Episode #15: How Real Estate Grows Startups. Inside the House of Startups with Philippe Linster

Who Is Philippe Linster? The CEO Who Turned 6,500 m² Into Luxembourg’s Startup Engine

Quick answer: Philippe Linster is the CEO of the House of Startups (HoST) in Luxembourg. The HoST is a 6,500 m² innovation campus created by the Chamber of Commerce. It opened in June 2018. It hosts around 175 startups and three anchor incubators: the Luxembourg-City Incubator, the LHoFT, and Le Village by CA. Philippe started in banking, then joined the Chamber of Commerce in 2017. He became CEO of the HoST in January 2020, at age 30.

🏢 What if a building could grow a startup ecosystem faster than any subsidy?

In this episode, we sit down with Philippe Linster, CEO of the House of Startups, right inside the building he runs. 6,500 m², five floors, 100 meters from Luxembourg’s central station.

Philippe is Luxembourgish. His father is an architect and became an associate at M3 Architectes, the firm behind major Kirchberg buildings like the BGL BNP Paribas headquarters. Philippe grew up on construction sites. But he chose numbers over drawings. He studied finance and audit in Strasbourg. He worked at Banque de Luxembourg with corporate clients. In 2017, he joined the Chamber of Commerce to guide foreign investors through Luxembourg. Three years later, at 30, he took over the House of Startups from founding CEO Karin Schintgen.

In this conversation, he explains why the HoST is not a coworking space. Why startups pay per person, per month. How the building let companies shrink from 30 desks to 4 during Covid. Why Salonkee arrived with 2 people and left with around 100. And why his ultimate success metric is simple: you must leave this building because you got too big.

This is a direct and honest conversation. No filter.

💡 What we cover in this episode

What the House of Startups really is. Why it goes beyond real estate. The three anchor incubators: Luxembourg-City Incubator, LHoFT, Le Village by CA. The three selection criteria: young, innovative, scalable. How the pay-per-person, per-month model works. Growing or shrinking your office every 3 to 6 months. Crisis management during Covid: no rent in April 2020. Philippe’s path: construction sites, Strasbourg, Banque de Luxembourg. The Investor Care years at the Chamber of Commerce. Becoming CEO at 30. 16 years as a European handball referee. The Salonkee story: from 2 desks to 300 employees. The Open Innovation Club: Luxembourg’s top 60 companies. Playing Tetris with 175 startups every month. Why the interior design forces people to meet. The Peter Drucker quote about ideas and bulldozers.

📌 Chapters

[0:00] Introduction
[2:54] Who is Philippe Linster?
[3:12] 6,500 m² and 175 startups in the city
[4:39] A quarter of Luxembourg’s ecosystem
[5:33] Three criteria to enter the HoST
[8:20] Salonkee: from 2 to 300 employees
[9:28] Pay monthly, grow every three months
[10:32] Covid: shrinking from 30 desks to 3
[13:48] Growing up on an architect father’s construction sites
[16:40] First steps at Banque de Luxembourg
[18:08] Attracting foreign investors to Luxembourg
[23:30] 16 years as a European handball referee
[27:10] Director of the HoST at 29
[29:42] The Chamber of Commerce: really that boring?
[33:00] Salonkee’s fundraising: 1 then 6 million
[33:51] LBAN, the business angels network
[36:58] From 60% to 95% occupancy
[38:14] Real estate Tetris every month
[39:18] Open Innovation Club: the country’s top 60
[40:16] The filter between startups and corporates
[44:03] What makes a good startup building
[45:06] Yuval Samuelov, the architect who makes people collaborate
[46:45] Modular rooms and post-Covid phone boxes
[48:42] Drucker: ideas and bulldozers
[51:40] Techy or sales: the winning duo
[53:22] Give-and-take mentoring

🎬 Watch this if you want to know

✅ How a single building can host a quarter of a country’s startups

✅ Why flexible square meters beat classic office leases for young companies

✅ What a startup campus did when Covid hit: no rent, smaller offices, zero evictions

✅ How Salonkee went from 2 desks at the HoST to 300 employees in 7 countries

✅ Why the best success metric for an incubator is startups leaving

✅ How interior design can force serendipity: coffee machines, open spaces, phone booths

✅ What Luxembourg’s top 60 companies get from startups. And give back

Who Is Philippe Linster? The Story in Key Dates

Philippe Linster is the CEO of the House of Startups in Luxembourg. He is Luxembourgish. He grew up around architecture and construction. He built his career on the other side: finance, structuring, and ecosystems.

Childhood. His father, Alain Linster, is an architect. He became an associate at M3 Architectes, the firm behind major Kirchberg office buildings. Philippe spends his weekends on construction sites, helmet on.

Studies. He moves to Strasbourg. He earns a Bachelor in Economic and Social Administration, then a Master in Accounting, Control and Audit at EM Strasbourg Business School.

Banque de Luxembourg. He joins the corporate department. He works with entrepreneurs and family businesses. He structures credit files. He sees both sides of the coin: growth and struggle.

2017. He joins the Chamber of Commerce. He helps build Investor Care, a new platform guiding foreign companies and investors through Luxembourg. Airport pickups, ministry meetings, full programs. A startup inside the institution.

2014 to 2026. In parallel, he referees handball at European level with his best friend. Twelve seasons as a European referee. Women’s Champions League. Two European Cup semi-finals. They stop in May 2026, after 16 years.

January 2020. He becomes CEO of the House of Startups, succeeding founding CEO Karin Schintgen. He is 30. Two months later, Covid hits. Year one becomes crisis management.

2021 to today. The HoST stabilizes around 175 startups and 95% occupancy. The building grows to 6,500 m². The Chamber of Commerce extends the project until the end of 2029.

What Makes Philippe Linster Different?

Three things stand out.

He runs real estate that refuses to make money

The HoST is not a coworking space. It belongs to the Chamber of Commerce. The goal is jobs and innovation, not margin. Startups pay per person, per month. Rents went up once in eight years. During Covid, nobody paid rent in April 2020. Companies shrank from 30 desks to 4. The HoST kept paying its own landlord on time.

He measures success by departures

Most landlords want tenants to stay. Philippe wants them to leave. His three criteria are young, innovative, scalable. His ultimate KPI: you outgrow the building. Salonkee did exactly that. Two people at the start. Around one hundred when they left. Between 250 and 300 today, across 7 countries.

He works the invisible layer

Changing light bulbs. Playing Tetris with office plans every month. Screening startups before opening doors to CEOs and ministers. Philippe protects a network built over a decade. The filter is the product. That is why Luxembourg’s top 60 companies give the HoST their time for free.

The Building: Real Estate as an Ecosystem Tool

The House of Startups sits 100 meters from Luxembourg’s central station. Startups come by train or bus from all over the country and across the borders. Location was criterion number one.

The interior was designed by Studio Samuelov, founded by Yuval Samuelov in Tel Aviv. He had already built several incubators in Israel. His brief in 2018: design a space that pushes people to collaborate. Half open space, half private offices. Meeting rooms that switch from board meeting to creative workshop in minutes.

The building evolved after Covid. Phone booths appeared everywhere: ventilated, powered, sized for one or two people. Because open spaces full of calls drive everyone crazy. And blocking a 20-person meeting room for one call makes no sense.

The result: connections happen on their own. At the coffee machine. In the open space. At events. The real estate does half the networking.

FAQ: Philippe Linster, House of Startups and the Startup Ecosystem in Luxembourg

What is the House of Startups?

The House of Startups (HoST) is a 6,500 m² innovation campus in Luxembourg City. It was created by the Chamber of Commerce and opened in June 2018. It hosts around 175 startups and several innovation hubs. Its mission: support startups and innovation, not make profit.

Which incubators are based at the House of Startups?

Three anchor incubators: the Luxembourg-City Incubator, the LHoFT (Luxembourg House of Financial Technology), and Le Village by CA (Crédit Agricole). The building also hosts the LBAN (Luxembourg Business Angels Network) and other ecosystem players.

How does a startup join the House of Startups?

Each incubator has its own selection committee. Three shared criteria: the company must be young (usually under 5 years, up to 10 for deep tech and space), innovative, and scalable. Coaches, independent lawyers, and sports trainers do not qualify.

How much does it cost?

Startups pay per person, per month. The price is comparable to coworking spaces, sometimes lower. It includes furniture, internet, meeting rooms, cleaning, coaching programs, and introductions. Rents were raised once in eight years.

How many startups are in Luxembourg?

Around 800, according to the national Dealroom platform. The HoST hosts between a fifth and a quarter of them. Many of the others passed through the building at some point.

What is the Open Innovation Club?

A network of Luxembourg’s 60 largest companies, run by the HoST. Members do not pay the HoST. They give time and contacts instead. The HoST connects their innovation directors with each other and with screened startups.

What is the Salonkee story?

Salonkee builds software for hair salons. It was co-founded by Tom Michels (CEO) and Samuel Faber (CFO). It started at the HoST with 2 people. The ecosystem supported its first funding rounds. It left the building with around 100 employees. Today it counts between 250 and 300 people across 7 countries, based in Howald. We covered the full story with Samuel Faber in Episode #10: from a 10 m² room at the HoST to a 120-desk HQ.

Who is Philippe Linster?

Philippe Linster is the CEO of the House of Startups since January 2020. Before that, he worked at Banque de Luxembourg and built the Investor Care platform at the Chamber of Commerce. He holds a Master in Accounting, Control and Audit from EM Strasbourg. He was also a European handball referee for 12 seasons.

His Core Belief

There is one quote Philippe keeps coming back to. It comes from Peter Drucker.

Ideas are cheap. You need bulldozers to move mountains.

Founders arrive convinced their idea will sell itself. Then reality hits. Nobody has heard of them. The idea must change, adapt, and above all: get built. You cannot protect an idea. You can only execute it.

Salonkee is his favorite proof. Software for hair salons is not the flashiest innovation in the building. But their execution is relentless. Sales academy, strict targets, perfect follow-up. Execution is half the success. Often more.

And the same logic applies to his building. The HoST is not an idea. It is 175 startups, weekly Tetris with floor plans, and a light bulb to change every day.

👉 See Also

Episode #14: From Sandwiches in a Backpack to 47 Jobs. The Marie Laurini Story

Episode #10: From a 10 m² Room to a 120-Desk HQ. The Salonkee Story with Samuel Faber

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City: Luxembourg | Date: August 2026 | #SSY!