Startup In Action
Startup in Action is the event held by CodemotionRoma in collaboration with InnovActionLab to meet best Hi-tech Startups and talented developers.
If you are a hi-tech startup founder and are you looking for the best way to become actractive for ninjadevs, you could submit your application to Startup In Action Contest and try to get the desk at CodemotionRoma.
What is Startup in Action?
It is a great opportunity for hi-tech Startups to be known by programmers, engineers, Italian ICT companies and large international companies which will attend to Codemotion Rome.
Why partecipate?
Hiring Startups will have the opportunity to meet and talk to the best developers, furthermore, they would introduce themselves and their products/technologies to an audience of highly qualified IT professionals.
What you’ll find at Startup in Action?
Proposing effectively to the developer could be very hard for startuppers. Co-founder are usually accustomed to pitch to investors, but startups devoted to success need to be attractive to best developers.
Developers usually have the opportunity to choose where to work, and big company generally could pay more their employer.
However, there are many good reasons for a developer to work in a startup rather than in a large company and to help startups to focus on them is pivotal the experience of InnovAction Lab.
In last 4 years InnovAction Lab has trained 530 young people and helped them to create more than 30 startups that have collected more than € 4 million in funding.
Selected Startup will have a free day of intensive training, by InnovAction Lab, in order to improve their pitch and learn how to highlight those issues which can make their business more attractive for the developers.
Deadline
Startups must send their application by March 22.
InnovAction Lab will select the best Startups who will attend Saturday, April 5, 2014 in Rome to a free course on the improvement of its pitch.
All 15 finalists will have a mini desk in the Codemotion Rome event, also the startup that will be evaluated as the best 8 will also have the opportunity to introduce themselves with a 5 mins pitch, in front of developers and investors during Codemotion Conference, in April, Friday the11st and Saturday the 12nd.
What do you get if you are selected
For all the 15 finalists:
- Mini Desk in Rome startup Codemotion 11 and 12 April
- Logo on the Codemotion website
- Totem with startup logo
Only for the 8 selected in addition to the above:
- 5 minutes talk in the main conference to introduce themselves in front of the startups investors and developers.
Submit an Application
Write by 22 March at codemotion@innovactionlab.org sending a pdf file with a filename that follows this convention: NameStartup.pdf (eg Codemotion.pdf, SecondLife.pdf)
The file size limit must not exceed 1,000 words. The words will be counted through the service http://felix-cat.com/tools/wordcount/
All files that do not respect the naming convention or that can not be processed by the service indicated or will have more than 1,000 words will be discarded (no “flexibility”, no exception)
Papers will be accepted both in English and in Italian.
Submitted file must contain at least the following information:
- Name of Startup including the Company status (eg, Ltd., SpA, … If the startup is not yet stated as company, please don’t not indicate anything)
- Describe clearly what you do and what problem you solve. Avoid technical jargon and try to be as explicit as possible.
- Indicate clearly who are your customers and how do you suppose to to reach them. If you have users, please also indicate who they are and how do you reach them.
- Be careful not to confuse users (who are often the product) and customers (who are the ones who pay). For example, you are Facebook users, but Facebook customers are the ones who pay for their advertisement.
- Indicate the market to which you speak and give an estimate of how big it is and how it grows. Do you think you play in a global or a local market? How many billion dollars worths this market? It is a market that is growing at least in double digits? Please avoid writing nonsense, we’ll double check.
- Who are you? What’s your background? Write only things that give value to startups (eg Do not write your final grade and in which university you got it unless it is ultra-prestigious, do not say that you have been DJ / waiter / pianist / … unless you are talking about a startup in which to be DJ / waiter / pianist / … is a value).
What’s your current development state? Do you have an alpha? Do you have any customers? Do you have investors? Could you provide metrics that prove anything? Please supply any relevant proof that you have already made a sensible path. - Analysis of competitors.Tip: indicate the name of main competitors. It seems unbelievable but about 90% of the startup does not know who are their competitors: don’t make this mistake. Focus them and set out clearly what advantage you have. Be pragmatic and timing: describe features you will develop in next (close) steps. To save words, you can use figures.
- What’s your goals? What will you do in the next 12 months? If you can also let us know when you plan to become rich.
- What is your startup / technology killer feature? Explain it in an understandable way what makes it exciting for a developer.
- What are you looking for and why? Developers with certain skills and competences? Co-founder? What do you want to realize?
- What do you offer? Which benefit for the people who you assume? For the co-founder? What does it include? Money? Equity? Option? Drink & Soda for free?
You could attach a video of the maximum duration of 5 minutes. The video will be available on YouTube or Vimeo. You should indicate in the .pdf file the video URL (and does not contribute to 1,000 words limit). Video will be accepted in both English and Italian. The video, being optional, may use any technology (eg, animation, screen capture, or otherwise) and provide content strongly relevant to the submitters.
Be accurate:
Disclaimer: All information provided by partecipants will be verified by the organizers. Startups must be ready to provide any relevent documents to undertake verification, if required.
