Startup ecosystems can be fragmented, competitive, and hidden to newcomers, which is detrimental for local startups and community growth. The Startup Ecosystem Canvas seeks to provide local entrepreneurs with a clear list of resources for every stage of their startup journey, and outline a basic framework for communities to map their ecosystem.

With applications for the Cologne Founder Institute coming to a close, we are excited to release the updated Cologne Startup Ecosystem Canvas, which is currently in Draft v1 below! It was developed by the Cologne Founder Institute and local leaders Nikhil Madan, Parul Madan, Timm Neu.

This is just a DRAFT, and more input is needed, so please leave your comments on this collaborative Google document to help us complete the list. There are definitely omissions on this current version.

For links to all of the resources, you can also refer to the list below!

Startup Stages

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. Cologne.io
2. CologneBay
3. Deutsche Startups Köln
4. EU Startups Cologne
5. Kölner Startups
6. NRW Startups
7. RP Gründerzeit
8. Startup Digest Cologne
9. Startup Region Köln
10. Vidar Andersen

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

1. Cologne Startups
2. Data Science Meetup Köln
3. DevHouseFriday Chillout
4. dmexco
5. Entrepreneurs Club Cologne
6. FinTech und InsurTech Meetup Cologne - Bonn
7. Golang Cologne/Bonn
8. IOTA Meetup Germany
9. Köln ICO für Startups Meetup
10. Rails Girls
11. Smartistenten
12. Startup SAFARI Cologne
13. Startup Weekend Cologne
14. Team HODL I Der Krypto Stammtisch
15. Tech on Deck
16. Tech Startups: Diversity & Openness
17. Women Startups & Entrepreneurs Köln & Bonn
18. World Shaping Program

• Educate

• Best Practices: Beginner knowledge-sharing events. (i.e. beginner events that serve to educate more than inspire, like Startup Founder 101, etc).
1. Angular Cologne
2. Autonomous Driving Cologne
3. Camunda User Group Rheinland
4. Cologne Cloud
5. Cologne Virtual Reality Meetup
6. Cologne Web Performance Optimization Group
7. CryptoGold Köln-BN-SU
8. CryptoMonday | Bitcoin Cologne
9. Design Thinking Meetup Köln
10. Elm User Group Cologne
11. inovex Meetup Cologne
12. Köln eZ Platform Meetup
13. Köln PHP Usergroup
14. Kotlin User Group Cologne
15. Office 365 Meetup
16. PHP / Web-Entwicklung Meetup Köln
17. Python User Group Köln
18. Rust Cologne
19. Startup Founder 101 Cologne
20. Startup Grind Cologne
21. Treffpunkt Semicolon
22. WordPress Meetup Köln
23. Write the Docs Rhineland

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

1. .net user group Köln
2. 1nspiring
3. akkuraum Meetup
4. Azure Cologne Meetup
5. Beyond Design Thinking
6. Codiviti
7. Cologne.js
8. Cologne MasterMind Meetup
9. Docker Cologne / Köln
10. Founder Institute
11. HigherLevels of Agile Leadership
12. Humane Tech Rheinland
13. Köln Liberating Structures Meetup
14. Lean Startup Machine Cologne
15. Longevity Hub
16. MAK3it
17. Mobile.cologne
18. NobleProg
19. ObjektForum Köln
20. Pirate Skills
21. PowerBI User Group Köln
22. Product Owner Meetup Köln
23. ProductTank Cologne
24. PyData Cologne
25. Startup Pitch Bootcamp: Learn How to Pitch from Top Entrepreneurs
26. Startup School Meetup
27. Symfony User Group Cologne
28. ThoughtWorks Köln
29. Voice & Text Bots Cologne

• Validate

• Team Formation: Resources for teaming up. (i.e. events or other resources that facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching”)
1. 12min.me Köln
2. Business Women Network Cologne
3. CoFoundersLab
4. Cologne AI
5. Cologne AI and Machine Learning Meetup
6. Cologne CoFounders | Perfect your pitch - Avoid "ad nauseam"
7. Cologne Salesforce Developer Group
8. Digitale Leute Köln
9. Domain Driven Design Köln/Bonn
10. Entrepreneurs’ Organization
11. Founder2be
12. FounderDating
13. Game Creators Cologne
14. Pirate Summit
15. STARTUP SUCHT
16. STEM 4 Health Cologne
17. Tech Shuttle

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

1. 6th Installation - Hackathon at gcx
2. Alexa Hackathon
3. Arduino Meetup
4. c4
5. CocoaHeads Cologne
6. cologne.innovate.healthcare
7. Cologne Game Lab
8. DingFabrik
9. Google Home Hackathon
10. Hack Institute
11. Hack Your City Köln
12. Hackers/Founders Cologne
13. MGM Hackathon Köln
14. OKLab Köln Meetup
15. Open Data Day 2018
16. open hack.lab //by hack.institute
17. Open Source Audio Meeting Cologne
18. React Cologne
19. Softwerkskammer Köln
20. Tech_Hub Köln
21. Trust in Tech Cologne

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
• Establish: Law firms & banks for startups  

1. AHS Rechtsanwälte
2. BBBank
3. BNP Paribas Germany
4. CMS
5. Commerzbank
6. Deutsche Bank
7. DLA Piper
8. GRP Rainer
9. HSBC
10. KPMGlaw
11. Loschelder Rechtsanwälte
12. LUTHER
13. Osborne Clarke
14. PNHR
15. Postbank
16. PSD Bank Köln
17. Quirin Privatbank
18. Santander Bank
19. Schnittker Möllmann Partners
20. Sparda-Bank West
21. Volksbank Köln Bonn

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

1. Akkuraum
2. Clusterhaus
3. COLABOR
4. Cowoki
5. CoWork-Lab
6. Design Offices
7. District097
8. Ehrenspace
9. HEADQUARTERS Cologne
10. Poolie Space
11. Solution Space
12. STARTPLATZ
13. Wertheim Cologne
14. WNDRFUEL

• Develop

• Formalize: Accounting, development and HR for early-stage startups.
1. AppCologne
2. BPS Personalmanagement
3. DHR International
4. Ebner Stolz
5. Kanzlei Utzerath
6. KBHT
7. KHS
8. Mazars Group
9. Müller, Cremer und Partner mbB
10. Nuromedia
11. Railslove
12. Rechtsanwalt Wellmann
13. TitanShark
14. undev Studio
15. Zacharias & Demmer

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

1. betafabrik
2. Cologne Game Farm Business Incubator
3. Excubate
4. GATEWAY
5. InsurLab Germany
6. netSTART
7. STARTPLATZ

• Launch

• Seed Accelerators: Seed funding mentor programs (Techstars-style programs that provide funding)
1. InsurLab Germany
2. SpielFabrique Accelerator Program
3. STARTPLATZ Accelerator
4. Venista Ventures Accelerator

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

1. ChemTech Innovation Night
2. DIP.COLOGNE
3. NUK-Prämierungs- und Abschlussfeier Stufe 3 – Gründerpitch
4. Rheinland-Pitch #55 in Köln
5. STARTPLATZ 2018 Demo Day
6. UQBATE Startup Days Vol. 11
7. Your perfect pitch - how to talk to money?

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

• 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. Business Angels for Ventures Fund
4. NRW Venture Forum
5. Rotonda Business Angels
6. Spätschicht
7. StartupCon

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

1. Express
2. Handelsblatt
3. Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger
4. N-TV
5. RTL
6. The Local Cologne

• Funding

• Angels / Micro-VCs: Seed-stage investors (search AngelList, Gust, Crunchbase)
1. Andreas Kwiatkowski
2. Arndt Rautenberg
3. Felix Binsack
4. Felix Müller-Irion
5. Frank Antwerpes
6. Henning Lange
7. Ibrahim Evsan
8. Joerg Feldmann
9. Johannes Schmitz
10. Laurenz Apiarius
11. Lorenz Graef
12. Manuel Koelman
13. Mehrdad Piroozram
14. Oliver Thylmann
15. Oliver Wimmeroth
16. Steffen Wicker
17. Stephan Schubert
18. Thomas Grota
19. Till Faida
20. Tim Schumacher
• Venture Capitalists: Series A and beyond
1. Capnamic Ventures
2. CologneInvest
3. Coparion
4. CrossVentures
5. Curious Capital
6. DvH Ventures
7. Genes GmbH Venture Services
8. InsurTech
9. Locust Walk Capital
10. Media Ventures
11. STS Ventures
12. Venista Ventures

• Growth

• Infrastructure: Office space, HR, local business insurance. (i.e. office space/ HR/ insurance providers for capital-rich companies to grow and scale)
1. Adecco
2. Engel & Völkers
3. Hays
4. HOWDEN CANINENBERG
5. Instant Offices
6. Kelly Services
7. Kienbaum
8. KremerLundehn
9. LoopNet
10. MIRASCON Insurance
11. R+V Versicherung
12. Randstad
13. Regus
14. Robert Half
15. Search Office Space
16. Zurich

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

1. Boston Consulting Group
2. Capgemini
3. Ciber Global
4. Deloitte
5. Ernst and Young
6. Interbrand
7. Klick Consult
8. KPMG
9. McKinsey & Company
10. PwC
11. Simon Kucher & Partners
12. Willis Towers Watson

4. Success Stories

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

1. Adblock Plus / Eyeo
2. AYOXXA
3. Bongour
4. Crowdfox
5. DeepL
6. Desino
7. Direvo
8. eyeo
9. Giant Swarm
10. Golf Post
11. gridscale
12. Homelike
13. itravel
14. Launchr
15. MAD by AI
16. Mediakraft Networks
17. moneymeets
18. Musicplayr
19. NonWoTecc Medical
20. Puttmee
21. quintly
22. rankingCoach
23. Reputami
24. Sevenload
25. SHAREaCAMPER
26. Studitemps
27. SugarTrends
28. Voxeo

Supporters

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. Axel Schmiegelow
2. Carsten Thiel
3. Christian Angele
4. Corinna Voss
5. Daniel Engelhardt
6. Erik Filter
7. Gerd Wolfram
8. Lorenz Kramer
9. Mark Waechter
10. Markus Anding
11. Milan Vukas
12. Miralem Gazibegović
13. Miriam Mertens
14. Moritz Delbrück
15. Nikhil Madan
16. Niko Varwig
17. Oliver Gassner
18. Parul Madan
19. Peter Rost
20. Puja Abbassi
21. Ralf Bruestle
22. Reza Moussavian
23. Sascha Juch
24. Sascha Wolter
25. Simon Höher
26. Stefan Böck
27. Till Ohrmann
28. Timm Neu
29. Uli Huener
30. Wolfgang Hennes

2. Government

Public organizations that facilitate local economic development

1. Cologne Chamber of Commerce and Industry
2. Digital Hub Cologne
3. German Economic Institute
4. Innovation Network Cologne
5. Mediacity Cologne
6. Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
7. NRW.INVEST
8. Stadt Köln

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. Cologne Business School
2. Cologne - Rotterdam Executive MBA
3. Hochschule für Medien, Kommunikation und Wirtschaft
4. International School of Management
5. Köln International School of Design
6. Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln
7. Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln
8. TH Köln
9. Universität zu Köln
10. WHU

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

1. Bechtle
2. Bertrandt
3. cleverbridge
4. Covestro
5. Dell
6. Deutsche Telekom
7. DLR
8. Evonik
9. GE
10. HRS
11. IBM
12. Johnson Controls
13. Lufthansa
14. Microsoft
15. QSC
16. REWE
17. Siemens
18. Ströer
19. Trusted Shops
20. T-Systems
21. Vaillant Köln
22. Wipro

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