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- found📍Hamburg 22.09-28.09
found📍Hamburg 22.09-28.09
Hamburg’s coolest startup and tech events, delivered to your inbox every Monday.
Kyrylo Korsun
September 22, 2025
Editor’s Note
Hey, dear reader!
I had a chat with a fellow founder the other day about Hamburg's events scene. He was frustrated and disappointed — and honestly, I knew exactly what he meant.
You know that feeling, right? Excitement fills you up as you think, "This time I'm gonna nail it." You enter a room full of people, but you have no clue what they're up to. Out of awkwardness, you end up chatting with the person next to you or someone you already know.
Or you see a keynote with a title that hooks you, thinking you might actually learn something valuable. Five minutes in, you're wondering where's the catch. Another five minutes and you're thinking, "What am I doing here?" But instead of leaving, you stay — and everyone else does too.
I'd argue that 70% of events lure you into this trap. After attending 2-3 disappointing events, most people give up entirely. "It's not worth the hassle. Networking just isn't my thing."
But you know it shouldn't be like that.
So what can you do about it?
Here are five rules I've developed to ensure I walk out of every event knowing I got what I came for:
Set clear goals from the start. Are you there to meet someone who can help with a specific challenge, or just to have fun and explore?
Don't let scale fool you. Rule of thumb: the bigger the event, the less value there is for you.
Reach out to interesting people in advance. Pro tip: Most event platforms show guest lists. Feed them to an LLM and ask it to pull LinkedIn profiles of relevant attendees.
Ask hosts to make introductions. Yes, they're busy juggling dozens of tasks, but 9 out of 10 times they'll happily help connect you with the right people.
Give organizers your feedback. Less than 5% of attendees do this, which means your opinion carries more weight than you think.
To event organizers: You can reverse-engineer these rules to create events people actually love. Let's challenge the status quo together. It's in our hands to build the ecosystem we want to see.
Speaking of which, we're hosting an event next month which embodies these exact principles — small, focused, and designed for genuine connections. More details in next week's issue 👀
Save the Date 🗓️
Want to stay updated on future events? Check out our luma calendar.
October 28: Founder's Day Hamburg - Deep Tech Edition (English) — Master market development and personal branding through expert workshops while networking with deep tech founders in this full-day accelerator event hosted by Start2 Group for the Max Planck Foundation Start-up Accelerator.
3 selected startups will join workshops and networking sessions for free. Applications are open for deeptech startups.
This Issue’s Gem 💎
September 26: Build Fridays - Work on Your Startup (English) — Build your startup alongside other founders in Hamburg's action-focused gathering that prioritizes shipping products over presentations.
AI Everywhere 🤖
September 23: Agentic Coding Meetup Hamburg #2 (English) — Explore AI in production environments and discover the future of coding protocols through live demos and expert insights at MOIA.
September 23: Farewell to Reality? AI and Audiovisual Media (German) — Explore how artificial intelligence transforms media production, aesthetics, and our understanding of reality through interdisciplinary academic perspectives.
September 24: Hamburg Data & AI Lunch Meetup (English) — Network with data professionals over pizza while discussing the latest trends in data science and artificial intelligence applications.
September 26: The Power of Curious Questions - AI Curious Collective (German) — Discover how asking the right questions shapes AI discourse as Hamburg's AI Curious Collective presents their collaborative positioning and societal impact vision.
Tech Bite 🧑💻
September 23: How to Design for Both User Needs and Business Goals (English) — Master the art of balancing user satisfaction with business strategy through real PM case studies and collaborative problem-solving.
September 24: How Agile Development Makes You Create Green Software (English) — Discover how Extreme Programming practices naturally reduce energy consumption while improving code quality and team efficiency.
September 25: Data & Drinks #3: Visualizing Data with Maps (English) — Learn to animate millions of data points with Google Maps API while networking with data engineers and GCP community members.
Get Inspired ✨
September 23: It Takes a City to Raise a Startup (German) — Discover what Hamburg startups truly need through insights from the Startup Monitor and panel discussions with founders, investors, and policymakers.
September 23: 12MIN.ME | HIRE #11 (German) — Gain fresh perspectives on self-efficacy, mindful leadership, and value creation through three inspiring 12-minute talks.
September 23: Founders' Breakfast for Women (German/English) — Connect with like-minded female entrepreneurs over breakfast while building your network and finding answers to startup challenges.
September 23: Deep Tech Club Fireside Chat with Caspar Graf Stauffenberg (German) — Master the life science investment journey from first funding to exit through expert insights from Carlsquare's Managing Partner.
September 24: Impact Lunch: Social Entrepreneurship City Edition (German) — Experience inspiring conversations about social impact while learning from migrant inclusion platform kohero's founder.
September 24: La Tech Hambourg | Maritime Logistics Innovation (English) — Explore digitalization and decarbonization innovations in maritime logistics through Franco-German startup collaborations and expert panels.
September 24: Gründergeist Award Ceremony (German) — Experience live deal flow while witnessing Hamburg's top three startups compete for the prestigious Gründergeist award.
September 25: 12MIN.ME | SUSTAIN #8 (German) — Learn authentic sustainability practices from startup and corporate leaders while exploring self-liberation, democratic dialogue, and social impact initiatives.
Every Saturday: Founders Running Club (English) — Energize your weekend with fellow entrepreneurs during a judgment-free 5K run followed by coffee and meaningful networking conversations.
That’s a wrap! Thanks for staying with me on this one. Hope you found it useful :)
Before you call it a day…
Let me know what you’d like to see in the coming issues of the newsletter — simply reply to this email or hit me up on LinkedIn.
If there’s an event I should definitely include in the next issue, submit it here.
Looking for good vibes or need a companion for the upcoming issue of newsletter? Check out the official found playlist on Spotify 💿️
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See you soon,
Kyrylo from found Hamburg