EWOR

What is at the heart of EWOR? 🫂 Ecosystem and Education. The EWOR ecosystem is a collection of like-minded individuals, from investors through to operators through to founders, actively helping one another to change the world. Education (and cross-mentorship) is what fuels the EWOR ecosystem. 🚀 With that in mind, we are excited to share our revamped Founder’s Resources which have been created by our leadership team, a group of former unicorn founders. Why share these resources with everyone? We are not about gatekeeping. We believe that it is immensely useful for all early founders to receive free, foundational support. 📄 Our resources include templates for financial modelling, legal contracts and pitching. 📈 More actively, we have compiled search matrixes for co-founders and grant opportunities, as well as personal development quizzes and a productivity bible. We will be giving in depth overviews of some of our resources soon, but for now, check out the selection here: https://lnkd.in/dy46z_6H ❓Which one of our resources do you find most valuable as a founder? Are there any which you think are missing? Let us know in the comments! #EWOR #entrepreneur #founder #resources #templates

One more exciting announcement! 🗣️ For the first time ever, we’re hosting a LIVE Grand Pitch at Bits & Pretzels on September 29th in Munich. Due to international demand, Bits & Pretzels is expanding from 5,000 to 7,500 attendees - its largest turnout in its 11-year history. 🤝 While the remaining available tickets will be released in weekly drops, we’re excited to offer you unrestricted access to the ticket shop, allowing you to skip the waitlist entirely. (LINK IN COMMENTS!) Availability is 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐲 limited. Act fast to avoid disappointment! 🫂 We hope to see you there! Let us know in the comments if you are planning to attend so that we can say hi :) #bitsandpretzels #EWOR #entrepreneur #startup

Another day... 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓!  🗣️ Introducing our new cohort of Traction Fellows, a group of rebels, nerds and visionaries who are 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges.   How did we put together this cohort? 📌 From academic researchers with thousands of citations to entrepreneurs who have scaled multi-million dollar companies, each fellow in this cohort is an outlier of their field - and the cohort has been put together on that basis. 𝐈𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭, 𝐰𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬. 👀 We can’t wait to tell you more. (And we are very tempted to tell you more now). Stay tuned. (We promise - again - that it will be worth the wait). 🫂 Welcome to the EWOR community: Aliosha Milsztein, Allegro Sprute, Arseniy Seroka, Badis Zormati, Christian Lenz, Christoph Siemer, Denis Widler, Elio Assaf, Finn Gaida, Ivan Markov, James Bolduc, Jan Löwer, Jean-Pascal Lutze, Jérôme Bau, Johann Rozario, John M., Mario Assaf, Michel Perez, Oliver Widler, Piers MacNaughton, ScD, R.J. Napolitano, Raphaël Ausilio, Rex Mizrach, Rihab L., Samuel Frey, Tim Host, Tyler Sellars. #EWOR #founder #startup #entrepreneur

𝐄𝐗𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓! 🗣️ We are thrilled to introduce our new cohort of 10 Ideation Fellows, a diverse group of rebels, nerds and visionaries working on some of the world's biggest challenges. This cohort includes an award-winning video producer, a cardiologist-turned-founder who completed his PhD in just one year and a serial entrepreneur who helped bring a 3D printing company to IPO. It is one of the most talented and interesting cohorts we’ve ever brought together. 🚀 Over the next few months, our Ideation Fellows will develop their ventures with the support of our network of unicorn-founder-turned-mentors. In the meantime, we will be sharing their inspiring origin stories weekly. (Trust us, it is very tempting to share more today). Stay tuned, each story is well-worth the wait. (We promise). 🫂 Welcome to the EWOR community: Han Zhu, Ijeoma Akwiwu, Konstantinos (Kostas) Fetfatsidis, Kyle Collier, Liam Smith, Luis Parra, Natalie Pace, Radley E Sidwell, Dr Saadiq Moledina, Dr. Yorck Hesselbarth.

From go-karts to making accountants go fast. Meet our fellow, Ariel Harmoko. 🏎️ At the age of 9, Ariel was already a professional go-kart driver who travelled across Europe for competitions. He won 3 national championships on the way. 📌 Inspired by his grandfather's Parkinson’s diagnosis and the book "Algorithms to Live By", he then developed a passion for applying AI to real-world problems in his early teens. 🧠 So, at age 15, and in the middle of his 6th form studies, he sent a research proposal to the University of Cambridge regarding the denoising of MRI brain tumour scans with ML algorithms. He was offered a summer internship and began working with Dr. Julian Gilbey on the development of ML models for the diagnosis of coeliac disease in collaboration with the NHS. 🏆 The following summer, he was invited to become the youngest ML engineer working at Cambridge. As a result, he was recognised by Yale University as one of the Top 50 Scholars aged under 18, globally. After school, Ariel went on to pursue a Computer Science degree at UCL. In his first year, he co-founded feast, a marketplace for home chefs. Despite scaling to 100 chefs in 2 months and attracting interest from a range of VCs, he decided to move on from feast to pursue his interest in AI and ML. 🏦 At the age of 21, he was offered a software engineering internship at J.P. Morgan. He was the first person in the firm's history to prove an end-to-end LLM pipeline for their internal GPT. As a reward, he was offered full-time employment. But he had bigger plans. 🚀 Now, Ariel is building Artifact AI to automate one of the biggest non-automated industries in the world: Accounting. He is still only 21. We are proud to call him an EWOR fellow, and we cannot wait to see how his story develops. #EWOR #entrepreneur #startup #accounting #ai

After reading more than 100 co-founder agreements, I wrote what I think is an ideal agreement for early-stage founders. It's designed to be used before you get investors involved. I’m releasing this 14-pager as a free version (see below) because co-founder conflicts are the most common reason early startups fail. Most of the time, those conflicts can be prevented by having a good shareholder agreement in place. It should be: 1️⃣ More detailed than what most founders typically create 2️⃣ Less complex than agreements used by venture capitalists because many of those provisions only apply with institutional investors on board To my knowledge, no good template exists that finds the balance between those two. My goal was a balanced approach that helps protect everyone's interests without overcomplicating things. In my opinion, every founder should think about the following topics early on: - Roles & Responsibilities - Equity Distribution - Vesting (at least 12 months cliff, 36 months total vesting) - Assign IP to the business - Time Commitment - Compensation - Confidentiality - Non-Compete - Dispute Resolution - Exit Provisions - Incapacity - Future Funding - Expenses If you don't know what some of those mean, do comment below and I'll point you to some helpful resources. I would love to get your feedback. I will publish a final version in 1 month from now that incorporates your feedback. Please use it, share it, improve it, and send it to your friends who don't have a good co-founder agreement in place. ______________ It's uploaded for free. Just go to our EWOR website and click on "Founder Resources" > "Co-Founder Search". It's a GDoc template, so you can create your own GDoc copy and change it. #startups #investing #VC #founders #cofounders #legal

The important question isn't "𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒑?", but rather, "𝑺𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑰 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓?". You may have heard that only 10% of start-ups succeed. This daunting statistic often leads people to abandon their entrepreneurial dreams, either before they start pursuing them, or along the way. 📌 But, such people overlook an important point: building a successful startup - and becoming a successful founder - isn't a one-shot deal. 𝐖𝐡𝐲? As a founder, if you fail once, you have the opportunity to try again. ⏭️ And, while any single startup might have a low chance of success, the odds of succeeding across multiple ventures across a lifetime can be as high as 99.98%, according to Daniel W. Dippold The question of whether you should build a start-up is hence a very different one to the question of whether you should become a founder. 🚀 Read Daniel’s full probabilistic analysis, as linked to this post. It might just be what you need to start your week and inspire your journey as a founder: https://lnkd.in/e-C7f53U #EWOR #founder #startup #entrepreneur

A DJ and a former Burger King cashier take on the insurance industry.  Meet our fellows, Stefan Balg and John Ismailoglu. 🎧 After earning a university degree in sound engineering, Stefan began his career by opening a recording studio in Cologne. In 2015, he moved into the world of tech, founding seatback GmbH, a venture focused on programmatic advertising solutions for out-of-home media. He went on to sell his shares in 2017 and joined one of Europe’s largest finance groups, spearheading the development of tech solutions at the intersection of banking and insurance. 📌 5 years later, he joined an early-stage Insurtech, leading their business development team. (On the side, he DJed - and continues to DJ - in Ibiza and Berlin. In true hustler style, he recently used prize money from a poker tournament to buy new equipment). 🍔 What about John? John started his career as a drive-thru cashier at Burger King. As a side hustle, he bought replica watches in Chinatown (NY), which he sold for a profit. He then stepped into the insurance industry, initially selling car insurance from a call centre while also running an eBay shop. 📌 Over the next 20 years, John expanded his insurance expertise, eventually managing the complex risks of top companies and (U)HNWI clients in NY. (Hence, he has already chosen the title of his future biography: “From Call Center to Rockefeller Center”). After moving to Berlin, he directed initiatives within a top-performing agency of Allianz, focusing on insurance for startups. 🎯🚀 Whilst in Berlin, John met Stefan. They became obsessed with the idea of merging their two worlds to transform commercial insurance. Out of this vision, INSRD was born - an insurance solution revolutionising the way dynamic businesses mitigate and manage their ever-evolving risks. After bootstrapping to 100+ clients, they have raised nearly €1M in pre-seed funding to bring much-needed change to the industry. Can you think of a more unique co-founder duo? #insuretech #EWOR #startup #entrepreneur #cofounder

Some people push boundaries. Alex Tatarinov, our fellow, smashes them. He has: - Swam across the Gulf of Finland in ice water ranging from 1-4°C, covering 20 km in 6 hours and 45 minutes non-stop, setting an unofficial world record. - Solo climbed to an elevation of 5 km on Mount Elbrus in 32 hours without acclimatisation, despite severe hypoxia. - Climbed and descended a mountain with a 120 lb (55 kg) barbell in 6 hours. 🎯 All of this has been in pursuit of Alex's ultimate challenge: A world record swim across 100 km of the Bering Strait's icy waters, between continents, that will take at least 45 hours. He’ll need an icebreaker, a custom-made wetsuit, several ships to clear the path, a helicopter and a team of 30 people. 𝑾𝒉𝒚 does Alex do such crazy things? 🗣️ During his last swim, when he was cold, exhausted and relying on navigation from a boat, Alex told himself: "I can’t swim forever, so eventually, I’ll reach the shore. I just need to focus on the direction and each stroke, not on how far I have to go." And, for now, Alex is focused on building VOL AI, an AI sales assistant. His direction is clear, and he is just focusing on his next step. There is a reason we say that EWOR is for the crazy ones. #extreme #EWOR #founder #entrepreneur #startup

Meet our fellow, Viktar Beliakou. At 12, Viktar became a super-fan of the British show “Big, Bigger, Biggest” and decided that he wanted to be an engineer. After graduating from Imperial College London, the best university in the world for Structural Engineering, he spent 5 years working at Mott MacDonald. He was involved in projects such as the £100 billion High Speed 2 railway and a £1 billion skyscraper in central London. During this time, Viktar was shocked by the inefficiencies engineers face in the information management realm. He became determined to change the way engineers work. Now, at the age of 28, Viktar is building Enjicalc, the next-generation interactive programming language for scientific and engineering calculations. This is his first step to developing the Cloud Development Environment (CDE) that serves to redefine how construction professionals write, review, and manage technical documentation. When he is not coding, Viktar spends most of his time on his bike. He recently completed 160km in 5:44h under heavy rain conditions with periodic hail in his face. On and off the bike, it is clear that Viktar Beliakou has the drive to re-segment the construction industry’s £30 billion productivity software market. #startup #entrepreneur #EWOR