[Editor's Note: This article is written by Apostolos Papadopoulos. Some information about him:
Apostolos recently turned 18 and is currently freshman in TU Wien for a BSc in Computer Science. Passionate for everything, especially about tech & the outdoors; blogs since 2008 about all things www in apas.gr. He is also founder of 4sqwifi]
Startup Week in a gist was: a five-day conference with focus on Startups from Central and Eastern Europe. On stage: Europe's 50 most innovative startups present their business idea. Backstage a top investor panel picks the top ten. Festival-feeling with 12 focus events and 70 international star-speakers.
The Conference
The whole conference was divided into two main sections. The first was the Challenge, which took place the first two days of the week and was only for startups. In the challenge the 50 selected startups pitched, trained, networked and attended keynote speeches specifically made for them. The Challenge was not public — only startups, hosts and organizers could enter and took place in a different building (A1's; A1 is one of the major telcos here in Austria.) I was that lucky that two days before booking my student ticket I was given a host ticket, full access that is, for every event and so I managed some startup interviews (30" video-pitches). More on that later.
The second major section of the whole week, and the most important, worthy and knowledgeable was of course the Conference. It took place from Wednesday to Friday in the House der Industrie (as far as I understood, the HQ of the Industrial Union Austria's.) It had inspiring keynotes-you-shouldn't-miss, like the ones of Martin Lund, Felix Petersen and Pascal Finette. There were also many panels involved. I couldn't attend everything but I handpicked an investors panel, Localize.Socialize.Mobileze, Entrepreneurship in Education and Entrepreneurial Cities. Lars Hinrich, founder of Xing and HackFwd also was interviewed by Jessica Erickson, head PR for 6Wunderkinder, creators of Wunderlist. That was darn good.
The Startups
For my own astonishment, the startups were pretty diverse. Ranging from fashion to medical and new payment models. I tracked most of them since the Challenge and my opinion for all changed for the better in the Conference. I hate to say it but in the Challenge I was like "meh." But something happened, the guys maybe presented better their pitches and ideas, I had the chance to talk with some others and in the conference I was like "that's cool". Yeah, that was cool. Truth has to be told.
You can watch a video after reading this post, featuring some startups I managed to find amongst the crowds, in which they pitched me for circa 30 seconds each.
Thursday though, was the big day. After the Challenge finished, investors and judges carefully selected 10 out of 50 startups to present in the Conference. From those ten, one would be announced as winner of the event. Prizes included $30k funding, 3 weeks in the Valley and other cool stuff. The ten startups which were selected were: Double Recall, Loftville, mykoob, Salespod, mySugr, Piano, Pocket Guide, Puntalo, Quote Roller and Save Up.
Double Recall is an advertising platform for the web and for mobile apps, Loftville is a member-only real-estate marketplace, Mykoob is a social school network designed specifically for K-12 institutions, Salespod is a swiss army knife for the mobile workforce, mySugr conquers Diabetes, Piano is an independent common-payment system, PocketGuide guides the user through a city with audio cues, Puntalo lets you keep track of the people you care in real time, Quote Roller revolutionizes work on proposals, agreements and contracts and SaveUp is a mobile shopping application.
And the big winner was… mySugr! Yes, the medical app (like, real medical, with ISO approvals and all licenses and patents — not your jogging app) conquered both Diabetes and the judges and investors. They won the $30k and the trip to the Valley accompanied by the two runner ups: Mykoob and PocketGuide.
Side-note: EU TechCrunch's Mike Butcher is fucking crazy.
What I did like
The whole event. The week was crazy. Met awesome people there, networked really a lot. Some keynotes and panels were interesting and one could learn a lot, others were "yawn" — truth to be told. Both venues (A1's HQ & Haus der Industrie) were very good and hospitable. Overall, with one word was awesome. As Lars Hinrich said, "I'll come back."
What I did not like
The wifi in A1's building. It sucked. I know it is a) a minor problem (well, not that minor in a geeky event after all) and b) not Startup Week's fault but A1's.
Should you attend next year's Startup Week? Judging from this event, yes, you should come. Don't forget to apply if you're a startup.
Heeey, where are the links to startups? :)