Why we closed Startups BCN after 11 years

After 11 years, we’re closing Startups BCN, the Slack community we started in October 2015 to keep the conversation going between Startup Grind Barcelona events.

It grew to more than 2,000 members and became a direct line to founders, CTOs, investors and VCs across the Barcelona ecosystem. It brought us hires, freelancers, partner agencies, investments and even a family or two. After the pandemic, though, activity slowly faded. We put out an open call for someone to take it over, but no realistic plan came in, and handing over thousands of member emails wasn’t something we were willing to do.

In this episode, Àlex looks back at the whole story: how the community started, what it gave us, why it ended, and why it fits MarsBased’s “do less, but better” philosophy. He also talks about passing the baton on Startup Digest and Startup Grind Barcelona, and what it feels like when your side projects become more popular than your own company.

Thank you to everyone who was part of Startups BCN. 💜