The Startup Hunter Diary — A Month Long Trip Around Europe — Episode 20
Bemvindo a Lisboa
Welcome to the Jungle!
On Sunday, I took a morning flight from Barcelona to Lisbon. It was my first time in Lisbon and I was very excited to discover the city.
I had my entire Sunday afternoon to explore, and I loved it. Helene joined me on Sunday night, and we were ready to find out what’s up with the tech scene in Lisbon.
To be honest we had no idea what to expect. We heard some the noise that it’s booming and the new West coast (after the US one), and yes, we read the Web Summit articles. And that’s true that the city will get a shit ton of exposure with the summit. But we also heard stuff that it would be overrated.
Let’s find out for ourselves.
My friend here is a Londoner who moved here a few years ago, and now spends his time between his company and surf camps. He told me to visit Surf Office Lisbon. It’s supposed to be a kind of co-working. Well it was, but it’s more like a co-working/companies’ retreat. Nevertheless, we ran into the founder, Peter Fabor, who immediately took us for coffee. He taught us a lot about Lisbon’s ecosystem. And he gave us a lot of intros. While in this tiny coffee shop across from the Surf Office, we got to meet with one of his friends, James Muscat, an Australian guy who’s been living in Lisbon for years and really involved in the tech ecosystem. Him too, helped us out a lot. Our day was made, we knew exactly where to go, and were almost stunned by how welcoming they were. #bestdayever
Following the advices of our new friends we went to visit Startup Lisboa. They tried to call them to inform them about our visit but they didn’t pick up the phone. We still manage to meet with Ana Santiago, as we were recommended too. We had a great chat with her, and got to learn even more about Lisbon. Did you know that 3 companies of Startup Lisboa got selected to go to Y Combinator? Me neither, but now we all know. She was really pumped by our initiative and just waits to share more details with her start-ups.
This day couldn’t go any better.
After a typical Portuguese lunch break we went to the LX Factory. This place is so cool, it’s a place for creatives. Though I honestly can’t put words to describe this place, so just go check it out by yourself. Anyway, it’s the home of Co-work Lisboa, the oldest co-working space in Portugal and one the oldest in Europe.
This isn’t so much a place for start-ups; it’s more for freelancers and creatives. But after hanging around for a little bit we got to meet with the founder, Fernando Mendes. We had a lengthy discussion with him about Lisbon, and in French my dear. It was pure awesomeness. We really liked the guy. Him too gave us loads of advice to make our trip even better. While talking he introduced us to Filipa Larangeira, a new author about women in entrepreneurship. We shared our stories and talked a lot about mentorship we had a hell of a time once again.
Literally we had the best day ever, for this first day of exploration in Lisbon. People are so welcoming it’s amazing.
I think there is definitely something up with Lisbon. I’ll be back here tomorrow (I swear). Stay tuned; we have a busy schedule for tomorrow already.
If you are in Lisbon, please drop us a line, we’d love to connect with you.
Hop on the train of the most exciting start-up trip ever made, and travel with us! It shall be fun.
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