A few weeks back I paid a visit to Betahaus in Barcelona. Curiosity created a need to find out more about this «place» or philosophy? @ivanruiz read about the initiative and contacted one of the drivers to see if we could «come by». Come by is exactly what you should do if you are in Barcelona. To see what a few hands can set up, despite rules, legislation, money issue and anything in-between that can cause a total stop to a project.
A dream.
Why do I still think about it, several weeks after? Why do I recommend people to go there? Questions I have asked me and this is my answer. It is a place packed with soul and entrepreneurship. With future. With «space» for those that look for something else than just the big investment or the big success (of course they want it, just that the road there may be different). There are hundreds of projects, ideas and places in Barcelona for start-ups to ground, for entrepreneurs to explore, but one that has this human-share-knowledge-grow-naturally type of «soul» built-in, naturally, in these industrial walls? Not sure I have experiences this before (would love to do though) I would love to pay a visit to other places that feel the soul is there as well. We need more places with soul to grow our businesses along with our hearts!
How does that «soul» feel? It feels on the inside. The person that received us, the talk we have about initiatives, the people sitting there on chairs that may not be in total color-sync with each other, in the industrial-building halls (several floors of space, bar, launch areas, meeting areas…). Right there. The spirit, the soul and I concluded. Betahaus is a philosophy that want people to grow with their projects, investors to meet the creators, creators to get investment, but without the «stiff» structure normally surrounding these «entrepreneurship» environments. «It happens anyway», he tells us, our host «we do the same thing as any incubator, just that it happens by itself – by its own energy».
If you are in Barcelona, yes, pay a visit to Sagrada Familia, but don`t forget to visit the Betahaus bar to get some energy, some inspiration and while the world outside is collapsed with crisis, this many-thousands-square-meters-building breaths hope and future. Just generated in a more natural way – in-between people.
Oh, what Betahaus is? I encourage you to find out yourself, but if it would be a one-liner I would say «a working-environment where art, thinking, creativity meet business, success and happiness with the purpose to let people grow along with their start-ups and projects. The rest you need to find out yourself.
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