On Monday, September 22nd, 40 companies pitched in front of the mentoring committee, hoping to get to the second round of the pre-selection procedure for the tender SK50 and entrance to the accelerator Start:up Geek House. 27 companies succeeded.
More than 40 start-up teams submitted an application for the pre-selection procedure of the tender SK50, which offers 50,000 euros of convertible loan, and the accelerator Start:up Geek House. A company can gather up to 40 points by going through the entire pre-selection procedure, which encompasses the application form submitted correctly and promptly, personally presenting the business idea, participating at the working weekend and performing on the demo day. The points are then taken into account when evaluating final applications for the tender SK50 and entering the accelerator Start:up Geek House.
First personal presentations
All companies that had submitted their application promptly and filled out correctly, were invited to personally present their idea in front of a committee on Monday, September 22nd. The mentoring committee (on the photo) evaluated the companies according to two criteria – evaluation of team potential and idea innovativeness, as well as technology and market potential. For each of the criteria, a mentor-judge was able to give them up to 5 points, which means that overall 10 points were possible. The companies that achieved 6 points or more – 27 of them altogether – were allowed to attend the working weekend, which started today, at 5 PM in Technology Park Ljubljana.
Working weekend for developing and perfecting their business idea
From 5 PM today till Sunday evening, all 27 companies that have successfully passed the first round of the pre-selection procedure will start developing and perfecting their ideas. The working weekend programme consists of a motivational lecture, educational workshops on the topic of lean and agile companies, MSP and quick prototyping, as well as the Business Model Generation methodology.
The key goal of the working weekend is getting to know the business teams, evaluating their ability to progress quickly in a short time, and preparing for the final evaluation of the teams at the demo day. The teams will get help and advice on:
- learning key business competences,
- choosing an optimal business model,
- finding the right strategy for discovering customers and
- preparing an excellent presentation for the demo day.
For mentors, the working weekend presents an excellent opportunity to evaluate the competency, ambition and commitment of the business team to achieving set goals.
The next challenge will be the presentation at the demo day
All companies that will successfully fulfil the tasks during the working weekend will do a presentation at the demo day – the second round of the pre-selection evaluation offering 30 additional points for the tender. The Demo day for the tender SK50 and entrance to the accelerator Start:up Geek House is taking place on Tuesday, September 30th 2014, and will also be attended by private investors.
