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  • I have moved to Silicon Valley and joined the Founder Institute!

I have moved to Silicon Valley and joined the Founder Institute!

June 30, 2011

Some of you may know already, but a couple of months ago I got a Visa, packed my bags and moved to Silicon Valley. San Francisco to be precise. Why? Easy, almost all great technology startups are created here! It is such a great ecosystem. Here are the (early) investors, your fellow entrepreneurs and the supporting services like legal and accounting that will help you out. I have been trying to get my startup HelloInbox off the ground from my hometown Amsterdam for a while, and realized it was going to be hard from there. After having visited Silicon Valley last November with a trip for Dutch entrepreneurs organized by Handelsroute I knew if I wanted to learn how to build a successful tech startup and make a success out of HelloInbox I had to get out of Amsterdam to Silicon Valley. So I did.

I spent 5 weeks here in February/March, had to go back to Amsterdam then and got into the country again in the beginning of May. Till now I have spent quite a lot of time getting to know people, do networking and learn about the ways of SV. Yes that will be a whole separate blog post in the future:). To learn quicker and get to build up your network faster I wanted to join an incubator. After reviewing all around the area and applying for a few I joined the Founder Institute . This is a program ran by Adeo Ressi with chapters all over the world. Of course, the one in Silicon Valley is the oldest and probably the most valuable, as a lot of local mentors are Silicon Valley heroes.

Very exciting! I will let everybody know here what my experiences are with the institute and doing business in Silicon Valley!

 

 

In incubator, startup
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Dirk de Kok

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5 responses to I have moved to Silicon Valley and joined the Founder Institute!

  1. Ben Mappen June 30, 2011 at 10:59 pm

    congrats Dirk! Founder Institute is a great program! we should catch up soon for a beer!

  2. Dirk de Kok June 30, 2011 at 11:03 pm

    thanks Ben! Well so far it certainly has been a great experience. And yes let’s catch up soon, curious how you are doing with http://www.leanlaunchlab.com/.

  3. Derk July 1, 2011 at 7:14 am

    Congrats Dirk! Hope you find over there, what you are looking for (more input). If you are in Amsterdam you have to give me a call. I would love to here your stories next to drinking a beer :)

  4. Guus July 2, 2011 at 10:48 am

    Hi Dirk, good luck and have fun over there with HelloInbox! Greetz, Guus

  5. Marijke Smallegange July 2, 2011 at 11:41 am

    Hi Dirk,
    What a great adventure! I wish you all the best there, I really hope helloinbox will become a big succes.
    Marijke