Manifesto
Why Atarazana Founder House exists, who it is for and how we want it to work.
Málaga is already on the map
You visit a big event once. You come back to a community.
Málaga stopped being a promise a while ago. There are startups, universities, technical talent, investment, accelerators and a tech hub that keeps growing. That work is already done, and it was no accident.
What we missed was not another big event. It was a place where people who build could get together regularly, without waiting for the next big date and without catching a plane. An ecosystem does not live on its big events alone, but on what happens in between: an unplanned conversation, a prototype shown too early, a face that comes back and an idea several people decide to build together.
Atarazana Founder House fills that gap: small, regular meetups so faces stop being strangers.
What you do, not how you pitch it
What matters here is what you build, not how you present it.
Atarazana Founder House is designed for the people who do the work. What counts is what you are trying to build, what you learned along the way and how much you share it. Job title, company and follower count stay outside.
We like people who show what they do: code, product, architecture, mistakes and awkward questions. A half-finished launch makes for a better conversation than a polished success story.
- A demo is worth more than a pitch.
- One hard decision is worth more than ten generic tips.
- An honest question is worth more than a business card.
What happens at each meetup
We get together to meet other people in Málaga’s tech community. There are talks to discover what others are working on, and time to chat, grab a bite and see what comes of it.
Get to know each other
Put faces to people working in technology in Málaga, share what you are working on and hear what others are doing. Sometimes it is simply a good conversation. Other times, it leads to a friendship, an idea or something you work on together.
Talks
People working in software, AI, deep tech and startups share what they are doing and what they have learned along the way. A chance to discover projects and ask the people behind them questions.
Grab a bite and keep talking
After the talks, there is food, drinks and time to get to know each other. Continue a conversation, approach someone who just presented or chat with the person next to you.
Who gets in and why
Who gets in depends on what you bring, not your job title.
We ask for invites to protect what happens inside. We want every person who comes in to make the conversation better, and that is enough: anyone who is building something and has something to contribute gets in.
We look for a mix of founders, engineers, research, product and design people, exceptional students and profiles that are hard to label. People with a track record and people who are not known yet but are already doing great work.
Every meetup keeps room for new faces. You become part of the community by coming, coming back and helping others.
Our rules
Show your work
If you can show it working, do not just tell it with slides.
No theatre
Talks and direct conversation. There is always room for the hard question.
Work before title
What you have built matters more than how your title looks on LinkedIn.
Unfinished is welcome
Half-done work makes for better conversations than a closed success story.
Give before you ask
Introduce two people, share what you know, unblock someone.
Selective, but open
We look after who is in the room and always keep space for new talent.
What is said, stays
Whoever shares something decides whether it can leave the room.
Partners do not decide
Partners make each meetup possible, but they do not choose who gets in, who speaks or what is discussed.
What we do not do
No forced networking games, no business-card rounds, no sales talks. If a conversation needs a game to get started, it probably was not going to be a good one. We set up the conditions and step aside:
- A shared table.
- An honest demo.
- A drink after the last talk.
We are not here to replace anyone. We build on the work of those who have been moving the Málaga ecosystem for years and add something smaller, more frequent and focused on builders.
Why this name
Different tools, same attitude.
The Atarazanas were Málaga’s shipyards in Nasrid times: the place where the ships that crossed the Mediterranean were built. Workshop work, no stage. The gate of that building still stands and is now the entrance to the Atarazanas Market.
We care about that attitude, not nostalgia: making things by hand, experimenting, mixing and creating without asking for permission. Today that energy is in the people building products, companies and technology from here. The material changed. The attitude is the same.
A community, not a venue
Atarazana Founder House is the people who come back.
We have no fixed venue. Each meetup happens in a different place in Málaga and, when the night ends, what remains are the relationships, the products that were shown, the conversations still open and the things that start being built afterwards.
We want to be the place you come back to: where a conversation turns into a company, a demo finds its first customer and an idea finds its first engineer. See you inside.
Tell us what you are building.
Request an invite on Luma with a link to what you are working on: your website, GitHub, product or a post. Session 001 will take place on 29 October.