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by tomh- 5469 days ago
How is it growing in a hub exactly? Where do all founders of successful startups hang out? There are some startups out there in Amsterdam, but there are many in other cities too (Utrecht, Delft, Enschede etc.). Amsterdam is definitely not a clear winner as location to found a startup among cities in Holland.
2 comments
ElDragonRojo 5469 days ago
How is it growing as a hub exactly? Did you actually read the article? ;)

Luckily Appsterdam is not limited to Amsterdam. This isn't a pissing match between Dutch cities. It's about international branding. Appschede doesn't sound as good. Most people associate Delft with pottery. Americans have never heard of Utrecht.

As far as most people are concerned, these places are features of Amsterdam. But if you're in the Netherlands, we're a train ride away, and you're always welcome to come up for an event or a meeting.

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tomh- 5468 days ago
One initiative doesn't make it a hub. If you found a startup in Holland, there are plenty of other cities which are suitable to found. The distances are sort of close, so the reasons why you HQ your startup in the valley are not exactly applicable to Amsterdam, you get the same benefits in most other big cities with talent.

You are right it is not a pissing contest, but you mention exactly what Americans (or other foreigners) would think. Most foreigners don't know much about Holland and see everything as a sub-urb of Amsterdam. They don't know where the local talent is, where the good universities are, where (local) people want to live. Don't forget that Dutch people think Amsterdam is as cool as foreigners do.

Don't take me wrong, Appsterdam is a cool initiative, but to me it sounds like something by foreigners, for foreigners.

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ElDragonRojo 5468 days ago
It's not by foreigners for foreigners. Our attendees, and our volunteers, are about half expat, half local. Appsterdam will be a benefit to App Makers around the world, and also a tremendous boon to the Netherlands.
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eelco 5468 days ago
Utrecht, a whole city to buy your art supplies.
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spif 5468 days ago
There's Stikk (stikk.nl), de Balie, Singel 146, Rokin75, TNW crowd (incl thenextweb.com, twittercounter, paydro), de Waag and Pakhuis de Zwijger and of course Sofa just getting bought (they leave but still... ;-), not to mention all the different places where startups are renting offices together (marvia, cardcloud). I've seen quite a few awesome things (products, people and deals) in A'dam and it's only getting better.
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