ULU at Cebit

When we were in the Netherlands, we applied to Code-N startup competition which had its final event at on one of the world's largest and most international computer expos - Cebit. 400 startups from all over the world applied and we were one of the 50 startups which were selected to present their product there.

The event date was soon here ... Since it is not only important what you do and why you do it but also how you do it - we rented a campervan and took 2 guitars with us us so the 12-hour trip from Slovenia to Hannover would not get boring :). Renting a campervan was about 70 EUR/day, price for camping place at Cebit was about 200 EUR for a week and its location was just 100 m from the expo. The alternative was to go to a hotel and pay at least 70 EUR/night per person and drive from the hotel to Cebit every single day for at least 20 min in one direction. More teams should do the same ...

Driving for so long was not a problem at all. In the campervan we had a lot of discussions about our product, about our personal lives, travelling etc. We even wrote and recorded the The ULU song for the team back home. The trip to Hannover was not just a trip but a team building experience!

~

Immediately when we first entered the Code-N hall we were impressed by how huge it was and it even had some of the most sophisticated and precise robots in it - KUKA robots. Prices for such a machine starts at 500.000 EUR if someone is interested in buying a new toy. 

The Code-N program started on Saturday with the pitches of about 10 preselected startups in front of 200 journalists. Matej, our CTO, definitely gave an awesome presentation on the stage and audience agreed that connected cars are totally hot!

The expo officially opened it's door on Monday. I must admit that I thought there would not be many people interested in the startup scene since Cebit is more or less known as a corporate expo - I thought that from time to time I would be able to write some code or simply go around the Cebit. However, we were talking to potential customers, investors and partners almost all the time, every day of the week. It was incredible to meet people from all around the world interested in our technology. We indeed were a little bit shy in the beginning but after a few pitch repetitions it was totally easy - you just have to accept that "out of your comfort zone is where the magic happens" and then it simply flows - like a river. Even though we were a bunch of engineers and not professional salesmen we were an awesome sales team if you ask me. We were passionately pitching our product in English, German, Russian, Serbian and Slovenian language. 

Every startup booth had a similar experience. I didn't see the whole expo, but from what I saw I think that the Code-N hall was definitely one of the hottest halls with a lot of brilliant people and ideas. At the end of the week we took the picture of exchanged business cards. Pretty cool, huh?

Thanks to the Code-N team for organising such a wonderful event and GFT for making it happen. Having so many entrepreneurs in one place is always a mind-blowing experience. 

Maybe I know where your money is!

This time I have to start in Slovenian ...


Če si 28. februarja na Petrol črpalki na Viču v Ljubljani (Tržaška cesta 130) pozabil 20 EUR na bankomatu, ti lahko pomagam, da jih dobiš nazaj! Piši mi na klemen@mice3.it ...


I will continue with the inspiring story because it had occurred in less than half an hour and its lesson really made my day.

Welcome to the Netherlands

I received a few questions about what I am doing here in the Netherlands, so  I will try to explain it shortly in blog posts with the facts I find interesting.

Our office in High Tech Campus, Eindhoven, Netherlands

A few months ago we (ULU.io team) received an invitation to the Startupbootcamp accelerator in Eindhoven. Startupbootcamp is one of the largest startup support organisations in the world and runs its programs in many countries. They are looking for cool products & teams and then try to help them build growing businesses within a 3 month program. At the end of the program we will have the opportunity to pitch at Demo Day in front of 400+ investors who are there to invest their money into the companies. 70% of the companies inside the program are funded and the average investment is 500.000 EUR.

Walking to Startupbootcamp HighTechXL office space

It might seem like those kind of investments are unreasonable since a lot of startup companies fail - but those which succeed, succeed tremendously. Investors know that if they only invest into a single company, they will most likely lose their money. However if they invest their money wisely, they are very likely to earn a lot of money. 

In the United States venture capitalists invest into less than 1% of newly build businesses and the total investments account for less than 0,2% of GDP (Gross domestic product).  Even though those numbers are small, venture-backed companies generate annual revenues equivalent to 21% of GDB. Yes, this is a 100x increase of the initial investment. I can hardly think of any better investment and that is probably why the United States support the startup ecosystem as much as possible.

Countries which understands those numbers are willing to do anything to build such a profitable ecosystem inside their borders and the Netherlands is doing a very good job here. I hope that we Slovenians can learn something from them and act faster in the future. We should not be ignorant about one of the most profitable types of business (startups).

We are used to blaming our government for everything, but our government is just the mirror of ourselves.

Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything. - George Bernard Shaw