Danish “Entrepreneur house” Nest brings residents to the Big Apple

Nest is a curated community of entrepreneurs, living together in a shared apartment in the center of Copenhagen.  In fact, it is the world’s largest non-profit co-living space for entrepreneurs.

The 21 residents are involved in all sorts of entrepreneurial ventures, some of the most well-known being Drivr, Airtame, Startupbootcamp, and Coderstrust. The community was founded to hack the challenges of leading an entrepreneurial life and provides an open and supportive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators who can in turn inspire each other towards success.

In mid October, Nest escaped the Danish fall. Nine of them took off for the Big Apple for ten days. The trip was an entrepreneurial excursion designed to combine work and play. Like California, New York City is a popular destination for Danish entrepreneurs who are looking to join a thriving American startup ecosystem. The trip provided Nesters with a platform to investigate all kinds of interests, grow their network, and meet with interesting companies stateside to learn more about what is going on in New York City as well as what life is like as an entrepreneur.

Below are some of the insights and recommendations of one Nest resident – Analisa Winther from DARE2 – about how to make the most of traveling abroad as a group of entrepreneurs.

Meetings, meetings, meetings

Who we met largely depended on business interests, existing contacts, and curiosity. As a group, we visited Lemonsqueeze – they help Nordic businesses scale to the US, and the global business medias Inc. Magazine, and Bloomberg. Nesters also set up personal meetings to build connections with inspiring companies; Spotify, Pandora, Dstirllery, and Hatchery are just a few examples. Many Nesters also had friends living in New York who are also entrepreneurs. We were able to ride the coattails of our roommates and their network and by way of that meet a lot of cool people informally. Having drinks with the founders of FanDuel – one of America’s fastest growing companies – was definitely a highlight and provided a lot of valuable insights.

Traveling as a group made it very easy for us to get meetings with cool companies and entrepreneurs outside of our existing network. Being a big group from Nest Copenhagen helped open doors and add validity when we asked for tours or meetings. At Inc Magazine, we had the incredible opportunity to meet with the Editor-in-Chief as well as a variety of staff members. This likely wouldn’t have happened if just one of us had been in town.

Sharing the Copenhagen startup scene

Those we visited were equally as interested in knowing about us and what was happening in the Copenhagen startup ecosystem as we were interested in them. We were able to leverage each others’ networks and knowledge to make an awesome itinerary and learn a lot. We also had a lot of fun and unforgettable memories just being in New York.

Want to learn more about Nest?  Watch the Hybe report, “What happens when entrepreneurs build a commune” below.