0:00:23hi everybody, I'm David and this is Jan. Hi. And we would like to present
0:00:27you our learning story with our startup Universator. For those who don't know, Universator it's
0:00:34something like trip advisor for schools and universities, so we give a space to people
0:00:40to give, to write a review and write a feedback to the universities, so other
0:00:46people can search and find their university and study program abroad according to the needs
0:00:51and possibilities
0:00:55we achieved some... we won Starcube last year and what we achieved in last year
0:01:01will tell you Jan
0:01:03twelve months ago, we were standing at this podium, stage and holding the first prize
0:01:09ticket
0:01:10it was great, really great ego boost
0:01:15enjoy it and what we did is actually locked ourselves in their offices for four
0:01:21months, South Moravian Center, to launch our public beta version as soon as possible and
0:01:28it happened... it happened two thousand eleven, on October
0:01:33at the same time, we actually were Seedcamp Mini Seedcamp Prague finalists, which is also
0:01:39great competition, we can recommend it. And that time one of the things we brought
0:01:45from this competition was that guys, students are visitors that's great but you need focus
0:01:52on customers
0:01:53so focus on them, and we did it. Next twelve... next two months we created
0:01:58administration for universities to add their stay programs
0:02:03and from January two thousand twelve 'till March two thousand twelve we approached over four
0:02:09hundred universities
0:02:11and what we learned from that is that they don't read e-mails at all, but
0:02:17what was even most important is that they are not interested in
0:02:23and, at the same time, we are running out of our money, what we saved.
0:02:28It was twenty thousand euros. We spend this probably same amount of money in our
0:02:35time as opportunity cost and other twenty thousand euros of other team's members, that were
0:02:42actually involved and weren't paid
0:02:46so it was, somehow, called aha moment, something like: okay, now we need to stop,
0:02:53otherwise we are heading to hell
0:02:58so we stopped
0:03:01and what is our current state? Because we... we're now out of money and the
0:03:06business model which we thought would work didn't work, we had to fire our team,
0:03:12which was like we were eight people, now we are just two of us and
0:03:17we started searching new ways, new business models for... for the startup. We had several
0:03:24mentor meetings for... with the people all around. And this day we got some advices
0:03:30and tips and nowadays we are stucked anyway. Because we know there is the need
0:03:37on one side, but we still don't know how to monetise it properly, so we
0:03:44don't know if we should... we should work more on the project or we should
0:03:48shut it down completely
0:03:51but
0:03:52even though we have this experience, we... we got really big learnings, which I would
0:03:58like to present to you
0:04:00first one is
0:04:01find paying customer as soon as possible
0:04:13hear it all the time, and we also heard that and we knew it, but
0:04:17our business model was based on something which our competitors had and it worked
0:04:24and we asked Masaryk university here in Brno if they would use our service, that
0:04:28we have it, and they said: yes we will, so we said: okay, great, the
0:04:33business model is approved, because competitors gained a lot of money out of it and
0:04:38universities here, even in Czech Republic, they would use it
0:04:42but nobody picked us, actually. We just thought it will work and we saw it
0:04:47in the competitors but nobody picked us, real money. And this is the first learning
0:04:52which we will share, keep in mind in the next startups in the future as
0:04:57well, and I would like to suggest to you to do the same. Like, get
0:05:01the paying customer as soon as possible even if you are ashamed for the product
0:05:06or service, find the paying customer. And I'm really glad that... that startups here at
0:05:11this competition, they already have some
0:05:17second thing is team
0:05:21hard times will come, that's for sure. Really, for sure. And at that times you
0:05:27really need to support each other. As they did mention, we were a team of
0:05:32eight and now we are again a team of two
0:05:35but that's what we
0:05:39should suppose to do next time and be better way. So really, prepare for hard
0:05:44times and even test your colleagues
0:05:46okay. So, whatever
0:05:49they will come
0:05:52yeah. The third thing, which is really crucial for us, don't hide... don't hide your
0:05:56idea. People always think that, if you present the idea to others, they will steal
0:06:01it from you or
0:06:04they will somehow scam you or something
0:06:07what we experienced. Since the beginning we talked about the idea about the project on
0:06:13every event with as many people as possible and it helped us a lot. We
0:06:18got feedback, we got some advices, and we built a network of people which can
0:06:23help us in the future as well. It really helps, nobody will almost share, nobody
0:06:29will steal the idea from you or if somebody is interested in it, they can
0:06:33join you or you can join with the others and gain.. like, gain other member
0:06:39of the team, which is motivator for the project
0:06:43don't spend money. It's a truth of a life for startups. So hey, what we
0:06:48did? Spend six thousand crowns for terms and condition, in English, for customers we'd never
0:06:56had
0:06:58yeah, but, the good message is
0:07:04you all Starcube teams are winners. Really, you got the experience which only few have
0:07:15and that's already something. And I would like to congratulate you. Very good
0:07:36mister Forbes says: failure is a success if you can learn from it
0:07:42and we had a lot of learnings, so are we successful?
0:07:48thank you