The Youth Needs A Guide: White Paper On Next Generation Startups

Blog Post

This white paper is the result of experiences made throughout the last year, after graduating from high school and having to decide on what to do in life. I always thought that the idea of graduating from high school, going to university straight away and possibly getting an MA or Ph.D. as soon as possible seemed unattractive. It lacked freedom and innovation. Having seen the majority of people in my closest circle drop out of the degrees they started one year prior, because they tried to follow the above-mentioned path without truly knowing what their goal was, made me think that I did not want to waste my time like that.

We can never have enough time. Our planet needs innovation faster than ever before. It cannot wait until my generation has gone through the cycle of academia. People starting to study degrees they don’t like, just because they feel pressured by society is a dangerous issue for us. That time has to be spent on issues around us, that are relevant to the people. Not just relevant to our personal agenda’s, because that way nothing changes the big picture.

Having this in mind I decided to travel to Australia. Not only to escape everyday life but to expose myself to new surroundings, get new ideas and take my time to think. I met many interesting people who all had different stories, learned new skills and got attached to new activities and experiences.

I returned to Europe and started an internship at Pi School, which turned out to be my leap pad into the startup scene. Here I was able to be part of a small but focused start-up environment. This internship allowed me to observe their ecosystem for three months, find out what their day to day business life looks like, have a behind-the-scenes look at the entire infrastructure and interview some of the founders on their motivation, their journeys and the ups and downs of being a founder.