Another great year comes to an end, and all this nostalgia got us thinking. So many things have happened, so many things we've learned...
2015 was a hell of ride for the Portuguese startup scene. Together, we built cool new products, developed disruptive businesses, looked at things differently and turned them around, proved the skeptics wrong, and embraced the unexpected, over and over again.
It's time to look back to what we've all started. So, here's our year (and hopefully part of yours) in review. Thank you for joining us in this journey, see you in 2016.
2016 is just getting started but we already have good news on the Lisbon startup scene.
Talkdesk co-founders, Cristina Fonseca and Tiago Paiva, are on Forbes 30 under 30 list for enterprise tech. After closing an interesting round of investment in 2015, Talkdesk and its co-founders are now on the move for higher marks.
As Forbes writes:
"Since its founding in October 2011, Talkdesk has experienced 10x revenue growth year-over-year under the leadership of Tiago Paiva and Cristina Fonseca, making it one of the fastest growing startups in Silicon Valley. It has raised more than $24 million over the last year from Salesforce Ventures, DFJ, Storm Ventures and 500 Startups".
Check out who else made it to the list right here.
Another great year comes to an end, and all this nostalgia got us thinking. So many things have happened, so many things we've learned...
2015 was a hell of ride for the Portuguese startup scene. Together, we built cool new products, developed disruptive businesses, looked at things differently and turned them around, proved the skeptics wrong, and embraced the unexpected, over and over again.
It's time to look back to what we've all started. So, here's our year (and hopefully part of yours) in review. Thank you for joining us in this journey, see you in 2016.
2016 is just getting started but we already have good news on the Lisbon startup scene.
Talkdesk co-founders, Cristina Fonseca and Tiago Paiva, are on Forbes 30 under 30 list for enterprise tech. After closing an interesting round of investment in 2015, Talkdesk and its co-founders are now on the move for higher marks.
As Forbes writes:
"Since its founding in October 2011, Talkdesk has experienced 10x revenue growth year-over-year under the leadership of Tiago Paiva and Cristina Fonseca, making it one of the fastest growing startups in Silicon Valley. It has raised more than $24 million over the last year from Salesforce Ventures, DFJ, Storm Ventures and 500 Startups".
Check out who else made it to the list right here.
Web Summit is hosting a developer meetup in Lisbon with their whole engineering team in Lisbon next week, January 21st - pizza and beer included.
This meet-up was just announced by Paddy Cosgrave and it will bring to Lisbon more than 25 developers from the Web Summit team to meet with the local tech community:
“We'd like to introduce ourselves to the local tech community and would love to get to know some developers from Lisbon” writes the organisation on the meetup page.
If you’re interested in getting to know the engineering team behind the Web Summit, and many other tech conferences around the world, join us at ABC - Airport Business Center, at 6:30pm, next Thursday, January 21st. Just register here.
Here’s the meetup agenda:
19:00 - 20:00 Developers from Web Summit will present a few lightning talks on what we do in Web Summit and what technology we use
20:00 - 21:00 Developers from local tech community present a few lightning talks on various technologies
21:00 onwards will be get to know each other, talk about exciting technology in 2016
P.S.: The Web Summit team will also host a casual coffee/beer session on Jan 19th at 7pm. Location is not yet defined but they’ll keep everyone informed in the meetup group.
Our alumni, Dayafterday, has just announced that they'll be merging some of their features with Mixcloud. On this blogpost, Bruno, Dayafterday's co-founder, goes through the features and explains how they created a better user experience. This blogpost was initially published on Medium.
The Music industry is constantly changing, especially in the digital area.
Bop.fm, Grooveshark and Rdio recently closed their door.
Apple Music is becoming a serious player. The try made by Tidal.Soundcloud’s new policies or even Youtube who is also establishing itself in a strong position while competing Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, lastFM, etc..
But for us, Mixcloud has since day one a different approach and a more sustainable business model. On top of a good relationships with artists and labels.
Philosophy
The overall principles behind this Etude are simple : Mixcloud is the music platform we use the most at the present time; it’s also the only way to listen to Tsugi or FreundevonFreunden excellent Podcasts/Mixtapes.
So we took each element one by one, tried to catch their essence and pushed ourselves to see how we could reinforce it even more. With some simplifications or possible new features. Always having in mind Mixcloud’sDNA.
We worked hard on Dayafterday to create a compact collective of creative things on the web. Exploring the connections between music, media and art. We took some inspirations from there too.
Elements
Menu
The menu is one of the key elements, present anywhere/anytime, it must be as simple as possible and focused on what’s really helpful.
We enhanced also the focus made on the search to make it more accessible. In addition to this, we try to offer a more delightful experience by adopting the full width of the screen.
Menu
Player
More than a core feature, this is the element with which you interact the most. Here again, our aim was to enhance the key elements of the player.
Player
We reshaped the waveform to make more readable. The idea behind this animation was to recreate the user’s experience in a ludic way, making it similar to an old radio player with which you can really feel that you’re going forward or backward.
Waveform
We tried to make the playlist a bit more readable using a modal (we do love modals).
Search/Explore
The search/explore feature is something we really care about.
We invest a lot of our time on Dayafterday to make it relevant.
Search
Here as soon as your start typing, all the content is pushed to the bottom and you can immediately start exploring songs/artists.
Search experience
Via the # search, you can now start searching songs/artists not only based on a name but also on some metadata, like BPM, categories or date of release. The idea behind is even larger to create a kind of game where you could play with all this hidden data. For instance : #27Club to get all the songs from Morrisson, Hendrix, Cobain, etc…#BabySittingWhileMyFriendsArePartying, #2HoursTrip, etc..
In order to never display a white screen, if the research is empty, you can also access some promoted content or other features.
Feed
The feed is key too. We wanted to take advantage of the roll hover to display secondary information, which let us display more songs. That’s also why we used the card system to display a song anywhere on the platform.
During the upload phase, we let the user select a color of the card. This will give a unique and colorful touch to the feed; without hurting the cover.
Feed
Profile
We applied here the same concepts as in the feed to make it as clear as possible. We wanted to make the overall platform more coherent.
Profile page
Core features
Upload
This essential step for all the content present on the platform. Via a simple 3 steps process we let you upload multiple tracks at the time. And add more information like the cover, color, tags, etc… This point here is to make this step more seamless.
3 steps upload
Ads
Ads are important for Mixcloud. Most of the time we all hate ads (cf. ad blockers). But if they are done properly and are coherent, we can tolerate them.
We tried to make them the less intrusive as possible, but still giving the exposure needed.
Here is an example for full partnership (Club-Mate) but we can easily imagine another kind of rebranding for special events like Coachella orRock-en-Seine.
Ad collaboration
Or here with just simple ad card in the feed:
Ad card
New features
Memory Cloud
We truly believe in this feature (not only because we will use it a lot).
Wouldn’t it be great if you could return to the past and listen to the exact same song you’ve listened to a week, a month or a year ago?
That’s exactly what memory cloud is about.
Via this simple timeline you can explore and listen again to your songs.
MOOD
With the propositions made for the search, we hope that it’ll become easier to find something or even explore the entire universe around the song or artist you’re looking for.
But sometime what you want to hear depends on your feeling, where you are and with whom.
The MOOD feature is made for that, creating an on purpose playlist of songs for you.
MOOD
The idea here was to create a specific branding : the MOOD one, to highlight the “Artificial Intelligence” behind that can surprise you by understanding your own musical tastes.
CloudMix button
For this feature we wanted to brand it a bit differently compared to the rest of the platform (thanks to Lift Type font). To make it clearly identifiable when you see it.
Sources & Credits
All the elements presented here are available in .psd files here (.sketch files to come too). We also worked on the Mobile/Tablet version and on how to enhance the community side of the platform; stay tuned.
For this Etude, we closely worked with Camille Léonard; we could not have done all this without him.
It's that time of the year people. We have open applications for our two startup programs, Lisbon Challenge and Beta-start. Think you got what it takes? Then, hit the apply button and let's get you started.
Wondering where does your startup fit? Check out all the info below on both programs and find out.
Should I apply to Lisbon Challenge?
“Lisbon Challenge can be the European Y Combinator” Michael Seibel, Partner at Y Combinator
Lisbon Challenge is our 3 month startup accelerator for promising tech startups in prototype or product phase. Considered to be the most international accelerator in Europe and the 4th most active, Lisbon Challenge has supported over 150 startups. The program brings startups from all over the world to Lisbon to define their product-market-fit and boost their growth.
We have more than 200 mentors, including Paul Ford, VP of Product and Marketing at SendGrid, Brant Cooper, author of "The Lean Entrepreneur", Michael Seibel, partner at Y Combinator, Carlos Espinal, partner at Seedcamp, Martin Mignot, early stage investor at Index Ventures, and Stephan Morais, Executive Director at Caixa Capital.
Our alumni include companies such as: Uniplaces, who in 2015 raised one of Europe's biggest Series A (24 million), Orankl who later joined Y Combinator, Popcorn Metrics who later joined Seedcamp and Line Health who has been considered one of the most interesting startups in digital health and has just moved to Boston.
During the program you'll have the support and network needed to get your startup growing from Lisbon to the world. Once you graduate you'll be part of our alumni network which means you'll get access to roadshows to meet investors and potential partners, support on fundraising, exposure and much more.
Apply here for the Spring'16 edition by January 24th.
Should I apply to Beta-start?
Even when you think you have it all figured out - your idea is so good you will sell thousands and you will get rich or die trying -- you need to stop and get some facts and insights from some other people than your friends and family.
Beta-start is Beta-i’s pre-accelerator for early stage startups. Going for its 12th run, a one month full time program focusing on all the basics you need to kick-off your business: lean methodologies, soft skills, communication and marketing, pitch pitch pitch and insights and advice from the right people.
The program will have 4 weekly themes: problem, solution, viability and go-to-market and we believe that experiencing this whole cycle will give you the tools to iterate on and improve your business idea. Let us question everything you think you already know and help you get the facts you need to make good decisions.
For this 12th edition we’re looking for passionate and inventive entrepreneurs, with enough ‘cojones’ to face the challenges, those who dare to create and break away from the ordinary. Have you got what it takes?
Truth is, the Portuguese startup scene is growing at an unsurmountable rate and it’s tricky to keep track of everything that’s happening. For the past few years, we’ve all been building a strong community of entrepreneurs and many interesting startups have been born in Portugal, thanks to all the accelerators, incubators, co-working spaces and investors.
Getting all these players together and gathering the best startups in Portugal is not an easy job, but that’s exactly what Caixa Capital is doing with the Caixa Empreender Award.
It will be one of those events where you look around and realise that everyone’s there: national and international investors, the best startups in Portugal, talented and inspiring entrepreneurs, some of the top universities, and important partners and supporters of this community.
All this, to celebrate what we have all built, together. From insightful keynotes to interesting discussions panels, from cool startup pitches to networking opportunities and awards, it’s all there.
In the end, after all the pitches from the best startups in the startup programs that Caixa Capital supports (Beta-i, Startup Braga, Startup Lisboa, Act by Cotec, BGI and Startup Next by Techstars), Caixa Capital will award the best startup with a 100k convertible note.
Last year, the big winner was our own Magnifinance from Lisbon Challenge, but who will get to take the big check home this time?
Join us for one of the main events on the Portuguese startup scene, network with the main players from our community and get to know who was the best startup of 2015.
Register here for free and check out the agenda. See you on the 3rd of February at Culturgest at the Caixa Empreender Award.
After some careful thought, we decided to extend the deadline for applications of our two startup programs in Lisbon, Lisbon Challenge and Beta-start, until the 7th of February.
We’ve been getting several applications, from all over the world, but we felt the need to give a chance to those who still want to apply and couldn’t make it to the first deadline.
If you’re building an early-stage tech startup, with a product or prototype, and want to boost your growth, you should apply to Lisbon Challenge:
A 3 month accelerator in Lisbon with free office space
Matching with top mentors and potential partners from companies such as Y Combinator, Seedcamp, Sendgrid, Faber Ventures, Uniplaces and Unbabel
Tailor-made workshops on the key challenges your startup is facing
Demo Day with more than 400 investors and entrepreneurs
No equity taken
And once you go through the program, you get to join our Alumni Network, where you'll get exclusive access to top events and investment opportunities, international roadshows to San Francisco or London, and access to an interesting list of contacts to help your startup grow.
Here’s what some of our alumni have to say about Lisbon Challenge:
"We were in the very first batch of Lisbon Challenge. At the time, we had just launched our student accommodation platform and it was the perfect time for us to get all the feedback from mentors and occasional speakers that Lisbon Challenge brought to us. Lisbon Challenge and Beta-i really helped us kick-start our business."
"Popcorn Metrics was born during the Lisbon Challenge. During the program we were able to get our whole team working together in a super focused environment which enabled us to quickly get the insights to make a massive “zoom in pivot” and focus on building our current product to enable marketers to set-up their Marketing Analytics Stack without depending on IT. We built a hugely valuable network of mentors, investors and other cofounders - a network that still gives great value today. As a bonus from Lisbon Challenge, we also springboarded from Lisbon Challenge into London based Seedcamp (the largest seed investment program in Europe)."
If you have an idea for a startup and want to get it started, apply to Beta-start, our pre-accelerator:
One month program in Lisbon with free office space
Focussed on these weekly topics: Problem, Solution, Viability and Go-to-market
Mentoring and coaching from inspiring entrepreneurs
Cool workshops on the main needs for idea-stage startups
Demo Day with potential partners, customers and early stage investors
No equity taken
Here’s what some of our alumni have to say about Beta-start:
“Beta-start and Lisbon Challenge are what I like to call as ‘the hands-on, practical MBA for entrepreneurs. Beta-start was a turning point for me: I came across the pre-accelerator when I decided that I wanted a project of my own – basically, I wanted to become an entrepreneur. Beta-start gave me the tools that I needed to make it real. The daily support and close mentoring are critical when projects are on such an early stage (earlier than Lisbon Challenge). I strongly believe that every entrepreneur should build their startups’ Business Model Canvas on paper, using post-its. The tools and knowledge that Beta-start gave me enabled me to systemise all the ideas I had on my head, and helped me pick the one that had more potential. That’s how Line Health started.”
All entrepreneurs, at a certain point of their lives, obsess about every piece of information that’s startup related. You know what I’m talking about... The first thing you probably do, once you get to a computer is check your email for cool content on startups, from First Round Review to Both Sides of the Table, it’s all there. Not to mention all the books on entrepreneurship you read before going to bed (yes, we’ve all read Peter Thiel’s “From Zero to One” and loved it).
However, in Portugal, we have very few people writing about startups and entrepreneurship that actually know what they’re talking about. We have some Portuguese blogs (and even less books), but very few talk about what having a startup is really like and tackle the main issues of the startup community.
So, when someone like Nuno Machado Lopes, the Head of Marketing and Communication at Beta-i, gets to the office one morning and lets everyone know that he’s publishing a book on entrepreneurship, we get all proud and excited.
Is excessive investment beneficial for startups? Does this obsession with unicorns and multi-millionaires help us build stronger startup ecosystems and more successful businesses? Is Silicon Valley replicable and should we really go for it?
These are the questions that Nuno Machado Lopes, who has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years and who has mentored hundreds of startups at Beta-i through Lisbon Challenge and Beta-start, addresses in his book called, “Tudo Mudou - Novamente”.
We can’t really wait to read it, as a matter of fact, and we’re looking forward to the official book launch tomorrow in Lisbon, at Silk, where Pedro Rocha Vieira, President at Beta-i, will also be there as a speaker.
Join us tomorrow, if you want to talk about what really matters when building startups. Make sure you register here.
In fact, most entrepreneurs naively think that all it takes is an email with a press release, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Getting journalists to write about you is not as easy as it seems.
For this reason, we have invited Robin Wauters, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tech.eu, for a Flash Talk during Startup Europe Week, at Beta-i next Tuesday, 2nd of February, on “How to get journalists to write about your startup”.
This is a unique opportunity for you to learn how to approach journalists and get as many leads and views as possible, since Robin is an experienced journalist who has worked for TechCrunch and The Next Web, before co-founding his own publication, Tech.eu.
And who knows, in the end, you might even convince Robin to write about you…
Check out the Facebook event we’ve created and register here if you're attending.
Beta-i and Lisbon’s City Hall are bringing the whole startup community together in one event, to discuss the future challenges of our growing startup scene and lay down the next steps for spreading this movement across the country.
The main players from our startup community will be there to define a strategy for Lisbon with the City Hall and to also kick off the Portuguese Startup Manifesto, that Beta-i is putting together, with the collaboration of Lisbon’s City Hall and the support from the European Commission.
Lisbon is today one of the most important startup capitals in Europe. For the past few years, Lisbon has seen many promising startups grow, exceeding all expectations, such as Uniplaces, Talkdesk, Unbabel or Codacy. We’ve doubled the number of incubators, accelerators and coworking spaces, and got the Web Summit to move here.
Lisbon is, nowadays, getting all the attention across the globe, because of its exciting startup community and entrepreneurial mindset.
But how did this happen and why? What’s the vision for Lisbon Startup City 2.0 in 2016? What are the next steps for this ecosystem to grow and be more entrepreneurial and innovative? How do we replicate this movement across the whole country?
That’s what we want to discuss on the 5th of February at Lisbon’s City Hall. We’ll talk about what has been done so far in Lisbon and how we can replicate it throughout the country, and kick off the Portuguese Startup Manifesto.
This event will have many collaborative sessions, so that, together, we can define the strategy to value Lisbon as a startup city and understand how we can attract more investment, and build the Portuguese Startup Manifesto so that we can take it to the European Commission in Brussels.
Alright, we all know how difficult it is to get into a top accelerator. You apply with your startup, you wait for the reply and then when the time comes, it’s either the cheer look on your face or the disappointment settling in. And filling in the application plays a major role in this.
So, how can you get the perfect application that will get everybody’s attention? What should you add and emphasize? What’s the “make it or break it” factor? Well, just keep on reading because you’re about to find out.
We get hundreds of applications for Lisbon Challenge and it’s a long and arduous job to go through each one of them. In order to move on to the next phase, you really need to stand out by following these tips:
Team, team, team
I know this might sound a bit of a cliché. Everyone talks about the importance of having a good team but that’s no coincidence. Whenever we go through applications, the team is usually what grabs our attention. Explain exactly what each one of you does, the background, why you’re building this startup together, etc. We definitely value teams that cover the 3 main areas (tech, business and design) so, if you have an engineer, a designer and a business person in your team, you’re on the right track.
Do your homework
It’s really important that our accelerator matches your startup and your own expectations. For Lisbon Challenge we only take startups that already have a product or prototype and that are looking to grow their business. Take a look at our website and go through our list of alumni startups. Check the program and if you have any question email our Program Director, Bashara Hinnawi, at bashara.hinnawi@beta-i.pt
Get a recommendation
Most of the selected startups for Lisbon Challenge were referred to us by someone within our network of entrepreneurs and investors. See if you can find someone who has been through Lisbon Challenge before or someone close to Beta-i and ask for a referral.
Be detailed and know your numbers
Explain your product and business well. If you’re building a complex technical product, take your time to explain it and find a comparison so that it’s easy to understand the importance of your solution. You should also know how to explain your vision and how big the market is. If you already have users, page-views, subscribers or downloads add that information in the application - you gotta know your numbers.
No bullshit (go straight to the point)
Even though you have to be detailed about your product and know your numbers, that doesn’t necessarily mean bullshit. Go straight to the point and answer the questions. If you don’t have numbers to show don’t try to fake it.
Surprise us - stand out from the crowd
If you want to get noticed you need to stand out from the crowd. Don’t be like everybody else that says they’re gonna get all their users through social media with no further explanations. Think of new channels and mediums that will let your startup shine. Make an effort to do the video properly as it plays a big role in the application phase and is a great opportunity for you to stand out too.
Now that all the tips are here, it’s entirely up to you to get it right. Apply to Lisbon Challenge until this Sunday, February the 7th, and grow your startup from Lisbon to the world.
Not ready for Lisbon Challenge yet but have an idea for a startup? Check out Beta-start, our one month pre-accelerator for you to validate and test your business idea in Lisbon.
Yes, Brussels does talk “startup”! If you follow my Facebook account you’ve seen that since starting my role at Beta-i, I’m more often than not in Brussels. And you’re probably wondering what is that all about: Brussels and startups?! Well, there is an awful lot happening in Brussels regarding startups and a considerable number of people, both at the Commission and in other organisations, focusing in creating a globally competitive Startup Industry in Europe.
At Beta-i part of my role is to manage the four European projects we’re working on. Through these projects we build direct relationships with 20+ partners from other member states – to the point that I have them on my whatsapp account. These partners range from accelerators to incubators, research agencies, startup networks, media channels, universities and other sorts of organizations. All of them are key players in the European Startup Industry. This means that, on a daily basis, we at Beta-i are going across borders for our startups, partners and overall for the Portuguese Startup Industry. We work together with these partners and have the amazing opportunity to get to understand what is happening across europe both locally and across borders. Here are a few things that I learned on this journey so far:
The Europe of Startups is growing united
Things are moving really fast. Startups are not something from Silicon Valley anymore. They are here and they are ours. They are European! From London, Paris, Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, and very often they have more than one nationality (e.g. Estonian & Swedish, Portuguese & German or Italian and French). The Europe of Startups is a more borderless Europe, a more international one. There is a startup culture that bonds everyone with the same ‘language’. Startups think globally and the challenges they have are pretty much the same no matter where they are located. Hiring a data scientist or growth hacker is nearly as challenging for a startup in Stockholm as for a startup in Athens. All of these factors mean that this industry is speaking the same language across borders and has a collaborative approach to solve the challenges it faces.
Politicians want to act
Startups are important. They know that. They are crucial for the future of European economy. Trust me, they really do know that! Many of them are making time in their agendas to sit down with us, learn about what is happening and identify together with the people from the industry what needs to be done for the startup industry to scale-up in Europe. During these next months, with the Dutch presidency in place, it is expected that a few major steps will be taken that strongly impact startups in Europe. There are talks that this may be the chance to push through a European Startup Visa to allow startups to hire specialized resources from outside Europe whenever there is an identified shortage in Europe. From an early stage, the Commission has been backing up the growth of the Startup Industry in Europe and many initiatives have been put in place to support that. Startup Europe, DG Connect and COSME, just to mention a few, are some of the initiatives currently active and aiming to help Startups in Europe to tackle the current challenges they face in the most diverse areas (e.g. access to finance, access to talent or soft landing at member states for market expansion)
The time is now
Startup is no longer a buzzword. Startups are an industry. It is no longer about starting up the startup economy (forgive me the redundancy). Now it is about scaling up this industry. Corporates have recognized the innovative and strategic value of working with startups, politicians know their economic value and the ecosystem is mature enough that key players are emerging as experts, with best practices and know how that are beyond the initial experimental phase.
What does this all mean for startups and other players in this industry? Simple: if you speak now, you will be heard. It is time to become a changemaker. Take advantage of this alignment of factors and build on the momentum that is there.
With this in mind, Beta-i is launching the Portuguese Startup Manifesto movement in 2016, when all eyes are set in Portugal. Now a mature ecosystem, with several international players moving in, the time is right for Portuguese entrepreneurs, startups, investors and other key stakeholders to voice their ideas and contribute in defining the necessary actions to upgrade the Portuguese Startup Ecosystem. The goal is to put in place the measures that will upgrade the Portuguese Startup Industry and allow Portugal to become a competitive hub for startups worldwide. Join the discussion using #PTstartupManifesto or drop by an event near you. Learn all about it here.
It's that time of the year people. We have open applications for our two startup programs, Lisbon Challenge and Beta-start. Think you got what it takes? Then, hit the apply button and let's get you started.
Wondering where does your startup fit? Check out all the info below on both programs and find out.
Should I apply to Lisbon Challenge?
“Lisbon Challenge can be the European Y Combinator” Michael Seibel, Partner at Y Combinator
Lisbon Challenge is our 3 month startup accelerator for promising tech startups in prototype or product phase. Considered to be the most international accelerator in Europe and the 4th most active, Lisbon Challenge has supported over 150 startups. The program brings startups from all over the world to Lisbon to define their product-market-fit and boost their growth.
We have more than 200 mentors, including Paul Ford, VP of Product and Marketing at SendGrid, Brant Cooper, author of "The Lean Entrepreneur", Michael Seibel, partner at Y Combinator, Carlos Espinal, partner at Seedcamp, Martin Mignot, early stage investor at Index Ventures, and Stephan Morais, Executive Director at Caixa Capital.
Our alumni include companies such as: Uniplaces, who in 2015 raised one of Europe's biggest Series A (24 million), Orankl who later joined Y Combinator, Popcorn Metrics who later joined Seedcamp and Line Health who has been considered one of the most interesting startups in digital health and has just moved to Boston.
During the program you'll have the support and network needed to get your startup growing from Lisbon to the world. Once you graduate you'll be part of our alumni network which means you'll get access to roadshows to meet investors and potential partners, support on fundraising, exposure and much more.
Apply here for the Spring'16 edition by January 24th.
Should I apply to Beta-start?
Even when you think you have it all figured out - your idea is so good you will sell thousands and you will get rich or die trying -- you need to stop and get some facts and insights from some other people than your friends and family.
Beta-start is Beta-i’s pre-accelerator for early stage startups. Going for its 12th run, a one month full time program focusing on all the basics you need to kick-off your business: lean methodologies, soft skills, communication and marketing, pitch pitch pitch and insights and advice from the right people.
The program will have 4 weekly themes: problem, solution, viability and go-to-market and we believe that experiencing this whole cycle will give you the tools to iterate on and improve your business idea. Let us question everything you think you already know and help you get the facts you need to make good decisions.
For this 12th edition we’re looking for passionate and inventive entrepreneurs, with enough ‘cojones’ to face the challenges, those who dare to create and break away from the ordinary. Have you got what it takes?
Truth is, the Portuguese startup scene is growing at an unsurmountable rate and it’s tricky to keep track of everything that’s happening. For the past few years, we’ve all been building a strong community of entrepreneurs and many interesting startups have been born in Portugal, thanks to all the accelerators, incubators, co-working spaces and investors.
Getting all these players together and gathering the best startups in Portugal is not an easy job, but that’s exactly what Caixa Capital is doing with the Caixa Empreender Award.
It will be one of those events where you look around and realise that everyone’s there: national and international investors, the best startups in Portugal, talented and inspiring entrepreneurs, some of the top universities, and important partners and supporters of this community.
All this, to celebrate what we have all built, together. From insightful keynotes to interesting discussions panels, from cool startup pitches to networking opportunities and awards, it’s all there.
In the end, after all the pitches from the best startups in the startup programs that Caixa Capital supports (Beta-i, Startup Braga, Startup Lisboa, Act by Cotec, BGI and Startup Next by Techstars), Caixa Capital will award the best startup with a 100k convertible note.
Last year, the big winner was our own Magnifinance from Lisbon Challenge, but who will get to take the big check home this time?
Join us for one of the main events on the Portuguese startup scene, network with the main players from our community and get to know who was the best startup of 2015.
Register here for free and check out the agenda. See you on the 3rd of February at Culturgest at the Caixa Empreender Award.
After some careful thought, we decided to extend the deadline for applications of our two startup programs in Lisbon, Lisbon Challenge and Beta-start, until the 7th of February.
We’ve been getting several applications, from all over the world, but we felt the need to give a chance to those who still want to apply and couldn’t make it to the first deadline.
If you’re building an early-stage tech startup, with a product or prototype, and want to boost your growth, you should apply to Lisbon Challenge:
A 3 month accelerator in Lisbon with free office space
Matching with top mentors and potential partners from companies such as Y Combinator, Seedcamp, Sendgrid, Faber Ventures, Uniplaces and Unbabel
Tailor-made workshops on the key challenges your startup is facing
Demo Day with more than 400 investors and entrepreneurs
No equity taken
And once you go through the program, you get to join our Alumni Network, where you'll get exclusive access to top events and investment opportunities, international roadshows to San Francisco or London, and access to an interesting list of contacts to help your startup grow.
Here’s what some of our alumni have to say about Lisbon Challenge:
"We were in the very first batch of Lisbon Challenge. At the time, we had just launched our student accommodation platform and it was the perfect time for us to get all the feedback from mentors and occasional speakers that Lisbon Challenge brought to us. Lisbon Challenge and Beta-i really helped us kick-start our business."
"Popcorn Metrics was born during the Lisbon Challenge. During the program we were able to get our whole team working together in a super focused environment which enabled us to quickly get the insights to make a massive “zoom in pivot” and focus on building our current product to enable marketers to set-up their Marketing Analytics Stack without depending on IT. We built a hugely valuable network of mentors, investors and other cofounders - a network that still gives great value today. As a bonus from Lisbon Challenge, we also springboarded from Lisbon Challenge into London based Seedcamp (the largest seed investment program in Europe)."
If you have an idea for a startup and want to get it started, apply to Beta-start, our pre-accelerator:
One month program in Lisbon with free office space
Focussed on these weekly topics: Problem, Solution, Viability and Go-to-market
Mentoring and coaching from inspiring entrepreneurs
Cool workshops on the main needs for idea-stage startups
Demo Day with potential partners, customers and early stage investors
No equity taken
Here’s what some of our alumni have to say about Beta-start:
“Beta-start and Lisbon Challenge are what I like to call as ‘the hands-on, practical MBA for entrepreneurs. Beta-start was a turning point for me: I came across the pre-accelerator when I decided that I wanted a project of my own – basically, I wanted to become an entrepreneur. Beta-start gave me the tools that I needed to make it real. The daily support and close mentoring are critical when projects are on such an early stage (earlier than Lisbon Challenge). I strongly believe that every entrepreneur should build their startups’ Business Model Canvas on paper, using post-its. The tools and knowledge that Beta-start gave me enabled me to systemise all the ideas I had on my head, and helped me pick the one that had more potential. That’s how Line Health started.”
All entrepreneurs, at a certain point of their lives, obsess about every piece of information that’s startup related. You know what I’m talking about... The first thing you probably do, once you get to a computer is check your email for cool content on startups, from First Round Review to Both Sides of the Table, it’s all there. Not to mention all the books on entrepreneurship you read before going to bed (yes, we’ve all read Peter Thiel’s “From Zero to One” and loved it).
However, in Portugal, we have very few people writing about startups and entrepreneurship that actually know what they’re talking about. We have some Portuguese blogs (and even less books), but very few talk about what having a startup is really like and tackle the main issues of the startup community.
So, when someone like Nuno Machado Lopes, the Head of Marketing and Communication at Beta-i, gets to the office one morning and lets everyone know that he’s publishing a book on entrepreneurship, we get all proud and excited.
Is excessive investment beneficial for startups? Does this obsession with unicorns and multi-millionaires help us build stronger startup ecosystems and more successful businesses? Is Silicon Valley replicable and should we really go for it?
These are the questions that Nuno Machado Lopes, who has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years and who has mentored hundreds of startups at Beta-i through Lisbon Challenge and Beta-start, addresses in his book called, “Tudo Mudou - Novamente”.
We can’t really wait to read it, as a matter of fact, and we’re looking forward to the official book launch tomorrow in Lisbon, at Silk, where Pedro Rocha Vieira, President at Beta-i, will also be there as a speaker.
Join us tomorrow, if you want to talk about what really matters when building startups. Make sure you register here.
In fact, most entrepreneurs naively think that all it takes is an email with a press release, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Getting journalists to write about you is not as easy as it seems.
For this reason, we have invited Robin Wauters, Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tech.eu, for a Flash Talk during Startup Europe Week, at Beta-i next Tuesday, 2nd of February, on “How to get journalists to write about your startup”.
This is a unique opportunity for you to learn how to approach journalists and get as many leads and views as possible, since Robin is an experienced journalist who has worked for TechCrunch and The Next Web, before co-founding his own publication, Tech.eu.
And who knows, in the end, you might even convince Robin to write about you…
Check out the Facebook event we’ve created and register here if you're attending.
Beta-i and Lisbon’s City Hall are bringing the whole startup community together in one event, to discuss the future challenges of our growing startup scene and lay down the next steps for spreading this movement across the country.
The main players from our startup community will be there to define a strategy for Lisbon with the City Hall and to also kick off the Portuguese Startup Manifesto, that Beta-i is putting together, with the collaboration of Lisbon’s City Hall and the support from the European Commission.
Lisbon is today one of the most important startup capitals in Europe. For the past few years, Lisbon has seen many promising startups grow, exceeding all expectations, such as Uniplaces, Talkdesk, Unbabel or Codacy. We’ve doubled the number of incubators, accelerators and coworking spaces, and got the Web Summit to move here.
Lisbon is, nowadays, getting all the attention across the globe, because of its exciting startup community and entrepreneurial mindset.
But how did this happen and why? What’s the vision for Lisbon Startup City 2.0 in 2016? What are the next steps for this ecosystem to grow and be more entrepreneurial and innovative? How do we replicate this movement across the whole country?
That’s what we want to discuss on the 5th of February at Lisbon’s City Hall. We’ll talk about what has been done so far in Lisbon and how we can replicate it throughout the country, and kick off the Portuguese Startup Manifesto.
This event will have many collaborative sessions, so that, together, we can define the strategy to value Lisbon as a startup city and understand how we can attract more investment, and build the Portuguese Startup Manifesto so that we can take it to the European Commission in Brussels.
