In partnership with

Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Planning season is here: time to hit those targets, map big ideas, and lock in 2025 plans. For those of you thinking of a rebrand or website refresh, keep an eye on Pantone’s Color of the Year 2025: Mocha Mousse - yes, it’s as rich as it sounds. How many corporate decks and logos will rock this shade next year? Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

PS: It is also the time of the year to take a step back and reflect. We’ll be dropping our own techniques for later this week.

PPS: Has this e-mail been forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

OpenAI opens an office in Zurich

OpenAI and competitor Anthropic announced to open offices in Zurich, cementing the city’s role as a global AI hub. With Google, Meta, and Microsoft already fishing in the Swiss talent pool, competition just got fiercer. As Zurich is Follow the Gradient’s home base, we’re all in for this one!

EU Inc petition goes Brussels

EU Inc is preparing to submit its implementation proposal to the European Commission. The community-driven effort to lobby lawmakers into creating a pan-European company structure and streamline incorporation and fundraising successfully captured the attention of policymakers earlier this year. It is now ramping up its petition. Click here to sign its petition and join its movement.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

Tech in the EU - far behind…?

A lot has been said about Europe lagging behind the US in the world of Tech. Yet, this graphic illustrates it very starkly.

Equally, capital investments into US Tech returned insane multiples up until now.

…or rising up?

Sifted’s 250 List of Europe‘s fastest growing startups provides a glimpse into the continent‘s emerging stars, see here

Crowded markets - good or bad?

A crowded market can indicate too much competition and can be a deal breaker, especially when seeking VC funding. Tony Kula shared this interesting perspective that crowded markets also mean demand has been validated and customer problems are real - it is about you against the competition rather you against the market.

Are you transparent on problems in your company?

From our partner

This week's partner* is Deel, a software solution for international hiring that we've both successfully used** in our businesses.

*We’ve partnered with this sponsor whose content we believe is genuinely valuable for you. Clicking this link supports us and keeps our newsletter free - thank you!

** Verify with your lawyer if Deel aligns with your country's hiring laws

2025 event strategy

The event is season is officially over, and now’s the time to plan your 2025 event strategy. Maximize ROI by aligning tradeshows with key initiatives like product launches, leveraging speaking slots, and targeting VIPs. Take inspiration from Datadog’s event playbook: assign ownership, track booth performance, and turn conferences into growth engines. Plan smart, execute big and let us know: what events are you for sure attending in 2025?

Do you like what we do at Follow the Gradient? Help us grow this community and share a like and add a comment to our LinkedIn post that just went live:

Smart hack

When one of us narrowly avoided having their phone stolen, we knew we had to share this smart hack from founder Jack Gurney - let’s face it, your phone is a founder’s extended 🧠:

• Turn on ‘Stolen Device Protection’: Settings > Face ID & Passcode > 'Stolen Device Protection' > set to ‘Always’.

• Turn on ‘Find My’: Be ready to locate or erase it remotely.

• Set Auto-Lock to 30 seconds: Less time for thieves to act.

• Require Face ID for secure apps: Protect sensitive data.

• Disable Control Centre on lock screen: Stop thieves from activating airplane mode (and disappearing on your ‘Find My’ map).

The full post is worth a read. And don’t forget to implement it right away, your future self in panic mode will thank you!

One good read

The Request for Startups (RFS) by Y Combinator is a tradition — you can find examples going back as far as 2009. It gives you a glimpse into the direction things are going in startup land:

Y Combinator Request for Startups Winter 2025

Join the entrepreneurial journey

Are you ready to take your first steps into the startup ecosystem or seeking an exciting new opportunity? Below is a curated list of startup job openings across Europe for you to explore.

Internships

AI Research and Optimization Intern [📍Switzerland Remote], CyberSecurity, Exeon [Apply]
Working Student Customer Care 30-40% [📍Switzerland Remote], SaaS, Fairtiq [Apply]
Founder Associate Operations [📍Zurich], CleanTech, Norm [Apply]

Customer Success

Customer Success Manager, Mid-Market [📍Remote], Cloudsecurity, Abnormal [Apply]
Customer Success Manager [📍Remote, Germany], Climatetech, Resourcify [Apply]

Finance & Legal

Head of Finance [📍Helsinki], Startup Event, Slush [Apply]
Head of Finance [📍Berlin], Audio, Femtasy [Apply, Hiring manager]
Finance Manager [📍Oslo], Energy, tibber [Apply]
Commercial Counsel (DACH) [📍Munich], AI, Synthesia [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Specialist - B2B Marketing, Central (General Sporting Goods) [📍Zurich], Apparel, On [Apply]
Campaign Operations Manager [📍Paris], Cybersecurity, Wiz [Apply]
Social Media Operations Lead [📍Remote] EdTech, Classdojo[Apply, Hiring manager]

Sales

Partner Account Manager (Big Four Focus) [📍Remote], Document processing, Hypatos [Apply]
Account Manager Hausverwaltung - Scaling Phase [📍Remote, Germany], Real Estate, Matera [Apply]

Strategy & Ops

Chief of Staff [📍Paris], Transportation, Upway [Apply]
Strategy & Business Operations Associate / Manager [📍Hybrid, Berlin], Healthtech, Eucalyptus [Apply]

Product & Tech

Senior Product Manager[📍London], Video, VEED [Apply]
Senior Product Designer [📍Berlin], Transportation, Omio [Apply]

Final words — take what you need

Talk to you on Thursday! In the meantime, let’s continue the discussion on LinkedIn, X, Insta and YouTube!

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

Each week, a lot of work goes into the Follow the Gradient project to help you navigate this crazy jungle called entrepreneurship. Help us grow this community and we’ll make sure that you or your project gets a shoutout in the weekly newsletter!