When Stockholm’s startup scene began to thrive in the early 2010s, it was known for producing unicorns – but also for its fragmentation. Founders often worked in isolation, disconnected from the support, partners, and investors that could help them endure the long, difficult middle miles between idea and success. SUP or Startup People – originally founded as SUP46 in 2013 – was created to fix that. Over the past decade, it has evolved into a digital-first, people-centric platform that helps founders not only start, but keep going.
“We help more founders win the long game by turning elite, hard-to-access startup support into a hyper-personal online platform that connects them to the right resources, partners, and investors,” explains CEO Sebastian Fuchs. “We’ve built a community that solves the isolation problem – connecting the founders you don’t see in headlines to the support they need to keep building, day after day.”
From Physical Hub to Digital Powerhouse
The evolution from SUP46 to SUP represents the reinvention of what startup support can be. After years of operating as one of Stockholm’s most respected innovation hubs, we recognized a gap that physical spaces alone couldn’t close. Founders beyond the city limits – those building from remote villages or kitchen tables – needed access, too.
That realization drove a bold transformation. “Going fully digital in 2019–2020 wasn’t just about COVID,” says Sebastian. “It was about reaching the founders grinding anywhere, not just those who could show up to a Stockholm office.” The transition to a digital ecosystem became the foundation for what SUP is today: an inclusive, accessible, and determined support network for entrepreneurs across the Nordics and beyond.
In 2022, the company rebranded to Startup People – or SUP for short – to reflect its people-first mission. “It’s what we’ve always believed: it’s the people who endure that matter most,” he notes. “Innovation isn’t just about technology or shipping features faster. It’s about reimagining systems that have traditionally excluded people.”
Innovation for the Middle Miles
Every startup faces three stages: the spark of an idea, the grind of development, and the scaling that follows success. Most support systems are designed for the beginning or the end – the flashy accelerator programs or investor showcases. SUP focuses on what Sebastian calls “the middle miles – the hardest, loneliest part of the journey where most founders give up.”
Their Idea–Development–Growth–Scale framework supports entrepreneurs through each stage with curated knowledge, premium tools, and community-driven learning. “We don’t confuse activity with progress, or articles with results,” he says. “We measure by how many founders we help stay in the race long enough to win.”
This focus on endurance over hype has become SUP’s hallmark: helping founders sustain momentum when the spotlight fades and the grind begins.
Redefining Access and Equity
Today, the growing platform serves over 1,000 founders across the Nordics with more than €150,000 in perks from partners such as Notion, HubSpot, Stripe, and Supabase. Yet the perks are only part of the story. The real value lies in the organization’s commitment to democratizing access – taking what was once available only to the well-connected and making it accessible to everyone.
“For us, innovation means taking the support structures that only elite founders could access – the right introductions, the insider knowledge, the premium tools – and making them available to anyone with the determination to build something worth paying for,” he says. “It’s about building systems that reward endurance, not just early wins.”
Every founder who gains access is one less potential innovation lost to circumstance. “Every time a founder gives up – not for lack of skill, but for lack of access or hope – the ecosystem loses potential innovation,” Sebastian adds.
Building the Infrastructure for Sustainable Growth
Stockholm’s rise as a global innovation hub has often been credited to its unicorns – Spotify, Klarna, King, Truecaller, Lovable, and more – but the quieter, more systemic innovation lies in how organizations like SUP nurture and inspire the next generation of founders. “We’re building the infrastructure that lets more founders stay in the race long enough to create real innovation and societal value,” says Sebastian.
“We contribute by making sure businesses die because they failed to build something that solves a real problem – not because they lacked the resources or access to execute,” he adds.
A Broader, Stronger Innovation Ecosystem
As AI reshapes the startup landscape, Startup People is preparing founders for the next phase of the entrepreneurial era with smarter tools, better connections, and tailored learning resources. Its mission remains simple: support the grit, not just celebrate the loudest voices.
At its core, SUP’s innovation is deeply human. It’s about empathy, inclusion, and endurance. It’s about making sure innovation thrives not just in incubators or hackathons, but in every corner where ambition meets perseverance.
“The founders who matter most are the ones you don’t see in headlines,” Sebastian says. “The ones still grinding, still adapting, still showing up to build something real.”
That’s the philosophy driving Startup People forward. “If Stockholm – or any ecosystem – wants to stay world-class, we need to widen the gate, not just cheer from the finish line,” he concludes. “We need to make it possible for more startup people to succeed. And when more founders win, we all benefit from the innovation they bring to the world. Our aim is to build something that’s helpful enough to really move the needle here.”
“We need to make it possible for more startup people to succeed. And when more founders win, we all benefit from the innovation they bring to the world. Our aim is to build something that’s helpful enough to really move the needle here.”
