Podim Conference

We are now officially entering the spooky 👻  part of the week, so here are some spirits of Podim’s past! They say great ideas never die … but to this day, they still haunt our halls. Get ready to be spooked. 🎃

Great news to lift the spirits of this Friday! Granevo, one of PODIM’s promising startups, took the chance and joined Infineon Technologies’ Startup Challenge and made it into the shortlist of 25. After a rigorous selection, Granevo emerged as one of the 16 deep-tech startups chosen for collaboration with Infineon. The good news doesn’t end there. Luka Drofenik wowed the judges at the Startup Challenge Demo Day in Villach, earning 1st place! 🏆 This win secured him a spot at Infineon’s global Startup Night, where he pitched EGGAlert and claimed an impressive 3rd place. WOWZA! 👏 Huge congrats to Luka and the whole team.

Podim 2024 vibes. That's it, that's the post. No words needed. 💁♀️

Not every startup is going to be the next billion-dollar unicorn. 🦄 Many startups are built for steady, sustainable growth.  ➘ They may not have overnight success,  but they offer long-term potential if you're patient. ‎  ‎  Sometimes, the market is more niche than massive and that’s not a bad thing! A solid market with loyal customers can often provide more consistent returns. ‎  ‎  Remember 👆,  most startups won’t follow a linear growth trajectory.  ‎  ‎  Don’t expect perfection right away—startups thrive on experimentation. 😇 What's your opinion on this? Let's hear it!

STARTUP BOOST 🚀 Expanding into the DACH region, breaking ground in the US and achieving product excellence. These are just some of the big wins InSky Solutions—a provider of digital solutions and administrative tools for optimal user experience and business success—has ticked off since attending Podim 2024. Impressive, right? 🤩 We’d say so too. But we think there’s a little secret behind their success -  - a humble office item that keeps everyone laughing, and, surprisingly, working better. It’s their ☕ coffee machine. Yup, the one that constantly demands water, a filter change or an empty grounds container. It’s become the team’s inside joke - training for parenthood: something always needs attention! 🤷 Who knew? If you can keep up with a needy coffee machine, the startup world doesn’t seem so tough. 😉

Startups always wonder what they could do to convince investors, but they don’t ask themselves what puts investors off. 🙅 → Numero uno: You use tons of cumulative numbers. Are you trying to hide something? Pump up the numbers, when in reality, they’re not so big? Don’t do that. It’s also ok if you don’t have metrics if you’re at the pre-MVP or MVP stage. Investors aren’t dumb and will understand that. ‎  → Numero dos: Overselling your or your team’s experience. Transformation, learning, and adapting is the right way to go. Focus on that. ‎  → Numero tres: Unrealistic projections. Sure, optimism is great, but if you’re projecting exponential growth with little substance behind it, they will see right through you. Ground your forecasts in data 📉 and always have a plan if things don’t go as expected. ‎  → Numero quatro: Lack of focus. If your pitch feels like it’s trying to solve every problem under the sun, they might think you lack direction. 🔄 Do one thing really well instead of being a jack of all trades and master of none. ‎  All in all: be transparent, clear and humble. They appreciate that more than buzzwords and inflated numbers.

Founders, let’s be real – if you could hit an 'auto' button on any part of your day, what would it be? 🤖 🌟 Take a quick break and let us know! Let’s see what startup life would look like if we had a few more shortcuts. 👇

STARTUP BOOST 🚀 Big news from BetterQA! The advanced time and timesheet management tool for project timelines, PTOs and holidays, is now a branch of Willdom. This partnership is more than a milestone;  it’s the start of a new chapter to drive growth and quality. ✅ BetterQA is set to reach more clients, deliver even greater value and continue raising the bar in everything they do. The startup also adopted ISO 14001:2015 standard, fitting their vision of zero defects, maximum savings and a future that’s as green as it gets. The team didn’t just spend the summer in meetings. Oh no. They hosted their own 💪 Summer Games. Thankfully, no one got hurt in the process (at least, not that we know of). Instead, they came out of it stronger, more united and ready to tackle anything together - maybe event the next Summer Olympics. 😉

MONUMENTAL ACHIEVEMENT ALERT 🚨 Leanpay, our Podim partner’s portfolio company, has successfully closed a Series B funding round, securing a significant investment 💸 of €10 million! This funding round was led by BlackPeak Capital and Catalyst Romania Fund II, joined by South Central Ventures and LEAD VENTURES, which also participated in previous rounds. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ 🤫 Pssst, you can meet the latter two at Podim. 💪 Leanpay, which started in Slovenia and was at this year’s conference, is now making waves in Romania and Hungary. They can boast 120,000 satisfied customers and over €200 million in issued consumer loans. Their platform’s growth has been remarkable, with revenue increasing 📈 2.5 times last year and a fourfold growth since the Series A round. “𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑠𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑡𝑠 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠."  Jure Mikuž from South Central Ventures perfectly sums up.

Very demure 🤌, very mindful Podim tips ✨ - Put next year's dates in your calendar (12-14 May) - Keep your eyes peeled for startup announcements - Spread the word about the conference Anything to add?