We conducted interviews with three promising start-ups, comming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who took part in our project Empowering BiHs young entrepreneurs at Podim challenge. They are all working within business start-up center Spark.
INTERVIEW WITH PARTICIPANTS
I.
Please, introduce yourself and explain your idea shortly.
We're Coffee Time, "The truly social app", and we help people either meet up with their friends, or meet new friends. In short, through our Android app we let people quickly check who's nearby and up for Coffee or basically anything, invite them and get a Yes/No response.
How did you come across idea that you would develop something on your own, not trying to just ‘find a job’?
We always felt the need to make our mark in the world, to create something new and to influence the world positively, the best way we can. Also, being your own boss is very alluring.
Did you attend any entrepreneurship programs before?
Yes, as part of business parks' tutoring and mentoring programmes.
Where did you learn about our course? What got your attention?
We learned about the course from our team leaders in SPARK business park in Mostar. What got our attention the most was how oriented on startups specifically PODIM conference is, and the possibilities it gave for meeting with fellow startups and possibly investors.
What was most useful and beneficial for you attending the course?
We feel we learned the most about closing the deals, being more proactive and not falling victim to the false sense of process. We also learned a lot about managing startups generally.
Have you before attending our course ever considered looking for investor abroad? In the UK?
We've always thought about our startup as something global, so we never excluded the possibility of making partnerships with investors abroad, which includes UK as well. Still, PODIM has made us realize that possibility is closer to reality than we imagined beforehand.
What kind of support would you now most need?
We most need the support with marketing & sales, as that's the area we've got least covered in terms of personal qualifications.
II.
Please, introduce yourself and explain your idea shortly.
NHome is ingenious home automation and surveillance solution.
It is a software for connection and control of various smart home devices, a universal platform which communicates with all existing solutions, adds new solutions and it is extendable to business solutions and their applications. NHome is a small server application which scans network and discovers supported devices. Server is currently available on Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi, Synology, Asustor Nas and all other platforms that have support for node.js. After installing our server you can control all supported devices with web or android application. At this moment, we are supporting most of the world’s famous brands such as Nest, Fibaro, Netatmo, Wemo, Phillips, Ecobee and more.
During last couple months, we developed NSurveillance, application for surveillance of your home, office or company. NSurveillance shows your cameras across any platform mentioned before and allows you to monitor all your spaces in couple swipes.
More information about NHome you can find on our official website: www.nhome.ba.
How did you come across idea that you would develop something on your own, not trying to just ‘find a job’?
The idea was born 2 years ago. The founder came up with it because he had a smart home with a lot of different devices. Each of these devices were supported with different app and that was frustrating, he wanted to control all smart home devices and connect his home with only one app. That’s why he assembled a team of young experts in various fields of work and started to work on development of NHome, and later NSurveillance.
Did you attend any entrepreneurship programs before?
Our team attended several international start up conferences, among which most important are PODIM Conference in Maribor, Slovenia and Wolves Summit in Poland. It is a tech and innovation conference focused on networking. In addition, we visited Idea Knockout 2015 in Zagreb, Croatia; Coinvest Venture Days in Nova Gorica, Slovenia and Spark Hardware Start-up conference in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Where did you learn about our course? What got your attention?
We found out about this entrepreneurship program from start-up coaches and mentors of SPARK Business park, where we currently work on creation and development of this solution.
SPARK Business park is start-up accelerator located in Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. SPARK’s mission is to provide support to people with business ideas in all stages of their growth and to offer them expert guidance, excellent services and connections with investment partners.
Main reason why we applied on this program is great agenda, courses, excellent speakers and mentors from which we can learn a lot and improve our start-up. In addition, it was a great opportunity for networking and promotion of our software.
What was most useful and beneficial for you attending the course?
Most useful and beneficial for us was the knowledge we gain on this course. Moreover, for us was also valuable possibility to talk with investors and to share and present them idea of NHome.
Have you before attending our course ever considered looking for investor abroad? In the UK?
We always had in mind to look for investors internationally, but this program made us consider more seriously about it and helped us to learn how to approach investors in the right way. Certainly, we consider looking for investor in UK too.
What kind of support would you now most need?
As we like to say, we aren’t looking for an investment at any cost. We are looking for “smart money” or experienced investors who will help us open up new markets.
In addition, we need knowledge and support regarding business development of our start-up and access to international market in the right way.
III.
Please, introduce yourself and explain your idea shortly.
My name is Edin, and I’m the founder of Sketchlane, a sketches only website, that allows, trough critique and socialising, that you both develop and cash in on your drawing talent. To get a better grip of it, visit www.sketchlane.com
How did you come across idea that you would develop something on your own, not trying to just ‘find a job’?
Drawing since an early age was definitely the first step towards creating this startup, the fact that I couldn’t get any valid feedback anywhere, just because they were sketches, not finished works. It turned out to be a dream killer, because I could be a car designer by now, if the circumstances were easier. So we created sketchlane to take care of that, and people are more than glad to post somewhere where their works will be accepted and loved
Did you attend any entrepreneurship programs before?
Unfortunately I have not
Where did you learn about our course? What got your attention?
I have learned about it after the Podim 2016 conference.
What was most useful and beneficial for you attending the course?
Learning and seeing some of my previous preconceptions were wrong or right.
Have you before attending our course ever considered looking for investor abroad? In the UK?
We have thought about seeking an UK based investor or a fund.
What kind of support would you now most need?
Connections with art or design universities would be the best, and then, on the second place, relations with investors and funds.
