Report on participation in Seedcamp Berlin

Recently on Habre we published a article about the experiences with the publication on TechCrunch and other articles on international experiences of Russian startups. I also want to share with abrasheva the experience that we received at Seedcamp'e, proshedshem this week in Berlin, moreover, that such a level of events for startups in Russia yet and positive emotions is through the roof.



It all started with the fact that 3 weeks ago, I stumbled on information about the event, now even I do not remember where, and decided that we needed to try our strength. I had the idea of Seedcamp accelerator as the #1 in Europe, but especially over their actions never followed. Immediately after deciding what to try, I started filling it out, especially since before the time of enrollment was only a couple of days. The questionnaire consisted of a fairly standard for this kind of activities set of questions about the founders of the company, our strong traits and features. Some of the questions I had of the workpiece, including in English – we attended two startup events in St. StartupWeekend at the end of 2011 and not so long ago in StartupSauna. To the questions which had no ready answers, he responded immediately from the head, especially is not corral. For everything to fill in total it took about 2 hours, was helped by the fact that the questionnaire could be saved and then continue filling.

To be honest, not really counting on the fact that we are invited, and wasn't thinking much about the event, but the day after the scheduled deadline received a letter from the organizers, that we are among the teams who were selected. Attached to the letter was a contract about participation and confidentiality that must be signed and returned before 8 may scan and thereby confirm our participation. Additionally, the letter stressed that before the official permission, we do not have to divulge information about his possible participation in the event. Once the contract is written on the conditions under which the accelerator invests in projects selected at the event (€50,000 for 8-10% of the business). Almost immediately after sending a scan of the signed document we have received a response that the final decision on our participation will be made within two days. Day 9-digit, worrying that the tickets to Berlin will be prohibitively expensive, I wrote to the organizers question whether the decision taken about our participation. In the evening a reply was received that Yes – we are in the number of participants. On the same day was organized a conference call for participants in which we, as, incidentally, most other participants are unable to attend.

In the event, which was sent to all participants, was listed 14th may – training day (mandatory participation), 15th may – the main day (pitches and communication with mentors, course is also required), may 16th – fellowship with those who choose to Seedcamp investment. The maximum number of participants from one project – 2 people, but from some of the teams were 3 man. I went alone – it was not a very good solution, because together is still significantly easier – have someone to consult, so most teams had several participants.

Early in the morning on the 14th of February arrived in Berlin. The first day began at one o'clock, therefore, to carry things and to kill time went to the hotel. The hotel was doing nothing in particular, because check-in from 14, so I decided to come early to events, thinking things, too. Despite the fact that in Berlin, I was first, and Google Maps has presented the address is not correct, find the venue was not difficult. However, he found himself in front of the building at the address, I immediately decided to enter. Judge for yourself – the center of Berlin, no markings, closed the door.



The room in which was held the first day of the event was very modest size – I was immediately confused, so as soon as began to catch the participants had to remove the wall – cool sliding design.



The following participants came only shortly before the start, and then quickly pulled up, and all the others, although the new people were actively approached and after the start of the run pitches. Actually the whole first day was devoted to preparations for Mitcham and the next day at all. Downloading the presentation in a shared directory on DropBox, began the presentation. On the pitch was given for 3 minutes, then on the first day participants are not strictly limited in time, come to finish the presentation, after which the organizers said the time was taken by the presentation and gave advice on what to improve and how to beat 3 minutes. The first time I went to a presentation about 5 minutes, and the slides were clearly overloaded with information. All the advice was very on the case and aims to best prepare for the main pitch.

Immediately after my first presentation I was approached by the founder of the EnergyDeck, one of the startups participating in the event and said that a few years worked at Google, has made in my life many presentations and know how "to make my presentation candy". Naturally, I accepted his help and, as it turned out, not in vain. After the first day we went to dinner. At dinner, I spoke in detail about the project, we went down the slides and invented a new structure of the presentation, throwing 50% of the slides, leaving only the most interesting and revealing the essence of what has been done and how. The whole evening I spent making slides and rehearsing the speech. In the end, I more or less learned to stay within 3 minutes and not to stray, though not always :)

The second day began at 8: 30. Again, I came a little earlier, but this time the building was already quite a lot of people and everything was ready for the event. The building was the whole day in a Seedcamp'and its members, had a large number of waiters and other staff. Before the official start startups communicated with mentors and among themselves. In General the main objective was the greatest possible number of people to tell about their project and get feedback. However, to pitch to the majority of the mentors made it clear that they want first to hear the pitches, and then continue communication.

Mentors deserve special attention, because so many people of such a high level in one place that I have never seen. To be honest, the number of representatives of venture funds, with which managed to communicate that day was 10 times more than I talked to in my life. Said and many other participating startups. Before the event we sent out a list of mentors who will participate in the event. A list of about 100 people consisted mostly of the partners, principals, etc. and representatives of venture companies, there were also representatives of such companies as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Qualcomm, responsible for business development and new directions.
At 10 o'clock began the pitches. Strictly for 3 minutes, 30 seconds before the end a neat warning. All noticeably pulled their performances. After my presentation, some came up and said that the difference between the first and second day was huge.



Pitch after a small pause for coffee, presented in a relaxing shared experience. On a panel with Fabian Heilemann, co-founder of the German service of DailyDeal coupon, which last year bought by Google, and its first investor. Fabian told me about how in 2 years we managed to build a company worth 200 million euros, as he worked 16 hours a day, including weekends and after selling the company he loved Golf :)


But the fun started after lunch. All mentors were divided into groups of 5-6 people and began to communicate with startups. Each startup spoke with 4 groups, each group communicated with one startup for 45 minutes, so the conversation was very thorough, had a lot of difficult questions, a lot of good ideas. Often, the mentors talked about how they built up the business, ideas were generated on the fly and then discussed. 4 hours of this intensive is to give it my all. It is worth noting that you should lead the discussion and provoke mentors, trying to get as much feedback.



After the mentoring sessions, the mentors privately approached to the most interesting projects and talked in what way it will be possible to continue the communication.



After the official part of the dinner and party with a group of Pickers whose members are not only musicians, but also startups.



What is the result? Many contacts, a lot of positive emotions, easy fatigue and a great desire to move forward. A few mentors left their contacts with the desire to continue the dialogue. Russia clearly has an interest, though some were very Frank in saying, "I'm sorry, but we with Russia do not work." While some companies have Russian projects in the portfolio, and even offices in Moscow. In General, anyone who believes that his project has a great future definitely suggest to participate. The next event will take place on 12th June in Zagreb. If you have any questions I will be glad to answer in the comments.

Article based on information from habrahabr.ru