About us
Startup Founder 101 brings together aspiring and experienced tech entrepreneurs to discuss, meet, and collaborate to build great new startups, and to push the local startup ecosystem forward.\
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This group hosts numerous free events throughout the year where you can learn the best practices of starting a company from people who have been there and done that. You’ll have the opportunity to meet local founders and investors, exchange ideas with experts, get feedback on your idea, participate in startup workshops, and more.\
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Typical startup event topics include:\
• Coming up with a strong startup idea\
• Startup legal basics\
• How to pitch your startup\
• Starting a company without quitting your day job\
• How to raise funding for your startup\
• And much more!\
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Join the group to be invited to our next event!
Upcoming events
5
How to Choose the Right Startup Idea Before You Build
·OnlineOnlineThe hardest part of building a startup isn't execution. It's choosing the right problem to solve. Too many founders build ideas based on excitement, trends, or assumptions, only to discover there's no real demand. In this interactive workshop, Jonathan Greechan (Co-Founder and CEO at Founder Institute) shares the frameworks used to help over 10,000 founders stress-test, refine, and validate their startup ideas early. You'll learn how to think like an investor, pressure-test your concept, and identify opportunities others overlook. If you're serious about building in 2026, start here.
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How to identify real, painful problems worth solving
- How to pressure-test your startup idea before building
- A simple scoring framework to evaluate idea strength
- How to align your idea with your skills and unfair advantages
- How to gather meaningful early feedback
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23360 to get your link and join us live!
❯ Featured Speaker:
- Jonathan Greechan - Co-Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute - Jonathan Greechan is the Co-Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute, the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator. Since 2009, he has grown and scaled the organization to chapters in over 200 cities and over 100 countries, producing over 8,900 portfolio companies with nearly $2BN in venture funding. In his long career in tech and marketing, Jonathan has advised thousands of startups on marketing, growth, and product strategy and has spoken at startup conferences on four continents.
❯ Who Should Attend:
- First-time founders exploring ideas
- Builders pivoting from a weak or unclear concept
- Entrepreneurs preparing to apply to accelerators
- Anyone looking to start something meaningful in 2026
❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/23360 to get your link and join us live!
3 attendees
How to Tell Stories That Win Clients and Investors with Lubna Forzley
·OnlineOnlineYou have a strong idea. But every time you explain it, people nod and move on. The problem is almost never the idea. It is the way the story is being told. Pitching persuades. Storytelling connects. Knowing which one to use, and when, is the skill that separates founders who close deals from those who keep refining their deck with no results. In this live session, Lubna Forzley, 2x TEDx Speaker and Founder of Stories, shares the exact framework she has used with executives at Coca-Cola, Google, and Microsoft. Register now and leave with a structure you can apply the same day.
❯ What You'll Learn:
- When to pitch and when to tell a story instead
- The story structure that builds trust without losing credibility
- How to use AI to build your narrative without sounding generic
- The storytelling mistakes that cost founders deals with investors
- How to craft a positioning statement that works across every channel
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/24741 to get your link and join us live!
❯ Featured Speaker:
- Lubna Forzley - Founder and CEO @ Stories: Lubna is a 2x TEDx Speaker, and an ICF-accredited coach who has spent 20+ years advising executives at Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, and the United Nations. She has shared stages with Steve Wozniak, hosted global roundtables with world leaders, and built an AI-powered brand tool that gives founders in 15 minutes what agencies used to charge $100,000 for. She helps founders and leaders cut through the noise, own their story, and win clients and investors before they ever open a pitch deck.
❯ Who Should Attend:
- Experienced Professionals ready to start a company
- Solo founders who have an idea but struggle to explain it clearly
- AI-curious professionals who want to build their brand using AI
- Anyone preparing to pitch to investors or first customers
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❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/24741 to get your link and join us live!2 attendees
Startup/Investor Open Coffee
BeCentral, Cantersteen 12, Brussels, BECome grab a coffee and chat about startups, growth, and investing with fellow entrepreneurs, advisors and investors. This Startup/Investor Open Coffee, organized by SIA and Founder Institute, will be hosted by BeCentral. Building a startup takes more than a good idea — it takes the right network, insights, and support. Our Open Coffee sessions bring together founders, investors, mentors, and startup enthusiasts for meaningful conversations, shared experiences, and fresh perspectives.
Each session is informal and shaped by the needs of those attending. You'll introduce yourself, share current challenges, and get feedback, contacts, and advice from a supportive community. NO PITCHING—just sincere sharing of challenges and insights.
❯ Guest Speakers include Bob De Wilde (Founder, ADELANTUM Services).
❯❯ This is an in-person event, so be sure to RSVP at https://fi.co/e/398245/meetup to secure your spot and receive further details.
Building a startup takes more than a good idea—it takes the right network, insights, and support. Our Open Coffee sessions bring together founders, investors, mentors, and startup enthusiasts for meaningful conversations, shared experiences, and fresh perspectives.
Each session is informal and shaped by the needs of those attending. You’ll introduce yourself, share current challenges, and get feedback, contacts, and advice from a supportive community.❯ Who joins:
- Startup founders, teams, investors, mentors, and career changers entering the startup world.
❯ How to prepare:
- Bring a notebook—plenty of wisdom is shared
- Prepare a short intro: who you are and what brought you here
- Think of 1–2 key challenges to discuss
❯❯ About the Organizers:
SIA: Startup Investor Accelerator
SIA is a dual-track program for startups and investors. Startups can receive €100–200K in funding through our investment rounds. Investors learn by doing, developing their angel investing skills in real deals.Founder Institute
The Founder Institute is the world’s most proven network to turn ideas into fundable startups, and startups into global businesses. Since 2009, our structured accelerator programs have helped over 9,000 entrepreneurs raise over $2BN in funding.ADELANTUM Services
Adelantum Services helps startups (re)align their product with the true needs of their customers, through workshops, trainings and mentoring sessions.About the Host:
BeCentral
BeCentral is a digital campus located in Brussels Central Station, that hosts digital schools, startups and NGO's in an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Cofounded and backed by more than 60 entrepreneurs, they are a place to learn technologies, grow a startup and impact society. Their mission is to make everyone an actor of the digital revolution❯❯ This is an in-person event, so be sure to RSVP at https://fi.co/e/398245/meetup to secure your spot and receive further details.
1 attendee
Vibecoding 101 for Startups: Build Your First App w/ Mark Montalban
·OnlineOnlineThe technical barrier between your idea and a real product just disappeared. Vibecoding 101 is a free, beginner-friendly introduction to Replit, the AI-powered tool that lets you build working apps using plain language, no coding experience required. In this free online session, Mark Montalban, a top-rated startup mentor and vibe coding instructor, will walk you through it live, step by step. No developer needed. No prior experience needed. Just your idea and 60 minutes. Register now and come ready to build.
❯ What You'll Learn:
- How Replit works and why it's the go-to tool for non-technical startup founders
- How to use natural language prompts to build real product features
- The fastest path from idea to a prototype you can show to users or investors
- Common mistakes first-time vibe coders make and how to skip them entirely
- How this approach fits into a full AI-native startup building workflow
❯❯ RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/25170 to get your link and join us live!
❯ Who Should Attend
- Experienced professionals with a startup idea who have been waiting for a technical co-founder
- First-time solo founders who want to validate an idea without writing a single line of code
- AI-curious professionals who want to use AI to build products, not just automate tasks at work
- Anyone who has been told they need a developer to get started
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❯❯ Don’t miss this live, interactive online event packed with valuable insights! RSVP now at https://fi.co/startupwebinar/25170 to get your link and join us live!3 attendees
Past events
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