Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

Leo Exter, Coach at MIC Brussels 1st Boostcamp, Founder of Westartup

Who I am:
My first experience with startups was working at the end-of-the-bubble startup, Info2clear, in 2001-2003. Prior to that I worked for The Coca-Cola Company, and after my startup job I launched a new brand of portable GPS devices across Europe and helped make it 3rd largest brand on the market as European Marketing Manager at Mio Technology. Finally, I got a very good look at a variety of industries and businesses as a Managing Director at a PR agency.

What I do:
I am building westartup, a community of today’s and future entrepreneurs, mentors and investors. I’m also co-founder and organizer of volunteer events Startup Weekend Brussels, Bizcamp Belgium and most recently HealthStartup. In addition, I’ll take lead as coach and Marketing trainer for Microsoft Innovation Center’s first Boostcamp in Brussels

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4 pieces of advice:

• Get ready for a long, uphill fight: there are shining examples of entrepreneurship coming from the Silicon Valley. Microsoft – the original, then Oracle, more recently Google, Amazon and others. More recently still Dropbox and AirBnB. There’s a bit less talk of the casualties – but they are many. Just have a look at http://techcrunch.com/tag/deadpool/.
• Unless you’re building an earth-shaking, ground-breaking new technology that will blow pants off of the entire internet, you’re building a product. That means one day you’ll have to sell it. That means you absolutely have to talk to your potential customers first, figure out what they would want to have once you’ve built it for them (I’ll elaborate on that during the Boostcamp  ), and only then start developing.
• Build your own portable reality distortion field. It’s not as hard as it seems – you just need to learn to tell compelling stories.
• Oh, and focus. Even in my (still rather) short time as an entrepreneur I’ve managed to waste a good half of a year chasing ideas that sounded good, but were far outside my reach in terms of resources, knowledge and network.

Why the MIC Brussels Boostcamp:
Despite the entire internet thing, ICT business is still just that - a business. Building a good product or service is only a small part of it – you also need to understand how to make that product generate money, how to recruit and train good people (and how to make sure they keep working for you and not run away screaming), how to sell, how to promote, how to attract funding.

This is where the MIC Brussels Boostcamp comes in. It is an intensive 4-month training program that helps startups build stronger business plans, marketing & finance strategies, and provides them with hands-on coaching on how to best sell their products and pitch their companies.

Boostcamp is carried out through group discussions and one-on-one sessions with mentors – by far a more effective way to learn than getting a business degree. Trust me on that, I’ve got two of those.

• I hope I’ll be seeing you at the MIC Brussels Boostcamp. Registrations are open here.

• The best way to prepare for the MIC Boostcamp (and to secure a free pass, while you’re at it) is to attend the Startup weekend Brussels. You can register here.

Leo Exter.