The first StartUp Harvest conference took place in mid-September, bringing early-stage entrepreneurs in the Moravian-Silesian Region together with investors for the first time. The event ran over two days, 18–19 September 2014, in the Dolní oblast Vítkovice complex. Twelve selected startups from the region competed for the attention of six Czech and international investors, presenting their products through visual pitches. Alongside products in IT, companies with physical products were also in the running for investment. Besides the chance to catch a potential investor’s eye, there was the motivation of a first prize for the winning startup worth CZK 100,000.
We took part in the event and were picked among the twelve finalists. We entered with our product Hedurio, which you can read more about on its website. The final involved a six-minute pitch focused above all on introducing the product and setting out the business plan, with the emphasis on the concrete numbers that matter when investors decide whether to back a project. Each pitch ended with time for investors and their questions.
Railsformers and our product Hedurio finished in the top half of the finalists. What the event brought us was useful contacts, not only within the Czech Republic but abroad as well — and those matter for our goal of expanding Hedurio into foreign markets. We were offered coaching and mentoring by international coaches, which will help bring us another step closer to expanding abroad and making the most of that potential.
We mustn’t forget to thank the organisers for coordinating the programme so smoothly, and to congratulate them — this was their first experience of it too, being the inaugural edition. We should also highlight the excellent line-up of startups and their ideas, and the great group we participants formed. The whole event was a real benefit to us and we can only rate it highly.