Strolling to your neighbourhood pub or sitting outside in the sun for a quick espresso and hour-long chats with friends feels perfectly normal to those of us in the UK and the EU. But in many parts of the world, this freedom of time and movement is a rare luxury. In the US, relentless job demands, punishing hours, and sprawling infrastructure often make taking this kind of time impossible.

It’s from this contrast that the term "Europe-Maxxing" jokingly emerged: a caricature of the stereotypically "lazy" European worker who logs off precisely at 5:00 PM and is OOO (out-of-office) entirely for the month of August.

While we embrace this lifestyle, the transatlantic use of the term carries an underlying critique: How can you possibly choose quality of life over hours billed, ranks climbed, and bonuses secured?

Here is my thesis: Europe Maxxing, especially unapologetically taking time off in the summer, is a distinct superpower of the European founder.

It’s no secret that even in Europe, founders are notorious for working 24/7, often at the expense of their own health and sanity. It’s an all-too-relatable grind. Yet, time and time again, the founders we feature prove that stepping back to take care of yourself is the real secret to building something enduring and impactful.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither is a lasting business. Thus, just like the great architects of antiquity, founders need space to step back and view the bigger picture. That is our secret advantage: dialling back the grind in summer, clearing our heads, and reflecting on the sprint of the past few months. Are we still moving toward our initial goal? Have we lost our overarching vision to the micromanagement required just to keep the lights on?

Europe has always been about building things that are meaningful, sustainable, and designed to last for centuries, just like our cities. Our businesses aren't built on fast-food principles; our inherent creativity and individualism simply wouldn’t allow it.

For this August edition, we asked our featured founders to share how they spend their time away from their ventures. We explore how they use their OOO time to reflect on recent milestones, recalibrate their vision, and prepare for their next leap before getting sucked back into the vortex of university, startup life, and the big city.

 Stay OOO.

— Leonard Ulrich (Publisher)

📍Royal Holloway (RHUL)

Twelve months ago I was the one applying to internships. Every bank ran a different online assessment, every HireVue was scored on a different rubric, and the best practice I could find was asking ChatGPT. Average at best. In a process where fractions of a mark separate an offer from a rejection, average doesn't cut it.

So I built Intervyo. Your CV, read by the two audiences that judge it through the process. First by the applicant tracking system that filters, and then the recruiter who skims. Online assessments in the formats firms actually use, scored against realistic rubrics. HireVue under match conditions: thirty seconds of prep, one take, the way most firms run it. Every stage a firm runs, you can practice on Intervyo.

Our most advanced feature is the live interview. Most mock interview tools give you a pre-written question and a record button. Ours is fully conversational: it adapts to you, your CV, the role, even your recent sessions. Say something interesting in your HireVue practice and it might get picked up in your interview, exactly the way a real recruiter would. We think it's better than the big labs. Our response time is on par, and we think our reasoning and depth of thought is better. 

The thing I'm proudest of is the outcomes for our users. We launched in January, on the back end of last season, and it worked. Across our usage data, HireVue practice scores lifted 71% on average after three or more sessions, and 100% of users improved on their starting score after four or more. By the time the real HireVue loaded, it was the fifth one they'd sat that week. Just the first one that counted.

As the season wrapped we spoke to a lot of our users. The overwhelming sentiment was positive: it worked, and the fear of taking these tests was gone. What was left was fine-tuning, and they were not shy about where. So while half of London is off doing Euro summer (as you should be), we've spent ours sharpening every edge they pointed at. Firm Packs came out of those conversations too: deep intel on one firm, plus training on how to use it in the room rather than recite it.

The other half of the summer went on markets. The US runs the same race on an earlier calendar; recruiting there is already live while the UK waits for September. So as of this summer, Intervyo is live in the US too. (I'm writing this from Newport Beach, California, which I have been calling a work trip to understand the US market. It is… Mostly.) Yes, our version of Europe Maxxing involved leaving Europe.

If you're applying this cycle, spring weeks, summer internships, graduate schemes, this was built from the exact seat you're sitting in. There's a free plan, no card: a CV review, psychometric tests, HireVue practice, a cover letter. Finish your setup and we add a welcome gift on top, including a full live mock interview, on us. Sit one, see your score, see where the gap is.

Enjoy what's left of the summer. Walk into September applications ready.

— Jamie Fairey

Intervyo built something just for eureqa! readers: a prize wheel.

Everyone wins on their spin:

Give it a try! 👉 intervyo.co.uk/eureqa

📍University College London (UCL)

Your camera roll knows what summer it is. Boho chic making its big comeback. Festival outfits. Whatever everyone you know is wearing in Spain right now, because let's face it, everyone you know is in Spain right now. You've screenshotted all of it. And that's where it dies, because there's no search bar for a vibe. You can't exactly type "old money but I'm 20 and broke" into Vinted and expect results.

That's the gap Closette aims to fill: vibe shopping, actually made real. You upload the outfit screenshot, the AI decodes the vibe into searchable terms, then uses them to find matching items listed on secondhand platforms like Vinted, Depop, eBay and Vestiaire (yes, all of them at once). No more digging for brands or for that one shirt you saved to your moodboard without any tags. closette hands you the secondhand version, minus the endless scrolling. Fast fashion currently wins because it's convenient, so I'm building Closette to make secondhand the go-to instead.

I'm Claudia, an Arts and Sciences student at UCL, and I've built Closette solo through the Bloomsbury Startup Academy (BSA), starting with zero coding experience. The first version was very much a first version. I was obsessing over API keys, babysitting servers, fixing things at 2am that would break again by midday. It worked on and off, but it was really just held together with tape and late nights, and I was too deep in it to see that the whole approach was wrong.

Now, full disclosure: I have not been Europe-Maxxing in body, only in spirit. While most of my coursemates disappeared into Europe for the summer, interrailing Portugal or working from a beach in Greece, I've been Mexico-Maxxing. I'm currently studying abroad in Monterrey, about as far from my London desk as I could physically get, and it turned out to be exactly what Closette needed. With an ocean between me and my very broken start, I finally saw the obvious thing I'd been too busy to notice. I didn't need to fight the platforms. I needed to understand them: how Gen-Z actually shops, and how to get from image to item in the fewest steps possible. Simpler build, nothing to break, and actually sustainable long-term. I rebuilt it that way, and it was from this beautiful library terrace in Mexico that I finally launched Closette to the waitlist.

So no, not exactly Europe, but I'd argue the spirit is fully intact. The best decision I've made as a founder came from distance and from taking my time. Anyone in the startup world knows the mantra: ship fast, distribute faster, market yesterday. What nobody mentions is how quickly that turns into a mountain of pressure just to launch. Stepping back is what got me there in the end, and turns out the best commit I made all year happened nowhere near my laptop.

It fits, too. Secondhand fashion is the same idea, worn on your body: slower, more intentional, choosing things that last for years over the endless churn of new, new, new. The same spirit everyone's chasing on their Riviera holidays, just applied to your wardrobe. That's the kind of platform I want Closette to be.

(Exclusive announcement!!!)

Ps: I haven’t advertised the official launch, but since you’re reading this, I’d love for you to try closette at closette.uk

— Claudia Pipis

📍London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

In 2020, I was an extreme introvert.

Raising my hand in class? No thanks.

Public speaking? Absolutely not.

If you had told me back then that one day I would be leading an international youth organisation, speaking at conferences and meeting nonprofit leaders around the world, I probably would have laughed awkwardly.

Everything changed in 2021.

I was given an opportunity to deliver my very first speech. I was terrified. My hands were shaking, my heart was racing, and I honestly just wanted it to be over. But when the audience applauded, something stuck. 

Teachers and mentors came up to encourage me. They believed in me before I believed in myself. They gave me opportunities to lead, to organise events, to make mistakes, and to grow. Every opportunity built a little more confidence than the last.

Looking back, I realised something incredibly important. Confidence isn’t something you’re born with. It’s something that develops when someone gives you a chance.

That idea planted the seed of HELLO Trust. 

My name is Casso Pi, and in 2023, I founded HELLO Trust with a simple belief: everyone deserves the opportunity to lead, regardless of their age, gender, race, background, or the stereotypes placed upon them. Sometimes, all it takes is a single opportunity and the right mentors to completely change someone’s trajectory.

What started as a small student initiative has since grown into an international, youth-led social enterprise with over 200 members across 16 branches, spanning Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America. Every branch identifies a local community in need, whether supporting autistic children in Shenzhen, helping immigrants integrate into life in Los Angeles, or addressing elderly loneliness in Seoul, and empowers students to lead meaningful initiatives that respond to those needs. One of the most exciting aspects of HELLO Trust is that no two branches are the same.

Studying in London has only reinforced this belief. Being surrounded by people from different cultures, perspectives, and experiences has shown me that leadership has no single definition. It looks different in every community, but it always begins with people who are willing to take the first step.

HELLO Trust was never created simply to organise volunteer events. It exists to create opportunities for young people; to discover confidence, develop leadership, and realise that they can make a genuine difference. Because sometimes, one opportunity is all it takes to change a life. And given that it happened to me, I believe it can happen to thousands of others too.

- Casso Pi

📍London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

I’ve always been fascinated by founders like Steve Jobs and Phil Knight because they built brands that became part of culture. Outside business, I’ve also been inspired by people like Drake, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Alcaraz. They all come from different worlds, but they share the same mindset. They stay authentic to themselves and their art, continuing to evolve and pursue excellence regardless of outsider opinions. Having this way of thinking shaped how I approach both business and life.

I wanted to build something of my own from something personal. 

Before Cheb became a business, it was simply a nickname between my sister and me. We would call each other ‘Cheb’ when we noticed each other embracing the present moment, forgetting about time or place and staying authentic despite other people’s expectations. 

As we extended calling others ‘Chebs’, we realised we weren’t just describing a person anymore. We found that founders, athletes, artists and creatives possess ‘Cheb’ personas because they choose to build rather than follow. We became inspired by wanting to build a community of Chebs.

Cheb became an urban luxury lifestyle brand that reflected the way we saw travel, culture, fashion and community. 

Our first clothing collection was inspired by Bodrum, a place that has always been a home away from home for us. The design reflected somewhere that genuinely meant something to us, and the response we received exceeded what we expected. Seeing orders come in from cities around the world including London, Madrid, Paris, Milan, Beirut, Istanbul and LA gave us a lot of confidence to keep building.

People often ask what it’s like building a business with your sibling. For many people, it sounds like the last person you’d choose as a co-founder. For us, it’s been our greatest strength and asset. We have complementary skills, different ways of thinking and complete trust in one another. We challenge each other’s ideas without judgement, push each other to improve with constant iterations and genuinely bring out the best in one another. Although those we dedicate to responsibilities based on our unique strengths, every major decision is made together. 

We’re also completely bootstrapped. Every collection has been funded by us, and we have consistently reinvested back into the business, making it a harmonious cycle. This independence has allowed us to stay patient, protect our founding vision to build a genuine community, and in return have been able to build a strong ideal customer base for our brand. 

A few months after launching, the Gstaad Guy received one of our Bodrum T-shirts. It was one of those early moments that reinforced our belief that Cheb was capable of reaching our fashion and lifestyle icons whose outlook and creativity had inspired us long before we started the brand. 

Since then, we’ve continued telling stories through places that have genuinely shaped us. During my fellowship with LSE Generate in Lisbon, I’d spend my days exploring the city, taking photographs and sending ideas based on interviews with locals back to Farah, who was responsible for creative design and direction. We develop every collection together before she hand illustrates each design, and then we return to the same location to shoot every campaign ourselves with a community of Chebs.

Inspiring artists including Charlie Jeer, Zeyne and Louis Bekk have all become part of the Cheb community with pieces from the brand, alongside globally known influencers such as Ali Moubarak. 

Cheb recently celebrated its 2nd birthday but is still only at the beginning. Our ambition has never been to build another fashion brand, especially in such a saturated market.

Cheb is becoming a truly global urban luxury lifestyle brand for a community who choose authenticity over social approval, embracing the present. Understanding that the strongest communities are built by people who have the courage to create something of their own has been key to this. We are excited for what the future has to hold. 

- Salman Sultan

vera431 started as a playlist.

A year ago, I took on the task of creating the perfect summer playlist, as one does. It would be concise, no more than 20 tracks, diverse, flow between many different genres. More than anything, it would be perfectly curated, so that it contained eternal classics as well as hidden gems I had found while browsing. 

Luckily, I got too deep into curation. I started ordering the songs, assuring each one would transition into the next, and before I knew it, I started imagining a story in my head. 

I went too far, what was supposed to be a simple summer playlist had now turned into a musical collage, akin to a concept album, where every song was a chapter in an overarching story. I even made a deluxe version of the playlist, vera4315, where the storytelling is put on focus over the summer vibes. For so long, I had looked for a project that would inspire me to create, and here it was.

However, it did not come immediately, much like the taste of wine, the meaning deepened as the months passed and I let the project rest in my mind. In doing so, the concept matured, the scope grew, and only now, over a year after starting it, I am getting close to finishing it. 

This project might have started as a summer playlist, but vera431 is now much more. For one, the name comes from the word for summer in Spanish “verano”, but it also coincides with the word for truth in Latin “veritas”, and the word for the verb “to be” in Icelandic. As for the number 431, it initially came from how the 1 playlist was divided into 4 sections of 3 songs each, but it is present all around for those with eyes to see. For example, the deluxe version uses the number 4315 because it has 5 more songs, but also because it lasts exactly 4315 seconds.

In the end, scope got the best of me. Much like in the rest of life, we eat with our eyes and not our stomachs, and as the one year mark approached, I realized I had to finish it. This is why, on the autumn equinox, ergo the last astronomical day of summer, AKA September 23rd, I have made a promise to myself to release the final part of vera431. 

The first two parts are already out, and you can listen to both playlists, find the four interludes, and enjoy the whole experience on my website. It is very hard for me to explain fully what it is and what it means to me, because there’s also so many details I would love to talk about, but this project is a labor of love and intention, and I hope you enjoy it.

- Teo Geoghegan

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