To successfully launch a company is one of the most difficult things one can do.

You won’t ever hear from us that it is an easy thing to do. In the end of the program you may realize that this isn’t something for you and you will see this only as an educational experience. But the odds tell us that there are big chances that you will realize that you want to spend your life creating stuff that matter and solving meaningful problems. Startup Pirates will help you kick-start this new life.

The Good – 10 Reasons to apply

The Workshops

Attend about 8 high quality workshops on what we call the surviving toolbox: business model, product development, pitch and much more.

The mentoring

Meet experienced entrepreneurs and innovators who will join us just for the sake of supporting you.

The networking

Create connections with around 30 guests and 29 more pirates with the same flame and as adventurous as you are.

Prizes and perks

Get the chance of winning valuable prizes that will help you thrive. Get access to our network of super cool perk partners.

Precious feedback

You’ll have the opportunity to present your project to investors, business angels and business leaders. Their precious feedback will make you understand what these big captains think of your project.

Pitch

Get ready to pitch like a parrot. You’ll improve your pitch skills for sure.

Get one idea of the ground

Even if you don’t have an idea, you’ll pass through the process of developing one. No one can ever take this knowledge and experience from you.

Have fun and get inspired

If you think this is just about work, think again. We promise you’ll have fun and get inspired all along the way.

Be part of the family

It's not just a program, it's a family, a community. You’ll be a member of an exclusive and international network of fearless people who happen to love to scream Arrr!

This is just the beginning

This is just a jumping platform. Get yourself kick started.

The Challenges

We want to be transparent, that’s why we are telling you this. From our own experience, Startup Pirates is a very challenging and demanding program. We really want you to have the best experience possible, but there are a few challenges to take into consideration…

Speed

Everything happens really really fast. You’ll have two days to meet everyone, understand how they work, pitch your idea, if you have one, and build a team. During the next days, it’s work work work until the final pitch to a panel of judges.

Stamina

This will be one of the most demanding weeks of your life. Sincerely. You're expected to pitch to dozens of people. You'll have to fight for mentors attention and build relationships with them. You'll constantly need to rapidly incorporate feedback to improve your idea. On this week, 15 hour workdays are common.

Focus

You'll need to remain focused. A lot is going to happen during the week. You’ll receive lots of feedback and sometimes, you will feel lost not knowing where to go. We’ll try to help you keep the focus and defining a vision from the very beginning of the project, but of course it’s up to you to stay focused.

Networking

We don’t believe that’s possible to work and develop an idea alone. You’ll come to Startup Pirates with an idea in mind and you might work on your idea or not. You’ll need to find support for your idea and a team to work with. See this as a marketplace, where ideas will be picked and teams will be created.

Get a team

Bring yours, join one, form one. It doesn’t matter. You can also work alone if you want, however it is not very recommended because, again, we don’t believe that’s possible to work and develop an idea alone.

Sharing

This week is absolutely about sharing. You need to get feedback on your idea. Protect it, but don’t hide it. Always remember: success is on the work you do, not in the idea by itself.

Do you see yourself in this fast moving and sometimes chaotic environment?!