Under 18 and Building Something? This Is Your Way Into Barcelona 2027

You stay up late fixing a bug nobody else will ever see. You pitch your idea to friends and they nod politely. Your family is proud of you, but when you ask whether you should launch now or wait, nobody really knows what to say.

If that sounds familiar, you're not the only one. There are founders your age all over Europe going through the exact same thing. Project18 Europe exists to put you in the same room.

Your age is a head start, not a limit

That's Project18's motto, and it's the whole point. Most founder communities are built for adults who already have a network. The few that are made for teenagers usually treat you like a student. Project18 treats you like what you are: a founder.

It was started by Niko Miralles, a 16-year-old from Spain who has won three hackathons in a row. It's run by founders under 18, for founders under 18.

Who you'd be building with

This isn't a group of people who "want to start something one day". Some of the first members:

Federico (16, Italy) is the CubeSat PM whose team won the ESA EO Makerspace Hackathon with AI that tracks Arctic ice from orbit.

Samuel (16, Spain) co-founded HackSpain, which brought 250+ young builders to Madrid with backing from Google, Cursor and Cognition.

Edvin (17, Sweden) started his first business at 11 and hit $1M ARR with a 49-person team by 16.

Imagine having people like that one message away when you're stuck.

Doors you wouldn't open alone

Project18 is barely a few weeks old and it's already creating real opportunities. Three of its first members have been invited to compete at an MIT-affiliated hackathon in China, and the team is working to make the whole trip fully funded. That's the kind of thing that happens when young founders stop working in isolation.

Barcelona 2027: one weekend, 40 founders

The founding event takes place in Barcelona in spring 2027. 40 selected founders under 18 will spend a weekend building together, hearing from experienced founders and investors, and meeting the people they'll probably be working with for years.

The goal is for sponsors to cover it fully, so selected founders pay nothing. The event goes ahead once enough sponsors confirm, and Project18 promises to always tell you exactly what something costs before you commit.

"But I'm not ready yet"

You probably are. Here's what you actually need:

You're under 18 and based anywhere in Europe.

You're already building something: a product, a company or a serious project. Stage doesn't matter much.

You don't need users or revenue. They care more about what you're building and how you think than about numbers you don't have yet.

Applying is free, and every application is read by a real person.

Building in Greece? Talk to someone near you

Project18 has one ambassador per country, so the community isn't just an online chat but someone close to you. In Greece, that's Nikolas Korakianitis, founder of KAR AI, who has been building his own company since March 2025 while still in school. If you're unsure whether your project fits or you just want to talk it through, send him a message on LinkedIn and tell him what you're working on.

Apply now

Go to project18.eu, hit Apply and tell them what you're building. It takes a few minutes, and it could be the step that gets you to Barcelona.

Know someone under 18 who's building something cool? Send them this article. And if your company wants to back the next generation of European founders, reach out to partnerships@project18.eu.