Inside edition 3 of the Circular Factory program: We have lift-off!

Building connections…

Day 1 was all about building connections. The five new participants gathered in BlueCity to share their story, pitch their business and discuss their challenges. Despite their different company focuses (swipe the carousel to learn more), common themes quickly emerged. These initial conversations are a valuable part of the Circular Factory experience, laying the foundation for the peer-to-peer learning that fuels the program — and its community. Thijs Wester from PAKT, a graduate of last year’s program, joined them to share his experiences with the program and learnings as a circular founder. His top tips for the months ahead? Dive in, embrace the network and learn from each other’s experiences (good and bad).

… and diving into customer insights
Day 2 launched the first of five Deep Dive Days, starting with a focus on Customer. Led by Bart van den Heuvel from Tekkoo, the session explored strategies for refining customer insights, an essential step toward demo plant readiness. After theory, they dived head first into practice with Tarique Arsiwalla, founder of Protix. His biggest piece of advice? In this phase, it’s all about listening and much less about pitching. He encouraged the participants that listening should happen not only in obvious conversations, but also in chance encounters — staying open to those can unlock opportunities you never anticipated.

The third edition of the Circular Factory program is made possible thanks to our financial partners Gemeente Rotterdam, Stichting Ondernemerbelangen Rotterdam, the Rabo Foundation and Invest-NL.

Next up is our Feedstock Deep Dive Day. Stay tuned for another update!

In the meantime, swipe the carousel below and meet this year’s cohort. Visit their profiles to learn more about their mission.