Building Global Innovators or do you need 1 million euros?
Startups always need money, and, of course, everyone is trying to keep track of various programs, contests, grants. Therefore, when we learned about the international competition Building Global Innovators with a prize fund of 1 million euros, we, of course, decided to participate.
That's what came out of it, and how to apply ...
Panorama of beautiful Lisbon, where finals and 2 acceleration sessions of Building Global Innovators take place
We all, of course, know when applications are submitted for the competition. On any. On the last day. Perhaps with BGI everything would have been different, but we only found out about him a couple of days before the deadline. Needless to say, we simply did not have materials about our project in English in the right quantity? Fortunately, the team with English is not bad, and filling out an application, as well as translating the presentation, is a matter that takes one day to work. But if you decide to participate in Building Global Innovators ( and the reception of applications for this year is already open ), then keep in mind that in one day (evening) you simply will not be able to fill it. You will need a summary of all team members with a photo, a presentation (it should impress Western investors!) And - this is the most important thing! - pitch video.
The word "pitch" is actually very interesting. In English sports terminology, “pitch” refers to the ball. In climbing, this is the vertical section of the route between two belay stations. And in the life of startups and entrepreneurs, a pitch is a short impressive speech about your project. It is short (initially - to have time to tell while you are going in the elevator) and it is impressive (is there another meaning?).
')
Under the terms of the contest, the video could be a maximum of 1 minute. We wrote the script, how we would like to see it, and the next day (the penultimate one before the deadline) went to the shooting. It allwent wrong .
Firstly, it happened that we could not go together, and I went alone to look for typewriters in order to take down the origins of QWERTY (since Oktodon is a project about a keyboard for smartphones ). Has found. In the museum. With the Russian layout, but this is the details and particulars.
Secondly, an acquaintance of the pros, with whom we agreed, was eventually busy, and then traffic jams — in general, he didn’t get to us that day, he had to take pictures himself, and I’m also an operator.
Thirdly, when we arrived at the QWERTY monument, the light had already gone ... Yes, there is a QWERTY monument in Yekaterinburg , and we believe that it was no coincidence that the Oktodon-Yekaterinburg project did.
In general, one after another, the day did not take shape, and we were ready to send the whole competition to hell with incomprehensible prospects for a Russian startup, but the habit of bringing it to the end led us around 11:00 pm to the office of that same pro (his name is Ilya) where we finished on a white background what we didn’t manage or couldn’t do during the day, changing the concept of the video. Ilya found out about Oktodon only that very evening, but he heroically helped us until half past five in the morning. At this point we had our pitch mounted, 60 seconds long exactly. The next day I had to find someone with a pronunciation better than me, and record the sound, then to put it on the video. The hero was found, and a very useful music service was found, because you know, copyright is a complicated thing, and you need to use someone else’s music very carefully.
And this is how our 60-second pitch video came out:
On the last day of filing, we thanked God for the fact that we have 5 hours of difference with Portugal. We went back to half past four, but we did!
Then we had to record another video “Oktodon for beginners” - because our idea, even with video and presentation, was too innovative and incomprehensible. And until the last moment we thought that nothing would come of it. But we went to the semifinals, and, by the way, last year there were also Russians among the semifinalists. For BGI, it really doesn't matter where you're from. In our stream, in addition to the Portuguese, were Italians, Spaniards, Brazilians ... and the international team won, which was represented by the Portuguese, African and Greek ...
Building Global Innovators is a competition and accelerator. The program assumes 3 acceleration sessions, 2 in Lisbon and 1 - in Boston (they are called eBootcamp and last from 3 days to 2 weeks), during the work on the sessions and between them (on the Internet) 4 finalists will choose from 20 semi-finalists, and in the end - one grand finalist. Accelerating sessions are attended by all semi-finalists, although the grand final is held before the 3rd session, but only finalists and grand finalists will receive money (moreover, 1 million euros is for everyone, the whole prize pool, and not a prize for each finalist; and be prepared to register a company in Portugal).
EBootcamp programs are very high, mentors and investors from all over the world are invited to the sessions, so in theory everyone has a chance to raise investments and make a sane business plan, and just learn to look at things from a completely different angle.
Here is a short video, which the organizers shot on the basis of 4 issues (it contains Daria_Bakirova and we):
In general, if you got into the BGI program, then you immediately feel a special relationship, you - your own, are ready to help you. For example, a visa to Portugal is done for quite a long time (recording for several months, a period of 2 weeks), there are no urgent visas. But in the framework of BGI, everything is different, and at the request of the Portuguese organizers of the competition, Dasha and I were given visas in 3 days (although getting visa on the day of departure is still a little nervous). Immediately during the discussion of the project, you are not just asked questions and give out criticism, but can also offer ideas on the development of the project, give advice. And not only by the phrases, but also by the tone, it is felt that they are keenly interested in you and your idea, but they do not listen with the look “Well, and what do you want to prove to someone here”, as, unfortunately, often happens.
For me personally and for the Oktodon project, the Portuguese competition gave a level up, a new level, we were charged with ideas, looked at our project from investors and through the eyes of other entrepreneurs. We ourselves felt the importance of the community, the importance of the environment, the role of the team and much more, which, of course, you can read, but in fact you need to feel once yourself.
The acceleration sessions themselves and work with mentors for semifinalists are free (your business is accommodation + flight), and even posters will print you, and if necessary, business cards.
In May, the Oktodon team, despite the fact that we did not become finalists and did not receive money, will fly with the other BGI semifinalists to Boston (MIT). For comparison, a similar program costs $ 4000 (just the program itself, without a flight and a hotel), but for us it is free. I think I will write more about how it all happened, but now, if you have a worthwhile idea, it's time to start filling out an application (deadline - May 20).
Contact us if you have any questions, we will try to help to the best of our ability and within the confidentiality agreement.
That's what came out of it, and how to apply ...
Panorama of beautiful Lisbon, where finals and 2 acceleration sessions of Building Global Innovators take place
We all, of course, know when applications are submitted for the competition. On any. On the last day. Perhaps with BGI everything would have been different, but we only found out about him a couple of days before the deadline. Needless to say, we simply did not have materials about our project in English in the right quantity? Fortunately, the team with English is not bad, and filling out an application, as well as translating the presentation, is a matter that takes one day to work. But if you decide to participate in Building Global Innovators ( and the reception of applications for this year is already open ), then keep in mind that in one day (evening) you simply will not be able to fill it. You will need a summary of all team members with a photo, a presentation (it should impress Western investors!) And - this is the most important thing! - pitch video.
The word "pitch" is actually very interesting. In English sports terminology, “pitch” refers to the ball. In climbing, this is the vertical section of the route between two belay stations. And in the life of startups and entrepreneurs, a pitch is a short impressive speech about your project. It is short (initially - to have time to tell while you are going in the elevator) and it is impressive (is there another meaning?).
')
Under the terms of the contest, the video could be a maximum of 1 minute. We wrote the script, how we would like to see it, and the next day (the penultimate one before the deadline) went to the shooting. It all
Firstly, it happened that we could not go together, and I went alone to look for typewriters in order to take down the origins of QWERTY (since Oktodon is a project about a keyboard for smartphones ). Has found. In the museum. With the Russian layout, but this is the details and particulars.
Secondly, an acquaintance of the pros, with whom we agreed, was eventually busy, and then traffic jams — in general, he didn’t get to us that day, he had to take pictures himself, and I’m also an operator.
Thirdly, when we arrived at the QWERTY monument, the light had already gone ... Yes, there is a QWERTY monument in Yekaterinburg , and we believe that it was no coincidence that the Oktodon-Yekaterinburg project did.
In general, one after another, the day did not take shape, and we were ready to send the whole competition to hell with incomprehensible prospects for a Russian startup, but the habit of bringing it to the end led us around 11:00 pm to the office of that same pro (his name is Ilya) where we finished on a white background what we didn’t manage or couldn’t do during the day, changing the concept of the video. Ilya found out about Oktodon only that very evening, but he heroically helped us until half past five in the morning. At this point we had our pitch mounted, 60 seconds long exactly. The next day I had to find someone with a pronunciation better than me, and record the sound, then to put it on the video. The hero was found, and a very useful music service was found, because you know, copyright is a complicated thing, and you need to use someone else’s music very carefully.
And this is how our 60-second pitch video came out:
On the last day of filing, we thanked God for the fact that we have 5 hours of difference with Portugal. We went back to half past four, but we did!
Then we had to record another video “Oktodon for beginners” - because our idea, even with video and presentation, was too innovative and incomprehensible. And until the last moment we thought that nothing would come of it. But we went to the semifinals, and, by the way, last year there were also Russians among the semifinalists. For BGI, it really doesn't matter where you're from. In our stream, in addition to the Portuguese, were Italians, Spaniards, Brazilians ... and the international team won, which was represented by the Portuguese, African and Greek ...
Building Global Innovators is a competition and accelerator. The program assumes 3 acceleration sessions, 2 in Lisbon and 1 - in Boston (they are called eBootcamp and last from 3 days to 2 weeks), during the work on the sessions and between them (on the Internet) 4 finalists will choose from 20 semi-finalists, and in the end - one grand finalist. Accelerating sessions are attended by all semi-finalists, although the grand final is held before the 3rd session, but only finalists and grand finalists will receive money (moreover, 1 million euros is for everyone, the whole prize pool, and not a prize for each finalist; and be prepared to register a company in Portugal).
EBootcamp programs are very high, mentors and investors from all over the world are invited to the sessions, so in theory everyone has a chance to raise investments and make a sane business plan, and just learn to look at things from a completely different angle.
Here is a short video, which the organizers shot on the basis of 4 issues (it contains Daria_Bakirova and we):
In general, if you got into the BGI program, then you immediately feel a special relationship, you - your own, are ready to help you. For example, a visa to Portugal is done for quite a long time (recording for several months, a period of 2 weeks), there are no urgent visas. But in the framework of BGI, everything is different, and at the request of the Portuguese organizers of the competition, Dasha and I were given visas in 3 days (although getting visa on the day of departure is still a little nervous). Immediately during the discussion of the project, you are not just asked questions and give out criticism, but can also offer ideas on the development of the project, give advice. And not only by the phrases, but also by the tone, it is felt that they are keenly interested in you and your idea, but they do not listen with the look “Well, and what do you want to prove to someone here”, as, unfortunately, often happens.
For me personally and for the Oktodon project, the Portuguese competition gave a level up, a new level, we were charged with ideas, looked at our project from investors and through the eyes of other entrepreneurs. We ourselves felt the importance of the community, the importance of the environment, the role of the team and much more, which, of course, you can read, but in fact you need to feel once yourself.
The acceleration sessions themselves and work with mentors for semifinalists are free (your business is accommodation + flight), and even posters will print you, and if necessary, business cards.
In May, the Oktodon team, despite the fact that we did not become finalists and did not receive money, will fly with the other BGI semifinalists to Boston (MIT). For comparison, a similar program costs $ 4000 (just the program itself, without a flight and a hotel), but for us it is free. I think I will write more about how it all happened, but now, if you have a worthwhile idea, it's time to start filling out an application (deadline - May 20).
Contact us if you have any questions, we will try to help to the best of our ability and within the confidentiality agreement.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/219339/
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