As the Spring ’14 edition of the LC comes to its final weeks and we enter the last round of applications for LC Fall ’14, we challenged our startups to write a short paragraph describing what their journey with us as been like, from the moment they got onboard to the present day.
Whether you’re looking to take your startup to the next level (deadline is July 20!) or simply want to know how startups feel about the program, here’s what they had to say!
“Lisbon Challenge was extremely valuable for Earthindicators. We developed our platform from scratch in 1 month. Here we are totally focused on development and now we have 9 companies using it. No doubts that Lisbon Challenge gave us the acceleration and the focus that we needed.”
João Santos, Earth Indicators, Portugal
“The Lisbon Challenge Accelerator program was extremely valuable for Speecheo. Thanks to the the insane quantity and quality of mentors they have, in addition to the speakers and CEOs that we could reach, we made impressive progresses. Their network allowed us to get lots of feedback from the market and to recruit more beta testers. We now have a clearer vision on how to get customers, and have much better understanding of our own business, which are essential components to succeed.”
Raphael Harmel, Speecheo, France
“Lisbon Challenge is a top experience for new startups, not only will it help validate your business model, it will also help you make the most out of it in a excellent working environment. Feedcruncher is turning into such a better product because of this experience, not to mention all the instant promotion\media visibility we’re getting from it. Did I mention it’s also networking paradise ? – Bottom line: If you need your buttons pushed (and trust me, you probably do), this is IT - Lisbon Challenge ROCKS, indeed!”
Paulo Fernandes, Feedcruncher, Portugal
“Lisbon Challenge provides us many benefits, but probably the main benefit for me personally is the oversight by mentors and instructors. This oversights is usually lacking when you are the boss of the project. That means it is easy for you to work on things that are not so important. But having a weekly oversight means that you remain focus on the most important things.”
Eike Post, IQfriends, Ukraine
“The Lisbon Challenge Spring’14 Edition was a great experience for HereWeGo. It really accelerated our project, with all the super mentors, guest mentors, and instructors, they were vital to our progress. And also working with all the teams from different countries, different cultures, different points of view, their feedback was extremely important and helpful. Plus, we got 17 media mentions since we got in. We’d never do all of this if we weren’t here. Thank you all for this opportunity!”
Filipe Freitas, Here we Go, Portugal
“The Lisbon Challenge acceleration program was a great experience for Screencorp, in order to give us a new look over the global market (thru great international mentors) and prepare, not just the product, but also the team, pivoting strategies and prioritizing needs.”
Peter Hahmann, ScreenCorp, Brazil
“The Lisbon Challenge Spring’14 edition was an important achievement for us: it helped us get our first sale, we met a lot of mentors with deep business driven knowledge and the network (potential clients, investors, etc) they provided was a true benchmark. We definitely got an improved business vision after our stay, kudos for that!”
Skilleo, Portugal
“The Lisbon Challenge has been an exceptional influence for us at Pitch22. Besides drastically widening our network, we have been exposed to many different and intelligent brains. We have built several great friendships with people from all over the world and we look forward to keeping in touch with these people. During these 3 months we also progressed from private BETA to our first live version, and gathered invaluable feedback related to our way forward.”
Claudio Camilleri, Pitch22, Malta
“Lisbon Challenge has been an amazing milestone on our journey. It’s being really helpful for us in terms of mentoring and networking. The mentors and super mentors with whom we have been presenting and discussing our project, gave us really helpful feedback based on their real business experiences. We feel we are much better prepared to go to market after this 3 months incubation programme. It’s really exceeding our best expectations! Congratulations to Beta-i!”
José Viegas, BGuest, Portugal
“InEvent merged and simplified its business model in these months of the program due to networking with mentors and business. Now we have a much more comprehensive view of our business and our market. The Lisbon Challenge is the right program at the right city for young entrepreneurs who want to live a challenging experience, want to learn a lot about entrepreneurship and want to create new connections.”
Vinicius Neris, InEvent, Brazil
“At Lisbon Challenge we were challenged to do an important thing that does not scale immediately, but will have an impact on the long run. We should focus on the user experience of one person, and its engagement, then work it to scale it to thousands of people that love us. That has been our focus, it has been a really good advice!”
Rita Maria, ResistCookies, Portugal
“In just a few weeks, the Lisbon Challenge made our contact list explode!”
Alfredo Matos, Metrifly, Portugal
And there you have it folks. If you’d like to know more we’re also hosting a Q&A Hangout tomorrow, July 3, so drop by or check our FAQ section.