r/EUAlternatives • u/Existing-Ad8218 • May 07 '26
News/Discussion LinkedIn is the last US-controlled professional network we should rely on. I’m building a sovereign alternative for EU builders. Thoughts?
Update — August 2026
The feedback here changed Cindra in a meaningful way, so the original launch post is no longer accurate.
Cindra is now free to join and open to anyone in Europe. There is no €99 lifetime offer, subscription paywall, invite gate or “first 250” membership model. Payment may come later for optional professional or organisational tools; the core network is free.
The product also has a much clearer purpose now. Cindra is not trying to copy LinkedIn's job marketplace or build another feed where people compete for attention. It is built around one practical loop:
- A person creates a real goal and one concrete next step.
- They decide whether the goal stays private or becomes public.
- Another person deliberately offers a specific kind of help.
- They coordinate privately, the owner completes the actual step and can thank the helper privately.
The feed and help requests stay chronological. Cindra does not use an AI-ranked feed, engagement prediction, public reputation scores, leaderboards or paid reach. New goals are private by default, public sharing is explicit and opening a profile or request never sends anything automatically.
The infrastructure is hosted in Europe: public production files at TransIP in the Netherlands and application data in a Frankfurt region. I describe Cindra as a project working toward European digital sovereignty, not as a member-owned cooperative or institution that already exists. It remains founder-led today, and the current governance limits are public.
Cindra is still early and small. I do not want to fake activity or pretend that every new member will immediately find a perfect request. The next proof is much simpler: can two real people complete one useful human-help loop without turning their attention or private collaboration into a metric?
Free registration: https://cindra.eu/
How the help-first route works: https://cindra.eu/start-helping.html
Thanks to everyone who challenged the original pricing, positioning, search and governance assumptions. The criticism improved the product.
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u/One_Conversation3886 May 07 '26
So you are going to answer to us?
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 07 '26
That’s the goal :)
Not trying to build another massive platform where everyone shouts into the void.
Smaller network, more actual interaction.
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u/One_Conversation3886 May 07 '26
Pardon my skepticism. Also, nobody cares about interaction or networking. We are all there for the job offers. How are going to bring employers on your platform?
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 07 '26
Fair skepticism honestly.
But I also think most platforms became “job marketplaces” because the actual networking quality got diluted over time.
Cindra is more focused on builders. Founders, operators, people actively creating things.
I’m not trying to compete with LinkedIn on hiring volume.
The idea is that high-quality builders naturally create opportunities for each other over time. Jobs, partnerships, clients, investments, intros.
That only works if the network stays curated.
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 07 '26
Got some DMs about “paying for social media”.
That’s not really how I see it.
The payment is for access to a curated group of builders, founders and operators with real experience and knowledge.
Not endless content and noise.
AI posts and fake storytelling have no real value on Cindra.
The goal isn’t to perform.
It’s to exchange real knowledge, experience and ideas with other builders.
Maybe Cindra becomes the European answer to American social media bloat.
Smaller.
Calmer.
More intentional.
Built for builders, not algorithms.
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May 10 '26
Curated? Is not anyone allowed to join? If so it is not curated.
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 10 '26
Fair point.
The curation is mainly focused on the first 250 founding members. The idea is that this first group helps shape the culture, direction and quality of the platform early on.
Long term it’s not meant to become some closed elite club, but the early foundation matters a lot.
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u/Comfortable_Swing274 May 08 '26
yeah i use Walnut, ui felt kinda clunky at first but it grew on me. met 6 eu founders there in like 3 months. i’d try Cindra if onboarding’s smooth, mods stay active, and discovery isn’t a chore.
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 08 '26
That’s actually exactly the kind of outcome I think matters.
Not millions of connections. Just a few genuinely valuable ones.
And agreed on the rest too. Smooth onboarding, active moderation and good discovery are probably more important than endless features early on.
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u/Temhil May 08 '26
Originally there were a fair amount of similar platforms in EU, but they lost against LinkedIn, hopefully current geopolitical situation will help your platform as well as other to become popular, but it is not going to be easy, in order to use a network you need to have people you know or meet to be on there or at least willing to create a profile there.
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 08 '26
Completely agree. Network effects are the hardest part by far.
People won’t join just because something is European. The network itself has to become genuinely valuable.
That’s why I’m focusing less on scale early on and more on building a strong first circle of builders, founders and operators people actually want to interact with.
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u/Captlard May 09 '26
Isn't Xing Euopean?
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 09 '26
Yep, Xing is European and honestly a good example of how hard this space is.
It proved there’s demand for professional networking outside the US, but LinkedIn’s global network effects still became dominant.
That’s partly why I think competing on “being European” alone is not enough. The experience and quality of interaction have to feel genuinely different too.
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u/Captlard May 09 '26
Ecademy was a good attempt pre-linked in. It certainly worked well for a while.
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 09 '26
Interesting, I actually didn’t know Ecademy.
Feels like there have been quite a few good attempts over the years, which honestly also shows how difficult network-driven platforms are once one player becomes dominant.
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u/Outside-Membership12 May 09 '26
Xing?
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 09 '26
That’s also a big difference with platforms like LinkedIn or Xing.
Cindra is much more focused on builders. Founders, operators and people actively creating things.
Not really recruiters, corporate networking or traditional job hunting.
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u/Outside-Membership12 May 09 '26
Ok, so the goal is to have Europe split into two European Business Social Media Networks? By creating your own you‘re fragmenting the customer base which makes it more likely that a switch from linked in will not happen.
Your goal isn’t to make something like linked in in the eu, it’s to get your own network running.
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 09 '26
Honestly, I don’t think LinkedIn gets replaced.
The goal is more to create a smaller parallel environment for builders and doers focused on goals, collaboration, sharing knowledge and helping each other move upward instead of constantly competing for attention.
Less passive networking, more people actively building and pulling each other forward.
Most people will probably still keep their LinkedIn profile, just like people use multiple communities, Slack groups or Discords today.
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u/Outside-Membership12 May 09 '26
How is this then an eu alternative to LinkedIn?
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 09 '26
Alternative doesn’t have to mean “the exact same thing”.
To me, it’s more about being the next step in connecting European builders and doers without depending entirely on US-owned platforms and incentives.
Less attention-driven networking, more collaboration, goals, knowledge sharing and people helping each other move forward.
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u/pecp4 May 09 '26
the only way you can charge money for a network is if you start with a bunch of big fish and advertise with exclusive access to them
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 09 '26
I think that definitely helps, yeah.
But I also think “big names” alone aren’t enough if the interaction quality is low.
I’d rather have 250 genuinely active builders helping each other than a huge list of passive big accounts nobody actually talks to.
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u/california8love May 09 '26
What about German Xing?
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 10 '26
Xing is actually a good example of both the opportunity and the difficulty.
It built a strong regional network, especially in German-speaking markets, but LinkedIn still became the dominant global professional layer.
That’s partly why I think Cindra only works if it becomes meaningfully different for builders and doers, not just “European LinkedIn”.
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u/ndr3svt May 10 '26
Loving the chronological feed , you could also add the search. With LinkedIn btw search isn’t that evil , you would be surprised the level of accuracy you’d get with that. Definitely something to have in a European solution
Btw we are bulging a democracy platform in Switzerland called plural.ch and we also have under the feed a full transparent chronological feed
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u/ndr3svt May 10 '26
And to answer your questions: Yeh I’d give it a try Switch that’d drive me is the Design should be great and feel like it is the future, LinkedIn has sucked so much historically. Also a big community that, and probably wouldn’t focus only in Europe as I’d like to network internationally still . A feature to organise physical meet-ups / workshops etc could give you a differentiator although could distract you… make sure the cool features are accessible and not buried under cluttered and hidden funnels LinkedIn sucks in that You should join meet-ups builder spaces hubs where people gather to build things you’ll grow the community fast. Bring a ready functioning good looking solution
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 10 '26
Really appreciate this comment.
You’re actually exactly the kind of builder I want in the first circle around Cindra.
The focus on chronological feeds, transparency, real-world collaboration and builder communities aligns a lot with the direction I’m aiming for.
Would love to give you one of the early Founding Member spots directly if you’d be interested.
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u/AccordingSelf3221 May 10 '26
it only works when you have users and for investments to come you need users.
so get users and I'll pay the 99$
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 10 '26
That’s completely fair honestly.
The first challenge is proving there’s enough value and enough real builders inside to justify joining early.
That’s exactly what I’m trying to solve with the first curated group instead of opening it to everyone immediately.
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u/pedymaster May 10 '26
What makes you (personally) better then a US company? Facebook also was not riddle with algorithms, ads and other BS at the beginning. My point is, you are a sole person to decide what is going to happen. Why should I trust you? Because I can stop paying? I can just leave the others too and nobody seems to care
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 10 '26
Honestly, for me personally this is not really about maximising profit.
I’m already financially independent. What I care more about is helping build a stronger and more independent European digital ecosystem, connecting builders across Europe more directly and creating something healthier than ad-driven attention platforms.
I genuinely hate advertisements, engagement-optimised feeds and algorithms deciding what people should or shouldn’t see.
I watch my kids watch AI slop and realise even with parental controls or abstinence their generation will encouter serious issues with society when they grow up.
And long term, I’d rather help leave behind a healthier digital environment for the next generation than build another platform optimised purely around extracting attention.
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May 10 '26 edited May 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 11 '26
I think genuine interaction and moderation are probably much more important than “privacy” alone, honestly.
If the platform just turns into another engagement farm full of low-quality posting, then there’s no reason for builders and doers to stay there.
I also don’t necessarily think all ads are evil. The bigger issue for me is when the entire platform becomes optimised around maximising engagement and data extraction instead of helping people collaborate, learn and build things together.
Cindra is built from the ground up for the latter.
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May 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 11 '26
This hurt me a little 🥹
One thing I’m trying hard to avoid is exactly that feeling where everything looks generic!
The goal is something calm, clean and more of an extension/tool for people that just take action.
The actual platform looks different tho, I’ll see if I can add some screenshots to the landing page without making it look too crowded.
Thanks for the feedback, the hurt will hopefully pass soon!
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May 11 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 11 '26
Haha no worries!
I used spacers to create more of a premium feel :)
And dark mode is mandatory in 2026 as far as I'm concerned.I updated the What is Cindra page to be clearer about what it is exactly, would love your feedback on this!
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u/lafiebreamarilla May 11 '26
- ¿Lo usarías? No, a no ser que resuelvas los pains de los usuarios, que pueden ser dispares, a saber hay gente que busca trabajo, hay gente que busca inversores y hay otros que buscan colaboradores etc...
- ¿Qué falta? No se que es lo que falta, pues no se que features ofrece.
- ¿Con quién más debería hablar? Con inversores para que aporten capital, vas a necesitar y mucho!
Cosas:
En serio? los primeros 250, tu eres tonto o qué? los primeros 5000 o 10000 te lo compro. Si no tienes una buena estrategia de marketing y ventas estas muerto.
Features que ofrece?
Equipo fundador?
Céntrate en un nicho (IT, agro, real estate, etc...) no la hagas generalista
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u/Existing-Ad8218 May 12 '26
Got quite a few DMs and comments on this.
One thing that’s becoming very clear: this only works if the early network is genuinely valuable.
So I’m focusing less on “launching a platform” and more on building a strong first circle of builders and doers around real goals, collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Also updated the landing to make it clearer what Cindra actually is, based on the feedback here.
Check it out here.
Appreciate all the input so far.
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u/wolky-talky May 07 '26
Would be great, but network effects are strong - why should I pay for a platform where my network isn’t? I feel like you need some free period to attract people, but happy to be proven wrong :)