Prague will once again host the continental finals of the world’s largest startup competition – Roklen24.cz
After last year, which took place online due to the pandemic, European startups will once again unite in the Czech capital on Startup World Cup & Summit held on the fifth and sixth of October. Use only for the title of European Champion and the opportunity to get an immediate investment of up to half a million dollars, but above all for advancing to the global final in Silicon Valley.
The usual attraction of the event will be Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. He will join the online program. However, the summit participants can also look forward to other interesting personalities from Silicon Valley, such as Esther Wojcicki or Kyle Corbitt.
The organization of such events will take a whole year, negotiations with Wozniak even two, says the director of the summit Tom Cironis. What does it all entail? How should startups present themselves? Take a look at the interview.
Will this year’s event be different from previous offline ones?
Certainly. Prepare a hybrid model, we will welcome 500 visitors in person at the Azyl 78 tent in Prague’s Stromovce and for others we will be streaming the biggest program online both on our website and through media and network partners who support us.
Thanks at the same time Milan Kilik and cooperation with HubHub, the whole event is moving in another new direction. In other HubHub branches across Europe, accompanying events with an educational program will take place on the same day, most likely in Bratislava, Warsaw, London and possibly others. We are thus maximizing our European intervention.
We are thus succeeding in growing the covid, despite the advancing delta variant, we believe that we will automatically welcome most speakers, mentors and panelists in Prague.
What kind of spectator participation is expected?
Especially with regard to the pandemic, compared to previous years, when the event was visited by several thousand people, we have to tame a bit. At the place in Asylum 78, we count on 500 spectators, in this direction we had to cap the capacity. But last year he taught us to work online, so thanks to the live broadcast, we can make the event accessible to those for whom personal participation would be problematic.
In the last year, we have achieved over 50,000 unique views, this year, thanks to today’s media partners, it could be even more. Just because this year’s main personality will be Steve Wozniak, and he will undoubtedly attract a lot of people. But I still think that offline events will not just replace something. Visitors who arrive in Prague’s Stromovky can look forward to mentoring tables, discussion panels, one-on-one networking with investors and representatives of corporations, EXPOs, parties and much more.
Which speaker (s) are you most looking forward to?
It will sound cheap, but I’m looking forward to it all. Behind their agreement is our year-round work (sometimes even more) and everyone has their justification for the event. He will undoubtedly be the star of this year Steve Wozniak from Apple, which will launch the competition online from California during the finals and talk (among other things) about its new eco-platform EFFORCE.
Another key figure will be Esther Wojcicki, a Washington Post journalist and educator who is nicknamed the “godfather of Silicon Valley” in startup circles. She herself raised three very successful daughters who were able to break through in the Křemík Valley. The oldest Susan is the current CEO of YouTube, Anne is the CEO of the startup 23andMe, which has set out to become a unicorn (if it is not already one), and Janet is an extremely respected anthropologist. It was about raising successful children that Ester wrote the bestseller How to raise successful people, who broke records, especially in lockdown. By the way, she used to mentor, for example, Steve Jobs’ daughter.
He will then come to Prague in person Kyle Corbitt, who is the president of the Startup School in Y Combinator, one of the largest startup incubators in the world, where he creates a platform for connecting startup founders. Basically such a business tinder for this specific community. He previously worked at Google and has experience with his own startup Emberall.
Then we still have an ace among the speakers, but I keep it hidden in my sleeve for now.
How long does it take to plan such events? How many people are involved?
We have been working on it all year round. At the beginning, it mainly deals with fundraising, arranging other European startup competitions and speakers. From the point of view of production, the most intensive is five to six months before the event itself. Now there are a total of 10 of us part-time or full-time Dominica, together with Ondrou, Lucasem AND James, manages the entire Startup World Cup competition, including the regional finals of the Visegrad Four countries. Ondra still takes care of network partnerships across Europe, especially with incubators, accelerators, universities and others. Lucas is our contact for mentors at the Summit and at the same time he has everything about tickets under payment. Jakub communicates with V4 startups in competitions and helps us with the selection of finalists.
We do great things and the fact that everyone finds out about it is mainly due to the great communication they create for us Věrka together with our reinforcement Katya. So it’s all their job to see or see SWCSummit anywhere. And they take care of podcasts and moderation Ann with Vaškem. Vašek also has such a helicopter view over the entire Summit and guards the details. And I must not forget our IT guru Huga, which advises us much more than just trying to turn it off and on. 🙂
Is there any general advice on how startups should present themselves at the SWC to engage the jury?
The basis is to take care during registration, because there are hundreds of entries and only the best will appear before the jury. Once the launch has successfully passed this network, it is absolutely essential not to underestimate the presentation, ie the so-called “Playground”. There is not much room to impress the jury, because there is a precise time on each court – and it is relatively short. Being able to present well should therefore be the basis: to summarize it concisely and concisely, to speak engagingly, to be able to highlight important things. It is also appropriate to adapt the presentation to what the startup aims in the competition. If it’s supposed to be media attention, it’s nice not to be afraid to do a little show on stage. If the project is looking for investors, it is good to state how many starts it raises, what is the runway, sales and other key data for investors. But you have to enjoy it from everything!
Do you have any tips for winning? If so, who?
I have no tip for the winner, entries only strike at midnight (15.09., Editor’s note) They have a deadline. At the same time, we are waiting for another European round to take place, so everything is still open. It was great to see the Czech track as in previous years, it will always make me happy. It was successful in 2019, for example, the boys from Motionlab and last year the Czech project scored 24 Vision Systems.
You can remind readers of the SWC’s relationship to the conference Engaged investments?
Clearly. The guys from DEPO Ventures handle a great event aimed at angel investors, I was there to look and I have to say, hat down! WITH Honza Krahulík, a partner of DEPO Ventures, we talked about how it could be to the benefit of everyone to join forces – and so far we are doing very well. Everyone who buys an Investor’s Ticket to SWCSummit will first receive entry to the Engaged Investments event, which will take place on Tuesday, October 5, together with our final V4 countries. I believe that this could be the basis for useful cooperation for the future.
How do you evaluate the Czech startup “climate”? How do start-ups do business here? Are we an enterprising nation?
I will repeat the evaluation of experienced observers. We still have great investment potential in the Czech Republic, we excel the most in the areas of cybersecurity, fintech, nanofibers, 3D printing, etc. There have been more than enough success stories from these areas lately – for example, our first mythical unicorn. Rohlík.cz Tomáš Čupr; or AVAST with approved acquisition; eventual product board with the last investment round of almost one European crown. But that is not the end of the list. There are projects, for example Rossum, Deepnote, Apiary, Twisto, Beat Saber and the lesser known Dataddo, IP Fabric, Manta. We keep our fingers crossed HORSEHOODS.
So there is definitely something to build on. In addition, every success in the form of an IPO or exit creates new investments, both from the founders and from the first employees. By doing so, I come across such a sophisticated ESDP, which could be better solved in the Czech Republic by legislation. In general, easier bureaucracy in the establishment of the company and further operation would not hurt, one can be inspired in Estonia by their e-government. Even so, we live in an amazing time and it’s great to watch the snowball that is packing with us with every successful startup. We definitely have opportunities here for big things to happen in the Czech Basin.
Tom Cironis (1990) came directly from the non-profit sector to the startup environment. He worked at ELAI during the organization of Innovation Week and is now the director of the European final of the successful Startup World Cup & Summit.
At Air Ventures, he specializes in investment analysis and networking. Tom also co-founded the WeAre Summit platform, which was the first 3D virtual startup summit in the world in May 2020.
In our free time, we dedicate our fundraising to the non-profit organization LORM, which helps deafblind people, plays floorball or travels the world. He is a former friend of AIESEC.