Meet&Match: How Startup Port supports the search for co-founders

Startup Port’s Meet&Match format brings together ambitious founders who are looking for co-founders. For example, Karen Löhnert and Alberts Spoģis found each other and together they developed gloop.green – a platform that rewards sustainable action and creates a community for environmentally conscious people and companies. Through targeted preparation and personal discussions, Meet&Match created the framework in which ideas can fall on fertile ground. A success story by Mohammad Omar Urdu.   In a world where sustainability is becoming increasingly important, we at Startup Port brought together Karen and Alberts, who are interested in founding a company, through the Meet&Match format. They are now working together on gloop.green, a B2B2C platform that rewards sustainable action and creates a community for environmentally conscious people and companies.

The initial situation: two paths, one goal

Karen had already developed the basic idea for gloop.green – a green loyalty program that promotes sustainable behavior. But she lacked a co-founder with skills after two co-founders had to drop out. Alberts, on the other hand, was open to new start-up ideas in the field of digitalization and sustainability. The Meet&Match event brought the two together. “I didn’t have any great expectations,” recalls Karen. “But the format, where you can choose who you want to talk to, made me curious.” Alberts adds: “I never thought I would actually meet someone I would work with in the long term. But that’s exactly what happened!”

Meet&Match: The stage for sustainable innovations

The kick-off event in December 2023 created a relaxed atmosphere for the first contact. Karen presented her idea in a 3-minute pitch, which Alberts found particularly memorable: “The concept stood out and addressed a problem on a much larger scale than other start-up ideas.” In the 7-minute conversation that followed, Karen and Alberts quickly realized that they were on the same wavelength. “There was an instant connection,” Karen recalls. They discussed not only the business idea, but also personal values and potential roles in the team.

From meeting to partnership: the phases of getting to know each other

The other phases of the Meet&Match format gave them time to get to know each other better. Between the holidays, they met in person and realized that their values and goals were aligned. “It’s a journey you embark on together,” Karen emphasizes. “Albert’s reliability and seriousness won me over.”

Milestones in the collaboration: The Impact Accelerator from Founders Bay and the Google Venture Sprint

A milestone in their collaboration was their participation in Founders Bay’s six-month Impact Accelerator program. In addition, the team won a 5-day Google Venture Sprint that helped them solve complex problems, develop a click dummy for the front end of the app and sharpen their vision for gloop.green.

Review: The role of Meet&Match

Looking back, they both praise the Meet&Match format. “The preparation phase with the profiles was very helpful,” says Alberts. Karen adds: “The format brings you together in a more targeted way than traditional networking. It creates a framework, but the magic then happens between the people.”

gloop.green today: Vision becomes reality

Today, Karen and Alberts work successfully working on the implementation of gloop.green. Their vision: a platform that rewards sustainable behavior, connects companies and consumers and makes a positive contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Meet&Match format not only brought two co-founders together, but also laid the foundations for a start-up that could make the world a little more sustainable. It shows how important it is to bring the right people together – because ideas only become successful companies when the chemistry in the founding team is right.  

Compact info on Meet&Match

Target group: Groups and/or individuals with a startup idea Individuals with a desire/interest to start a business but without a concrete idea This offer is primarily aimed at members of the affiliated institutions. Free places we also offer to other people from the Hamburg metropolitan region or beyond who are interested in setting up their own business. Format: Matchmaking Start: 3-4x per year Duration: Individual process of several weeks per matchmaking round (depends on the respective get-to-know team) Costs: Free of charge   It continues on 21.11.2024: As part of Female Entrepreneurship Week, there will also be a Female Entrepreneurship Edition of Meet&Match. Dear women – come with your ideas: The stage is yours! Men are welcome to register in this round as atendees interested in founding a company without an idea of their own. Because the more diverse the teams, the better the outcome!