Pirate Summit Skopje is a startup event hosted and co-organized by Superfounders, taking place in the capital of Macedonia on June 20, 2016. It is a local chapter of the Pirate Summit Global program for 2016 that is connecting the local startup scene to international investors and mentors. The agenda of Pirate Summit Skopje includes a pitch competition in order to select the best team and provide them with two free-tickets to the Pirate Summit 2016 in Cologne along with a guaranteed slot at the semi-finals of the “Walk the Plank” pitch competition on September 6. Interested startups can apply to pitch by filling out this startup application form.
The aim of Pirate Summit Global is to bring the spirit of the region’s craziest startup conference to 50 cities across Europe and the Middle East. “It’s very inspiring to bring together local startups and international investors and to see entrepreneurship flourish in emerging hotspots around the globe – ARRRsome to be part of it!” says Till Ohrmann, Captain at Pirate Summit.
Last year, the global tour of Pirate Summit hosted over 5.000 guests, gathered 1.200 startup applications, and announced 60 winners to pitch at the official Pirate Summit pitch competition. The winner of the previous edition of Pirate Summit Skopje, held in 2015, was VapourApps. Last year, Ljupco Vangelski, CEO of VapourApps, had the chance to set sail from Pirate Summit Skopje and anchor in Cologne, the “pirate” bay.
Take a look at the VapourApps pitch at “Walk the Plank” 2015:
Video credit: Pirate Summit
From Pirate Summit Skopje to “Walk the Plank” Cologne
We talked to Ljupco and asked him to share his pirate story with SuperFounders Live.
In his view, Pirate Summit is a one-of-a-kind event that actually makes you feel comfortable chatting around with people worth millions.
As he sees it, “Pirate Summit is probably the only place in the world where you will find millionaires dressed casually and walking around in the midst of a landfill. The venue is not only informal, but is also an improvised location for tech parties that makes you feel relaxed and comfortable. The event brings you a network of entrepreneurs, investors, former successful business people and mentors, all easily approachable for conversation – their guards down, suits and ties excluded.”
All startups undergo a mentorship program that opens new horizons for their business ideas.
“Participating startups went through mentorship sessions led by experienced and successful entrepreneurs. Each startup had a 30-minute time slot to introduce their products, market potential, opportunities and business plan. The mentors gave us hints on how to position our products, pinpointing the most relevant countries for implementation as well as instructing us on the strategies we should develop to better approach the target market and search for partnerships.”
The benefits of participating as a startup are valuable both for attracting investors as well as for product feedback.
“Attending Pirate Summit was of great importance to VapourApps,” Ljupco continues. “We presented our product to a wide audience on one of the top entrepreneurship events in Europe in front of a number of potential investors. The questions and feedback we received were crucial for us as we could get an insight into the degree to which people are familiar with private cloud solutions, what they think is important, and what are the areas in which cloud solutions overlap with other products,” explains Ljupco.
“Face-to-face meetings with investors helped us discover what is the product, most similar to ours, in which they are looking to invest. They gave us instructions on when and how we should contact and approach them, as well as how to capture their full attention,” he adds.
On events like this, startups learn not only from listening to investors and mentors, but also from listening to their competitors.
As we find out from Ljupco, “It was also very useful listening to the pitches of other startups and getting updated on what entrepreneurs in Europe, North Africa, and The Near East are currently working on. We heard a lot about their products, the difficulties they encounter, the sources of their first finances, and so on. We also found out that they invest great money and effort in developing bitcoin technologies, customer service, marketing and sales, and others.”
In summary, Pirate Summit takes you on a wild journey in excess of opportunities, open markets, investments, and partnerships. Pirate Summit Skopje gives you the ticket for it.
