Cofounder(s) for YES!Delft startup-concepts

At YES!Delft, we’ve developed three high-potential startup concepts—and we’re looking for ambitious co-founders to bring them to life! Founders that are looking for an idea and a team can apply as co-founder, to turn these concepts (see below) with us into startups. You will get full ownership of the concept; we only ask for a small success fee if your startup takes off.

These concepts have been developed in the programs we carried out for partners. We have built prototypes and tested the potential with market parties to prove market validation. Now we are recruiting a founding team, 1 team per concept.

The process for this founder recruitment:
- Introduction: Join us for an informal pizza night to meet the team, connect with other potential founders, and dive deeper into the startup ideas
- Deep-dive per potential founder: 1-on-1 discussions to validate the match
- Exploration period with the initial founding team for 2-3 months, part-time & unpaid, with support from YES!Delft.
- Transfer startup-concept to the founding team (for free), given that the match is sufficient.

🔥 We challenge you to pick up one of these concepts and build it into a startup:

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1. Insulation panels

Millions of homes need better insulation, but existing solutions are often too expensive and complicated, while house-renters don’t want to invest a lot in. We’ve created a plug-and-play insulation panel that makes homes energy-efficient. These panels can be simply attached to a wall to increase the insulation of houses. See also https://www.regionofthefuture.nl/projecten/doe-het-zelf-isolatiepanelen (in Dutch)

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2. Quay wall inspection

Quay walls in inner cities are sometimes hundreds of years old. It is therefore important to analyse them, in order to prevent old quay walls from collapsing, with massive costs. YES!Delft has built a prototype based on fibre optic technology and performed a successful trial with the Municipality of Delft to predict maintenance. See also https://www.mrdh-cityofthefuture.nl/project/pilot-voorspelbaar-onderhoud-kademuren

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3. Solar Air Heater

We designed panels that are attached to the facade or balcony of a house. Sunlight shines into the panel and heats the air on the inside of the panel. Air from the home is pumped into the panel and is heated up and flows back into the room, to replace a significant part of the gas consumption of households. See also https://www.regionofthefuture.nl/projecten/solar-air-heater (in Dutch)

👉🏼 You are:

- You have experience with setting up projects; showing ambition and initiative.
- You have the ambition to start a startup, but haven’t found the right idea yet. So we offer you an idea with potential, and we offer help.
- You like to think about strategies for the coming years, but also like to act on what’s needed today.
- You are motivated  to make the world a more sustainable place.
- You look forward to the good times of entrepreneurship, but also have the energy and resilience to deal with the occasional bad times. You get energy from adventures.
- You thrive in a team, love bouncing ideas off your co-founders, and know that great founders listen, learn, and adapt.
- You are versatile. A founding team consists of people with multiple backgrounds, but founders will still wear multiple hats.

👩‍💻 Requirements:

- The first needs are technical and business, to build the foundations (a product and a customer). Then operations, finance and HR become important. We will form a team that consists of a combination of skills and (study) background.
- Bonus: if you have experience with products or the market comparable to the concept you want to work on, that is a big plus.
- You can apply if you’re interested in one of the 3 ideas or in multiple ideas. We will form teams per idea in the end.

🏦 What do you get in return?

- A validated startup concept—completely free. If you succeed, we only ask that you pay it forward and support the next generation of founders.
- A prototype for free.
- Help from YES!Delft in the coming months to further develop the concept (both business and product).
- The opportunity to shape the company in the way you (with your co-founders) want.

Ready to build your own startup with a head start? Apply now!