Startup Grind is back in Muscat!

The world's largest independent startup community is coming back with a brand new team and partners, and we kick off the new era with a fireside chat hosting Michael Lints, Partner at Golden Gate Ventures.

Meet our speaker:

Michael Lints has over 20 years of experience helping innovative businesses obtain the resources, insights, and expertise they need to be successful. Michael has been a startup operator, investor, and mentor and is currently a Partner at the Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures. He joined the firm in 2013 and focuses his time predominantly on institutional fundraising. Michael has helped support firm and portfolio-level priorities that have spanned fundraising, capital allocation, and corporate development.

Golden Gate Ventures is a Southeast Asian venture capital firm founded in 2011 that brings together knowledge and experience from Silicon Valley with passion and ambition for Southeast Asia. For over a decade, they’ve proudly backed some of the region’s most audacious founders and companies behind Southeast Asia’s incredible growth story. Headquartered in Singapore with offices in Indonesia and Vietnam, we’ve launched four funds, have US$250M AUM, and invested in 70+ companies with nine unicorns across our portfolio.

Michael’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2000 when he co-founded an IT-managed services startup in Europe that was acquired by a large data and telecom company six years later. In 2007, Michael founded a venture fund focused on Dutch small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them with capital financing, business development, and strategy. During the same period, he was invited to join the Economic Development Board Rotterdam as Vice Chairman. In that role, he launched the Young Economic Development Board, where he brought together a highly influential Dutch network to develop a sustainable framework for public-private relationships that increased local business investment while leveraging the public infrastructure.

Outside of work, sport is an essential part of Michael’s life. He is a former member of the Dutch karate team and actively participates in Ironman 70.3 races and marathons. He is also passionate about social justice and leverages his network to raise awareness for important issues such as civil rights, economic opportunity, and education. Michael is an active writer and a co-director of an award-winning social impact documentary called Broken Chains.

Laura Cretney, Startup Grind Muscat Co-director, will moderate the fireside chat. Laura Cretney is a Ph.D. researcher and social entrepreneur with a background in international development. She is also the founder of Pink Jinn, a socially conscious lifestyle brand and community inspired by her career and partnerships across the Middle East and North Africa.

The event will take place on August 22nd from 6-8 PM, hosted by Al Rud'ha in MQ; please follow this link for directions.

Make sure to register for the event, as we have a very limited number of seats.

We are so excited to bring this special community back together and welcome lots of new faces.

Get ready to be inspired and to make new friends!