Meet Karen Boers, founder of the European Startup Network and Startups.be. Karen holds a degree in German philology and started her career with View Interim. She went from an interim consultant to office manager and HR consultant, before making the transition to iMinds (formerly IBBT) in 2005. In January 2013, Karen joined forces with Dirk Peusens and became fully self-employed. She now specialized in team dynamics and organizational development from a people angle. She believes allowing teams to develop while working efficiently and effectively towards a common goal is a key success factor that is all too often overlooked. That’s exactly why Karen is also actively involved in Startups.be, as a founder and managing director, developing this non-profit organization into a unique platform allowing tech starters to meet coaches, investors and all kinds of experts who can help them jumpstart their business. She is also a certified Pimento Map consultant.

On This Episode You'll Learn:

What’s the current sentiment towards failure in the Belgium business culture?

What are some of the common challenges that all entrepreneurs face when scaling across Europe outside of their home markets?

What does Karen think is the best way for European countries to encourage and catalyze angel investment into their tech ecosystems?

What sort of things are Europe’s startup community leaders doing to move their communities forward?