It’s been over half a year of Startup Pick Saturdays on inventures, which is why for the end of the year, we decided to put together a list of the five most-read entries. We’ve ordered them alphabetically – it’s Christmas time and we don’t want to start any fights. Enjoy!
BabyWatch, Croatia
A team of three, BabyWatch have worked hard to create a system that allows parents to track the growth and health of their unborn baby. In the meantime, they like to travel the world, searching for beautiful kite-surfing spots.
BabyWatch have their little quirks. When he was in first grade, Sandro had a monopoly on selling Dragonball stickers. That’s how he earned his first money and became the king of the playground. Davor, on the other hand, believes that kite-surfing is the best invention ever. And Urška – well, her favourite tool is the chainsaw.
Speaking of kite-surfing, BabyWatch have a soft spot for wind. They say the biggest pain about starting a business in Croatia is the fact that “there’s too much wind for distraction.” And that’s not all. “The one thing we would save from our burning office,” they say, “is Sandro’s bamboo surfboard.”
It shouldn’t then come as a surprise that the most used app on their phones is WindGuru.
Read up on the team here. To get in touch, go here.
Beezinga, Slovenia
They are a team of three: Jernej, Nenad, and a second Jernej. They’re all Slovenian and have come together to develop an early-warning web and mobile system that offers automated data collection to help beekeepers optimise production.
Jernej Š. is allergic to bee stings. Yet, all three of them say that “not even bee stings will make us quit.” That’s brave.
Also, “you might not believe it,” they said, “but we’re not beekeepers ourselves.” Still, they will call themselves successful only when “[they] build a smart beehive.” Let’s hope Jernej Š. will be able to dodge all those potential stings.
Read up on the team here. To get in touch, click here.
And in the meantime, there’s one question left: “To bee or not to bee?”
miavia, Austria
Anna-Clara, Bianca, Andreas, Chris and Stefan are the Maggelans. They have come to sail the seven seas and provide a simple way to connect like-minded travelers around the world. The goal? Better trips and less time spent on planning.
miavia have had to answer some serious questions: “Why don’t you try something less riskier?”
miavia are fun. Their inside joke goes: “Tripadvisor is a very well designed, clear and helpful website to plan a trip.” Wait, it isn’t?
miavia are caring. “The one thing we would save from our burning office,” they say, “is our team plant, Mount Everest – the only flower in the office, reminding us to aim high. No, just kidding. We would save our brand new iMac.” Oh well. First things first.
Read up more on the team here and here. To get in touch, go here.
Networker, Slovakia
Are you on LinkedIn? Good. Now what if you wanted to connect with people, who are at the same business event as you, in real-time? Then you would be on Networker, too. The core team of four comes from Slovakia, but they work from three different cities – quite convenient actually, as there’s no rent to pay.
Networker are four “childhood friends who started in the non-for-profit sector when we were 15 years old,” they said. “We are extroverts and introverts, serious but also geeks.”
Networker don’t get scared easily. “The worst piece of advice we got was to focus on something else, because we have competition,” they said. They decided to pass on that one. And speaking of passing on things, “you might not believe it, but we haven’t pleased our girlfriends for a long time because of our startup efforts,” they admitted back in April. Perhaps a bit of a TMI there.
For more on the team, go here. To get in touch – here.
sli.do, Slovakia
Public speaking is a skill. While some people are natural talents and hog the spotlight, others take time to learn how to deal with the anxiety and get their point across. So Slovak startup Instando has come up with sli.do – an app that lets audience members ask live questions at events. Their team of seven consists of Frantisek, Kamil, Jakub, Andrej and three Peters, one of whom is the CEO.
Team sli.do are driven. We asked them about the one thing that would make them quit. “We would really want to know the answer to this one, too,” they said. Worst piece of advice they got? “To quit.” (Yes, but they don’t know how). “We obviously didn’t take it,” they added with a wink. (Wink back).
Perhaps most importantly, though, team sli.do are into art. They said the one thing they save from their burning office is “the priceless old painting by Frantisek’s great grandfather.” Or at least he claims it’s by his great grandfather.
Find out more about the team here. To get in touch, go here.
