Belgium is a lot better place to start-up than you would think…Here are 7 reasons "why Brussels"

1. Thinking about launching a company?
7
Reasons to start-up
in Brussels (and
Belgium)
Belgium is a lot better place to start-up than you would think…
More info: contact Bryan Cassady bryan.cassady@founderinstitute.net

2. The 30 second message…
Belgium is a lot better place to start-up than you would
think…
But the emphasis is on start-up… From day one you
need to think about how to scale and if you are
successful you will probably need to go outside Belgium
to get “real” funding

3. It is easier to be unique in
Brussels …

4. Interest in becoming an
entrepreneur …
4%
50%

5. http://geert-hofstede.com/belgium.html
Risk takers are rare…

6. Belgium is an easy place to
start - up

7. Start-up support
• Administrative : 3-4 days
• A wealth of gov’t subsidies
– Wallonia
– Flanders
– Brussels
– Europe
• Business angels (as good as any country)
• VC (sort of)
• More orgs to help start-up than start-ups
7

8. 8

11. The first money is
(relatively) easy

12. What you can expect
From government sources:
• Feasibility studies: up to 75%
• Innovation center support: 50%
• Internationalization: 40-60%
Angel investors:
About the same as the rest of the world
(but somewhat easier due to early matching
investments)

13. World class talent …

14. • 16 high-level universities. Among them, seven are listed
top 100 World Universities.
• The highest proportion of highly-educated entrepreneurs
of any EC country
(http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/survey/static2008/belgium_static_en.pdf )
• Overall high capacity to innovate (10th) according to the
Global Competitiveness Report 2013 - 2014.
• University-industry collaboration is ranked 6th worldwide

15. A great test market

16. • 3 markets / 3 places to test
• Risk adverse
“ if you can sell it in Belgium you can sell it
anywhere”
• Center of the action
16

17. 17
80% of Europe’s purchasing power lies within a
radius of 500 miles (± 800 km) from Brussels

18. More international organisations are located in Brussels than
Washington D.C., along with about 120 international
government organisations, 181 embassies, over 5,000
diplomats and 1,000 lobby groups.

19. A launch pad for
internationalization

20. • Belgium is the most globalized country in the world.
• Exports amount to more than 80% of national GDP
• Belgium is the 10th largest exporting country in the
world.
• Belgium ranks 5th in the their European Attractiveness
Survey for new investment projects
Source: Ernst and Young

21. It is (relatively) cheap
at the beginning and
the end …

25. Capital Gains Tax USA
Held less than 2 years: 28%
More than 2 years: 20%

26. Capital Gains Belgium
0% (with a little planning)

28. Watch outs …
• Finding people ready to take the risk
• Scaling: Belgium isn’t really a market
• Multi-lingual/ multi-administration complexity
• An eco-system (make sure you’re challenged)
• Round 2 funding
28

29. Moving forwards
Serious about doing a start-up. Learn from the best.
The Founder Institute: the world's largest entrepreneur training
and startup program is now running in Brussels.
If you want to know more about the Founder Institute program,
check out our website www.fi.co , take a look at this short video
http://tiny.cc/FIvideo or download 7 Reasons to join FI BXL
http://tiny.cc/7reasonsFIBXL

30. Who to contact
Pieter Dubois
The Founder Institute Brussels
Co-Director
+32-472.72.45.96
be.linkedin.com/in/duboisp
pieter.dubois@founderinstitute.net
Bryan Cassady
The Founder Institute Brussels
Co-Director
+32-475-860-757
be.linkedin.com/in/bryancassady/
bryan.cassady@founderinstitute.net