In addition to the announcements from @appsterdamrs and the schedule that will be posted on the upcoming site, I thought I would give you a detailed idea of what to expect this weekend. All events are open to RSVP’d attendees and their partners.
Getting here
We have a crew of volunteers ready to meet people at the Schiphol airport and the Amsterdam Centraal train station. If you’d like someone to meet you, let us know by filling out the arrivals form.
Friday night
Friday night is all about getting here. There’s no set time or anything formal like that. The idea is that, as people trickle into the city, get checked in, and head out for the evening, that there be a place to go where they will meet other developers. This is like flying in the night before a conference, and sending the shout out: “where are people drinking?”
Pubs in Amsterdam tend to be clustered into groups (which I call “bar pods”). There are several such pods in the city, usually centered around a square (usually denoted in Dutch as “plein”s). The choice of pod, and the choice of bar within that pod, are arbitrary.
The current plan is to head over to Nieuwmarkt at 18.00 on Friday night and figure out who has room. You can show up any time after that. Just look for the Appsterdam logos or check Twitter.
If we fill one bar, we’ll overflow into the next bar and so forth. As this is an informal gathering, plan to bring money for drinks and snacks: around €20-50.
Saturday midmorning
During the day on Saturday you’ll go on a walking tour of the city. Local Appsterdammers have put together some really nice tours according to several areas of interest. Plan on meeting your tour group in the late- to mid-morning and being on your feet until the late afternoon.
With 7 tours planned all over the city, you’re sure to find something that interests you. For more information, including including times, places, and expected expenses, visit the tour RSVP form. Hurry—space is limited!
Saturday night
The big event! The Appsterdam Launch Party, sponsored by Igluu and Vodafone, will be at Panama at 18.30. There will be a keynote at 19.00, lasting about an hour, wherein we’ll introduce all the great things we have planned for the Summer of Appsterdam.
Drinks and snacks are provided by our good friends at Igluu and Vodafone, so you don’t need to bring anything but your sweet self—though if you have an app, bring it along as well. The party lasts until 22.00. I don’t think the restaurant will throw you out at 22.00, but you’re on your own for drinks past that point.
Sunday midmorning
If you’ve done the weekend right you should be completely exhausted by this point. We’ll stumble into the late morning sun and find our way to hydration and nourishment.
What better place to have a picnic than at our new Appsterdam Official Hangout at NDSM-Werf, featuring a traditional Dutch breakfast of bread and things that go on bread.
We’ll provide drinks, bread, and our favorite sandwich fixings, but if you’re a local, plan on bringing your favorite broodje toppings as well—the more the merrier!
There is a free ferry to NDSM-Werf behind Centraal Station. We will stage a volunteer at both ferry docks to keep you pointed in the right direction.
If the sun is shinning, we can put out blankets on the artificial beach. If it starts to rain, we’ll move the party indoors.
Late nights
In addition to being the City of Apps, you may be aware of some other things Amsterdam is known for. You may even be interested in experiencing such things. On Friday and Saturday nights we will have informal expeditions into other side of Amsterdam. Call it Appsterdam After Dark.
Because of the nature of these expeditions, you must be at least 18 years old—bring ID. We’ll be out from the end of festivities at 22.00 until around 02.00. We’ll play it by ear, so how much money to bring depends on how crazy you are. I’d plan on €20-100.
I mentioned yesterday that you can pre-order T-shirts until noon on Monday, which generated a flurry of questions. Since time is of the essence, I will address these here.
What’s the deal?
We’re celebrating Appsterdam launch party weekend by having a small batch of hand-printed T-shirts professionally silkscreened. Since that doesn’t necessarily guarantee we’ll have enough shirts in your size, we’re letting you pre-purchase your shirt before we put in the order at noon on Monday.
What will they look like?
The simplified Appsterdam logo in red and black expertly silkscreened onto a light gray T-shirt. You can imagine something like our awesome teaser site, but with fewer words, and as a T-shirt.
Are there women’s sizes?
Of course, but you will definitely want to pre-order these, as we’re unlikely to have many at the party.
When do we get them?
You can pick-up your shirts at the party on Saturday night. If you can’t make it to the party, but still want a shirt, we can ship one to you, but only if you pre-order it by noon on Monday.
How much does it cost?
The shirts are €20 if you pick them up at the party. If you need us to ship it to you, it’s an additional €5 in the Netherlands, €10 international, for up to 3 shirts.
Sign me up!
Great. Email klaasspeller at gmail with a subject like: Appsterdam shirts: 2 x L, 1 x WS.
With WWDC behind us, it’s time to get ready for the Appsterdam launch party weekend, which will be kicking off the Summer of Appsterdam.
This is a party worth flying in for. You should plan on arriving in Appsterdam on Friday, June 24. We’ll kick things off by descending upon a pod of bars in the city and drinking them dry as we get to know each other.
You could go strong all night, but you should probably get a good night’s sleep for the morning’s adventures. We’re going to have several expeditions running through the city—coffeeshop tour, canal tour, museum tour—whatever people are interested in.
On Saturday evening we’ll all get back together for a big party. I’ll deliver a keynote, welcoming people to the city, launching the things we have planned for the Summer of Appsterdam, and highlighting some of the developers working in the city—followed by a few hours of meeting and drinking.
In addition to your social pants and good liver, you should bring your app. There will be lots of people there to show it to, from fellow developers to members of the press.
If people have anything left in them, we’ll send a contingent toward the red light district, where the party lasts all night. On Sunday morning, we’ll have a hangover brunch, and greet the sun as it rises on a new Amsterdam.
We will be selling the first batch of Appsterdam T-shirts at the party for €20. If you’d like to guarantee we have a shirt reserved in your size, you can purchase it in advance and pick it up at the party—email klaasspeller at gmail to make arrangements.
You have until noon Monday to pre-order a shirt. Otherwise, stay tuned for our upcoming RSVP, which will include a short census to help us ensure everyone is taken care of.
I can’t wait to see you there. It’s going to be amazing.
Today Sofa announced we have been acquired by Facebook, who are moving the team to Palo Alto. Sofa’s products will find a good home in due time, but what about Sofa’s role in the Appsterdam initiative?
I’ll tell you what’s not happening; I am not going to Facebook. I never even considered that an option. As much as I love Sofa, I love Appsterdam more. It’s not just a question of honoring my obligations. I think what we’re building here is bigger and more important than Facebook.
When I started talking about Appsterdam, I thought there was no developer culture here, because that’s what everyone told me. It seemed like every day I would go to a different meetup and listen to a different room full of developers tell me there was no developer culture here.
I came to realize two things about Appsterdam—there is a ton of technology here, and nobody knows about it. To illustrate this, I asked a group of developers how often they thought we had a tech conference in this city. The consensus was about once a year.
Actually, it’s once a week. Every week we have a tech conference here. Every day we have a developer meetup here. Talented and passionate developers fill this city. Just the other day we had a BBQ on a week’s notice over Twitter and had about 40 people stop by to talk about Appsterdam.
We haven’t even launched yet. The Appsterdam initiative begins this summer with a launch party over the last weekend of June (24-26). Yet we’ve already been in two newspapers here, are all over Twitter and the Internet, and have dozens of people coming to the weekly planning meetings.
One trend that disturbs me however is the most common response to all this: “I hope you can pull it off.” Building a world-class developer community is not something one company, let alone one person, can pull off. The success of Appsterdam is something we all have to be a part of.
So the idea that Sofa is the lynchpin that holds Appsterdam together is as silly as the idea that a feather can make you fly. It is not the feather, but your willingness to believe, that lets you fly. When the feather is gone, the important thing to realize is that you never needed it.
The good news is, the feather has been gone for a while. Acquisitions take time; the likelihood of Sofa’s non-existence has been part of Appsterdam longer than the promise of Sofa’s involvement. We, the developer community of Appsterdam, have been running things without Sofa for months.
We will all miss Sofa. They are one of the most talented teams I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and I am honored that I was able to do so, even given the circumstances. But we still have each other. We are still together in this glorious city. We are still Appsterdam.
Now for the entry you’ve all been waiting for: a quick guide on how to emigrate to Appsterdam.
Most non-European passport holders can be in Europe for 3 out of every 6 months, which includes the Netherlands. In other words, unless you have been kicking around Europe recently, you can come to Appsterdam for the summer without needing a Visa.
If you want to be here for longer than that, you will need a residence permit and the related work permit. For most people, that works as you would expect: you get a job offer here, and the employer takes care of the paperwork. While not normally a speedy process, there is a fast track for knowledge migrants, which we certainly are.
If you are a self-employed person, there is a point system the government uses to asses your ability to support yourself. While I don’t have any specific information on that, I wouldn’t be too afraid of this process, as we are, as a general statement, a desirable group.
Certain countries have other agreements with the Netherlands. For example, citizens of Canada, Australia and New Zealand under the age of 30 qualify for a 12-month “working vacation” visa.
For self-employed Americans, there is the Dutch American Friendship Treaty, which is a piece of war-era diplomacy that makes it relatively simple for Americans to set up manufacturing companies in the Netherlands. Since apps are, by definition, products, we certainly qualify for that.
If you want to stay here on the DAFT, plan on the process costing you €10.000. Half of that will be your Dutch company’s capital investment—basically money sitting in the bank you can’t touch—and half will be for legal fees, preparing a DAFT-friendly business plan, etc.
The attorney Chris Barth is the local specialist, and has a lot of specific information on his site. He is a native Philadelphian who has been in the Netherlands for over a decade, and is your absolute best bet for getting over here with minimal fuss.
Some additions to the information on his site:
You will need to order a new certified copy of your birth certificate to register as a resident alien.
You will need a secondary certification from the issuing state, called an apostille, for each birth certificate.
Health insurance is listed as a requirement, and is obtained easily here for around €100 a month.
For now, my advice is to come for the summer and if, about a month in, you decide you want to stay, you can get together with Chris to file the paperwork.
What about your spouse, kids, and pets? As far as I know, all immigration routes, including the DAFT, include residence permits, but not work permits, for your family. Your spouse can apply for their own work permit, or become a business partner in your DAFT company.
You may bring pets into the Netherlands only if they are not meant to be traded or sold. If you wish to bring your dog or cat when you are moving to the Netherlands, it needs a pet passport. Your pet must be examined by a recognized vet in the country you are moving from in order to obtain such a passport. The passport contains the following information: – a statement from the vet (in Dutch, English, French or German) that your pet has been vaccinated with an approved vaccine against rabies; – the date of vaccination; – your pet’s description including its breed, sex, age, colour and type of fur and its marks; – the name of the owner.
Important! Your dog or cat must have been vaccinated within 1 year and at least 30 days before your move. Please take into account that applying for such a passport will take some time. You should, therefore, apply for it at your vet no later than 10 days before your move. If you do not have a pet passport, your dog or cat will be vaccinated upon entering the country after which it will have to remain in quarantine for 30 days.
For a few other animals you need a health certificate. This is, at least, applicable to birds, horses, cows (and other ungulates), ferrets, minks and foxes. You can obtain this health certificate from a recognized vet in the country you are moving from. You do not need a health certificate or passport for other animals, for example, rabbits, hares and fishes. You can bring these animals without having to make special provisions.
One of the best things about being an expat in the Netherlands is that so many people are already doing just that, so there is a lot of information available everywhere. Perhaps the best source is the book “The Holland Handbook,” which is full of practical information for making the move.
(For some reason, Amazon is only taking pre-orders for the upcoming revision, but I’m sure you can find the current edition somewhere.)
