Amsterdam, September 9, 2015 – As of today university students in the Netherlands can apply to a new educational program. The ‘Growth Tribe Academy’ welcomes applicants to a study program that will turn them into growth hackers. Growth hackers have a rare combination of marketing, data and product expertise. A combination so rare that growth-hungry startups are struggling to find good talent. The ‘Growth Tribe Academy’ is the first growth hacking academy in Europe and aims to tackle this imbalance.
To fill this gap, growth hacking agency Growth Tribe has partnered up with the Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) and the University of Amsterdam. Other high profile supporters of the Growth Tribe Academy are Facebook, the Dutch VC firm Peak Capital and Catawiki, a startup that recently closed a $82 million Series C growth funding round. Persistently recruiting and educating first-class talent is critical for Amsterdam and its thriving startup ecosystem. The municipality of Amsterdam therefore supports the program via its initiative StartupAmsterdam, which aims to position Amsterdam as one of the startup capitals of Europe.
The course is a full-time 3-month program held at the University of Amsterdam. The first class kicks off November 2nd, 2015 with the program ending late January 2016. Participants will take part in hands-on workshops and work in teams on existing growth hacking projects within successful startups. The students will be coached by experienced growth hackers and entrepreneurs. Master students in their final year and recent graduates can apply until October 23rd via www.growthtribeacademy.com. There is room for 24 students.
“Our AHA moment came when we were getting up to 40 messages a month asking us for help with growth and we just couldn’t deliver the right people”, says David Arnoux, co-founder of Growth Tribe, an agency that advises and trains startups as well as large internet companies about growth hacking. “So we took 2 major decisions. First we would train coders, creatives and analysts fresh out of universities and secondly we would build growth teams instead of individuals because growth hacking is a team sport.” says Arnoux.
“We are very excited about the Growth Hacking Academy, because it enables us to educate students for jobs that are always in demand”, says Erik Boer, director of the Amsterdam Center for Entrepreneurship. “We will use learnings from the first classes to make the program a permanent part of the curriculum offered, for instance as a minor. The international arrangement of the program will also enable us to attract growth hacking talent from abroad to the Netherlands,” says de Boer.