van Houwelingen
20. Thijs Gitmans
21. Willem-Jan Schutte
22. Wouter Gort
23. Wouter Kneepkens
24. Yuri Warczynski

2. Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. ACT Venture Partners

2. Aescap Ventures
3. Amsterdam Venture Partners
4. Anterra Capital
5. Avedon Capital Partners
6. Clever Clover
7. Endeit Capital
8. EQT Ventures
9. EVO Venture Partners
10. Finch Capital
11. henQ
12. Holland Venture
13. HPE Growth Capital
14. Inkef Capital
15. Keen Venture Partners
16. Life Science Partners
17. Merck Ventures
18. Peak Capital
19. Prime Ventures
20. Sequoia Amsterdam
21. SET Ventures
22. VOC Capital Partners
23. Volta Ventures
24. Vortex Capital Partners

Growth

1. Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. Allianz

2. Amaska Verzekeringen B.V.
3. Aquent
4. Flexas
5. Instant Offices
6. Meliténe
7. Merkelbag Adviesgroep
8. Octagon
9. Randstad
10. Regus
11. Robert Half
12. Russell Reynolds Associates
13. Search Office Space
14. We Have Any Space
15. Willy Smits Assurantiën bv

2. Expansion: Growth accelerators/consultants. (i.e. programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)

1. A.T. Kearney

2. Accenture
3. Alvarez & Marsal
4. Aon
5. Bain & Company
6. BearingPoint
7. BLOOM
8. Boston Consulting Group
9. Capgemini
10. Deloitte
11. Egon Zehnder
12. Ernst and Young
13. Gartner
14. Grant Thornton
15. Hill+Knowlton Strategies
16. Kantar Millward Brown
17. Kantar TNS Nederland
18. KPMG
19. Mazars
20. McKinsey & Company
21. Milliman
22. Protiviti
23. PwC
24. Roland Berger
25. Tata Consultancy Services
26. Willis Towers Watson

4. SUCCESS STORIES

Successful homegrown companies that have raised significant institutional funding, employ a large workforce, or have achieved liquidity.

1. Adyen

2. Agendia
3. Bloomon
4. Booking.com
5. Bynder
6. eBuddy
7. Fairphone
8. Filippo Loreti
9. Framer
10. Instant Magazine
11. MessageBird
12. Mews Systems
13. Olery
14. Paperspace
15. PartyWith
16. PastBook
17. Peecho
18. Peerby
19. Picnic
20. Silk
21. SkinVision
22. Springest
23. Takeaway.com
24. The Cirqle
25. Tiqets
26. Usabilla
27. WeTransfer

Supporters

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To facilitate the steps, every ecosystem needs strong supporters.

1. EVANGELISTS

Successful local founders who lead the ecosystem & frequently mentor newbies.  (i.e. Local leaders who have taken a leadership position, speak at a lot of startup events, mentor all the programs, etc)

1. Amine Khobba

2. Arpad Gerecsey
3. Ana Radulovski
4. Bart den Haak
5. Bas Tichelaar
6. Bas van Essen
7. Bram Kuijken
8. Bruno Armindo Esteves Macedo
9. Daan Weddepohl 
10. Daniele Dondi
11. David Dwinger
12. Don Ritzen
13. Eline Vliegen
14. Enno Masurel
15. Erik Boer
16. Esther Emmely Gons
17. Ger Baron
18. Henk van Raan
19. Ingrid Wakkee
20. Ivo Radulovski
21. Janneke Niessen
22. Jim Stolze
23. Johan van Mil
24. Jose Manuel Rodriguez Martinez
25. Katalin Gallyas
26. Lori DiVito
27. Merle Freeke
28. Miguel Heilbron
29. Nick Reineman
30. Oliver de Leeuw
31. Orkun Ozbatur
32. Régy Bergen
33. Rene Pot
34. Rob van der Burgt
35. Ronald Kleverlaan
36. Ruben Horbach
37. Ruben Nieuwenhuis
38. Shyaam Ramkumar
39. Simone Brummelhuis
40. Tamas Erkelens
41. Tatiana Glad
42. Timan Rebel
43. Wouter van Hulten
44. Yuval Engel

2. GOVERNMENT

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

1. AmCham: Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands

2. Amsterdam Economic Board
3. Amsterdam Smart City
4. Amsterdam Tech City
5. CCI France Pays-Bas
6. Innovation Exchange Amsterdam
7. Invest in Amsterdam
8. KVK Chamber of Commerce
9. amsterdam inbusiness
10. StartupAmsterdam

3. TALENT

Major local business or tech universities and employers that attract and retain local talent.

1. Local Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)

1. Amsterdam University College

2. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
3. Amsterdam University of the Arts
4. University of Amsterdam
5. University of Luxembourg Incubator Ideation Camp
6. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

2. Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices)

1. Amazon

2. Apple
3. Booking.com
4. Cisco
5. Dell
6. Facebook
7. Google
8. HP
9. Huawei
10. IBM
11. Infosys
12. Intel
13. Juniper Networks
14. KLM
15. Microsoft
16. Netflix
17. Oracle
18. Philips
19. Samsung
20. Takeaway.com
21. Tesla
22. Travix
23. Uber
24. VEON
25. Vodafone

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Learn more about the Startup Ecosystem Canvas here, and leave us your thoughts on the Amsterdam Canvas on this collaborative Google document (This is just a DRAFT, and more input is needed!)

Are you looking to build a startup in Amsterdam? Then apply to the Amsterdam Founder Institute today