Hamburg 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 Hamburg Founder Institute now open, we are excited to release the Hamburg Startup Ecosystem Canvas, which is currently in Draft v1 below! It was developed by the Hamburg Founder Institute and local leaders Bjoern Fedder, Hauke Windmueller, and Rachit Shadra. 

This is just Version 1.0, and while we spent many hours on this research, more input is needed. Please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version. 

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

Text version included below, for ease of searching:

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.

A. Inspire

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

1. Deutsche Startups
2. EU Startups Hamburg
3. Förderland
4. Gründerszene
5. Hamburg Startup Monitor
6. Hamburg Startups
7. Social Startups
8. Startup Digest Hamburg
9. StartupSpot Hamburg

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

1. 12min.me Hamburg
2. Chef Treff
3. Impact Innovation Hamburg
4. Innovationsforum Hamburg
5. MLOVE
6. NEXT Conference
7. PyLadies Hamburg
8. Startup Weekend Hamburg
9. True Tech Talks

B. Educate

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

1. Artificial Intelligence Meetup
2. Big Data Hamburg
3. Big Data & NoSQL Meetup Hamburg
4. Blockchain Mania
5. Data Science Hamburg
6. DDJ Hamburg
7. Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg
8. Hamburg, Blockchain, Bitcoin & Co.
9. Hamburg Education and Technology Meetup
10. Hamburg Internet of Things (IoT) User Group
11. Hamburg R User Group
12. Hamburg WordPress Meetup
13. hh.ex Hamburg Elixir Meetup
14. inovex Meetup Hamburg
15. Java User Group Hamburg
16. LogisticsTech Meetup Hamburg
17. meetup.ai [Hamburg]
18. Meteor Hamburg
19. nextReality.Hamburg
20. node.HH - Node.js User Group
21. PHP-Usergroup Hamburg (PHPUGHH)
22. Regionalgruppe Hamburg der GI/GACM
23. Rust Meetup Hamburg
24. Scrum Masters HH
25. SEO HH
26. Shapes — Hamburg Design Meetup
27. Smart Datalytics
28. Startup Founder 101 Hamburg
29. Startup Grind Hamburg
30. Training & Feedback: Skill & Idea development. (Ex. bootcamps and comprehensive training programs, like Founder Institute, General Assembly, Lean Startup Machine, code camps, etc)

1. Agile Coaching
2. Agile Meets HR
3. Azure Meetup Hamburg
4. Becoming a Real Startup
5. betahaus Academy
6. CocoaHeads Hamburg
7. Creative Technology Meetup Hamburg
8. Design Thinking Meetup Hamburg
9. Entrepreneur Academy
10. Founder Institute
11. GDG Go & Cloud User Group Hamburg
12. GDG Hamburg Android
13. Google Developer Group Hamburg
14. Hamburg AWS User Group
15. Hamburg C# and .NET User Group Meetup
16. Hamburg Coding School
17. Hamburg Data Science Meetup
18. Hamburg Kubernetes/Cloud-Native Meetup
19. Hamburg Legal Tech Meetup
20. Hamburg React.js Meetup
21. Hamburg Startup Idea Bootcamp: How to Evaluate Your Ideas
22. Hamburg Startup: Idea to IPO
23. Hamburg Unity Meetup
24. Hamburg Unreal Engine Meetup
25. Hamburg Vue.js Meetup
26. IoT - Rebells Hamburg
27. Laravel Hamburg
28. Lean Startup Hamburg
29. Lean Startup HH
30. Lean Startup Machine Hamburg
31. MOINWORLD
32. neue fische
33. OpenTechSchool Hamburg Meetup
34. ProductTank Hamburg
35. PyData Hamburg
36. Python User Group Hamburg
37. Refugees on Rails
38. Scala Hamburg
39. Serverless Hamburg
40. Softwarearchitektur Hamburg
41. Softwerkskammer Hamburg
42. SQL Server Hamburg
43. The Pulse Hamburg Meetup
44. ThoughtWorks Hamburg
45. Treffen junger StartUp Gründer
46. Tutech Academy Seminars
47. Unternehmer Brainfood
48. WeWork Labs
49. Working Products
50. C. Validate

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

1. Blockchain & Beer Hamburg
2. Business Club Hamburg
3. CoFoundersLab
4. Cross Innovation Meetup
5. Entrepreneurs' Organization
6. Founder2be
7. FounderDating
8. Hamburg Startups
9. Hamburger Technology Meetup
10. ImpulsNetWorking
11. Lunchtastic Hamburg
12. New Work Meetup Hamburg
13. Startup Co-Founder Matching: Find the Right Partner in Hamburg
14. Startup Sucht
15. Startup Walk & Talk Hamburg
16. StartupBlink Hamburg
17. The Pulse Hamburg
18. Women Startups & Entrepreneurs Hamburg
19. Women Techmakers Hamburg

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

1. #CINEMAJOURNEY Hackathon
2. Attraktor
3. Blue Hackers Club
4. BookLab Hackathon
5. Code for Hamburg
6. CodeCruise
7. Coding Brunch
8. decode HH
9. Fabulous St.Pauli
10. Hack The Wind
11. Hackathon and Startup Challenges Hamburg
12. Hacks/Hackers Hamburg
13. Hamburg Legal Hackers
14. Infracoders Hamburg
15. Mobility Hackathon
16. OpenLab
17. PAX TECH HACK
18. SinnerSchrader Hamburg
19. Virtual Reality Hamburg

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.

A. Start

• Establish: Law firms & banks for startups

1. Commerzbank
2. Danske Bank
3. Deutsche Bank
4. DNB Germany
5. Gleiss Lutz
6. GLS-Bank
7. GRP Rainer
8. Hamburger Volksbank eG
9. Hanseatic Bank
10. HSBC
11. HypoVereinsbank
12. Jaberi Lawyer
13. Jyske Bank
14. Latham & Watkins, LLP
15. Norton Rose Fulbright
16. Osborne Clarke
17. Römermann Rechtsanwälte
18. Santander
19. Sparda-Bank Hamburg eG
20. ZiraatBank

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

1. 20Scoops
2. Beehive
3. betahaus
4. cloudsters Hamburg
5. CoWorkBude14
6. Coworking Airport HAM
7. Design Offices
8. FilmFabrique Coworking
9. Hamburg Business Center - Coworking Space
10. Health Innovation Port
11. Medienhof Coworking
12. meinbüro
13. Mindspace
14. places hamburg
15. SHHARED
16. Werkheim Hamburg
17. WeWork
18. WorkRepublic

B. Develop

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

1. appdream
2. appmotion
3. APPUNK
4. Budacode
5. DESIGNERDOCK
6. Dynport
7. Factorial
8. FIRMENHILFE
9. freiheit
10. Scheller & Partner
11. Servicekontor Hamburg
12. Steuerkanzlei Susanne Weber
13. SThree Careers

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

1. .garage startups Hamburg
2. 20Scoops
3. comdirect Start-up Garage
4. Founder Institute Hamburg 2019
5. GoDo
6. Hamburg Innovation
7. Hanse Ventures
8. Health Innovation Port
9. hit-Technopark
10. KPMG startup initiative
11. LiquidLabs
12. PwC NextLevel startup initiative
13. SOCIAL IMPACT LAB Hamburg
14. Startup Dock

C. Launch

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

1. Airbus BizLab
2. German Accelerator
3. Health Innovation Port
4. InnoFounder
5. InnoRampUp
6. Music WorX Accelerator
7. Next Commerce Accelerator
8. Next Media Accelerator
9. NLA Accelerator
10. SEA'D
11. Start & Found
12. Startupbootcamp Transport Hamburg

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

1. .garage startups hamburg 10-Minute-Pitch
2. BETAPITCH Hamburg
3. Chef Treff
4. Funders Club Pitch Days
5. Hanse Ventures Ideensturm
6. HONEYMOON Startup Pitch
7. NCA Demo Day
8. Next Media Accelerator Demo Day
9. NLA Demo Day
10. Pitch Blue
11. Pitch Night
12. Startups @Reeperbahn 2018 Pitch
13. UniPitch

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.

A. Recognition

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

1. Angel Investment Netz
2. Business Angels Netzwerk Deutschland
3. Funders Club
4. Spätschicht Hamburg

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

1. DW
2. Euronews Hamburg
3. Hamburg News
4. Hamburger Abendblatt
5. Hamburger Morgenpost
6. The Local
7. Wirtschaft Hamburg

B. Funding

• Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors

1. Andreas v. Lochow
2. Christian Miele
3. Christopher Pommerening
4. Daniel Grözinger
5. Daniela Hinrichs
6. Dirk Freise
7. Dmitry Muzhikov
8. Dominik Gyllensvärd
9. Gunnar Froh
10. Heiko Hubertz
11. Jochen Maaß
12. Katharina Wolff
13. Lars Hinrichs
14. Linda Dannenberg
15. Malte Barth
16. Marc Griefahn
17. Marcel Uhlemann
18. Oliver SK
19. Paul Jozefak
20. Philipp Schroeder
21. Roberto Valerio
22. Rolf Mathies
23. Stephan R. Boehm
24. Stephan Uhrenbacher
25. Stephan Wirries
26. Sven Kirkerup
27. Sven OSsenbrüggen
28. Thomas Grota
29. Thomas Promny
30. Tim Bode
31. Tim Jaudszims
32. Weddad Naziri
33. Wilhelm Scholze
34. Yasin Sebastian Qureshi

• Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond

1. 20Scoops
2. Active Venture Partners
3. Apollo Ventures
4. Aquila Capital
5. BC Partners
6. Beaufort Capital
7. Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners
8. e.ventures
9. Endeit Capital
10. Hanse Ventures
11. H.I.G. Capital
12. Innovationsstarter Fonds
13. Neuhaus Partners
14. Shortcut Ventures
15. TruVenturo
16. Waterland
17. Winterberg Group

C. Growth

• 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. Arkadia
3. BlueCap HR
4. Engel & Völkers
5. h+h Versicherungskontor
6. Hagen & Kruse
7. Hays
8. Hiscox
9. Instant Offices
10. Randstad
11. Regus
12. SKEPP
13. Vesterling
14. Zurich
15. ZWICK HR Consulting

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

1. Accenture
2. Aon
3. Atkins
4. BearingPoint
5. BMC
6. Boston Consulting Group
7. Capgemini
8. CGI
9. Crowe
10. Deloitte
11. Ernst & Young
12. Ginkgo Management Consulting
13. Horváth & Partners Management Consultants
14. Kantar Millward Brown
15. Kantar TNS
16. KPMG
17. McKinsey & Company
18. Mercer
19. North Highland
20. Oliver Wyman
21. Porsche Consulting
22. PwC
23. Roland Berger
24. Tata Consultancy Services
25. Vivaldi
26. Warth & Klein Grant Thornton AG

4. Success Stories

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

1. ABOUT YOU
2. connected-health.eu
3. Deposit Solutions
4. Dreamlines
5. Dynport
6. etventure
7. Figo
8. Finanzcheck.de
9. FreightHub
10. Jimdo
11. Keeeb
12. Kreditech
13. mytaxi
14. payever
15. Phrase
16. Risk Ident
17. Stylelounge
18. Visarity
19. Wunder Mobility
20. WorkGenius
21. XING

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.

1. Alex Ahom
2. Aubert Vanderlinden
3. Bjoern Fedder
4. Christoph Magnussen
5. Conny Nolzen
6. Dr. Ralf Belusa
7. Hauke Windmueller
8. Henning C. Frank
9. Henrik Moessinger
10. J. Marco Bremer
11. Jeremy Abbett
12. Julia von Winterfeldt
13. Karel J. Golta
14. Karina Popova
15. Malte Sussdorff
16. Marc Buckley
17. Michael Sillus
18. Miriam Hanke
19. Odin Mühlenbein
20. Oliver Roessling
21. Ottavia Tomarchio
22. Patrick Sinn
23. Peter Kabel
24. Philip von Have
25. Rachit Shadra
26. Rayk Hahne
27. Rey Buckman
28. Roman Ernst
29. Sabela Garcia Cuesta
30. Sebastian Johnston
31. Sina Gritzuhn
32. Thorsten Wittmuetz
33. Veronika Reichboth

2. Government

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development (ex. Start with the chamber of commerce, “Invest in XXX”, “Economic Ministry of XXX” , “Innovation”, R&D, etc)

1. future.hamburg
2. Hamburg Chamber of Commerce
3. Hamburg Innovation
4. Hamburg Invest
5. IFB Innovationsstarter
6. Tutech Innovation GmbH
7. Welcome to Hamburg

3. Talent

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

• Local Universities (universities with prominent technical or business programs)

1. EBC Hochschule
2. Euro-FH
3. Hamburg School of Business Administration
4. Hamburg University of Applied Sciences - HAW Hamburg
5. ISS Business School
6. Kühne Logistics University
7. TUHH
8. Universität Hamburg

• Local Employers (Major technical employers, like Microsoft or Google or large local companies, with large local offices, “major technology companies in XX”)

1. Adobe
2. ALTEN Technology
3. Amazon
4. Bigpoint
5. Cisco
6. Facebook
7. Goodgame Studios
8. Google
9. HP
10. IBM
11. InnoGames
12. Jimdo
13. Kreditech
14. Lufthansa Technik
15. Microsoft
16. MyTaxi
17. NXP Semiconductors
18. Oracle
19. Philips
20. Samsung
21. Siemens
22. Smaato
23. T-Systems
24. Telefónica Deutschland
25. XING
26. Zalando

 

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

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