From the Startup Grind family to the ESN family

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A big hug to our ESN brothers and sisters from the Startup Grind family.

The Startup Grind Barcelona homage to ESN

To most of you this picture might make no sense. For some of us, it means a lot.

I belonged to ESN for almost four years of my life. Erasmus Student Network is a global network of exchange students associations that has a section in each university in a lot of different cities all over Europe. It's all about students helping other students, where we volunteered to help others have a wonderful experience when they come to our country or city.

In this case, I began my ESN experience in Munich, at TUMi, and then co-founded ESN UPF in Barcelona with some friends (four of them are in this picture, among which, the Startup Grind Barcelona team members Carlos Cruz and Pol Canela).

Almost four years after quitting ESN and moving on, I find myself surrounded by a lot of the friends I made at ESN. Some of whom are part of Startup Grind, my new family.

In one way or another, Startup Grind and ESN have a lot in common, but this is not what I wanted to express.

A couple of weeks ago, an ESN bus had an accident on the road, coming back from Valencia. What should've been an amazing day for those students, turned into a nightmare which costed the lives of 13 girls.

We thought we'd pay homage from our new family to the old one by proudly sporting an ESN t-shirt during our last Startup Grind event in Barcelona.

Moreover, at the end of every event, the Startup Grind Barcelona team members take a picture with the guest speaker. This time, I invited everyone in the audience that had been part of ESN (except for one, too shy to come). That's right: 8 ex-ESNrs. Isn't that cool?

It's not much, but it definitely felt like the right thing to do.

Stay strong. We are one.

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Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit

Àlex Rodríguez Bacardit

CEO and Founder at MarsBased and Director at Startup Grind Barcelona. I run a team of 20 people, where I spearhead the sales and strategy areas. My background in consulting and development (ex-Deloitte, ex-VASS) and my international profile help me with the technical and the business perspective. I love loud guitars, cats, travelling and tacos.