For the second time this year, the Twin Entrepreneurs workshop series will bring together entrepreneurs from vibrant startup scenes Vienna and Bratislava to share experiences, advice and make new contacts. Supported by the Vienna Business Agency, the European National Agency for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Young Entrepreneurs Association of Slovakia, Twin Entrepreneurs’ first workshop will take place on 14 October in Vienna. The topic: “Taking your business from inception to growth”.
To shed light on the issue will be Stefan Perkmann Berger, co-founder of Austrian startup WhatAVenture. inventures.eu caught up with him to talk about the advice he has for startups, who want to take their business all the way.
From inception on
The steps are the toughest, he says. “It’s extremely important that your core team is cemented andsticks together.” In this initial stage, startups need to make sure that the outside pressure they get – like market feedback, for example, which can often times be quite negative – does not rip their team apart. “This includes having legal matters sorted out before they occur,” – obviously, by the time the founders have a disagreement, it is too late to prepare for this case in the contract.
“Usually it’s very difficult for startups to find the right balance between continuous self-assessment and sticking to their idea,” said Perkmann Berger. In case they don’t, they could get to a point where they either drift off too far from their initial project, or they spend too much time resolving internal problems without keeping an eye on the bigger picture. “And this is an absolute make or break for startups entrepreneurs,” Perkmann Berger added.
But he has one more point to raise. “If your business is starting to grow, do not get ahead of yourself,” he said. “I often see that startups try to enter new markets before they have a solid foothold in their home country – this is especially true for Austrian firms wanting to enter the huge and vastly attractive German market.”
Bridging the gap between Vienna and Bratislava
The goal of the workshop series is to bring the startup scenes of the twin cities even closer together, while allowing participants to gain an outside perspective on their businesses from other entrepreneurs. “Different angles of looking at your business concept are absolutely vital,” said Perkmann Berger.
Just as importantly, it’s crucial for startups to expand in a well-planned manner and with a good understanding of the risks ahead of them. To make this process easier, Twin Entrepreneurs will offer teams access to one-on-one mentoring sessions, part of their expansion coaching programme.
Currently, potential participants are being screened, since places are limited. Apply now!
