VentureKick

January 2009, a huge milestone for HouseTrip: VentureKick, the most prestigious entrepreneurship contest in Switzerland in the domain of technologies. The competition works in 3 stages: 4 projects win the first stage (and it gives them the right to participate to the second stage), 2 projects will pass the second stage and only 1 will ultimately receive the third stage’s prize, CHF100’000. We had applied to VentureKick back in November 2008 and learned in December that our project was one of the 8 selected (out of approximately 30) to present in front of the jury for the first stage.

The day of the presentation arrived: the 13th of January 2009! The presentation lasted 20 minutes, went well and we were told that we would receive the results within the next 24 hours.

Great news: one day later, we received the following email:

“We are pleased to inform you that your venture pitch has been selected for support by venture kick: you will receive CHF 10’000 to develop your business idea.“

In addition the CHF10’000, we also won a 2-day “kickers camp” during which Jordi Montserrat and Beat Schillig, the founders of VentureKick, would coach us on the project. HouseTrip benefited greatly from the entire VentureKick experience: it forced us to think about all aspects of the business and to synthesize the idea in our minds.

We now look forward to VentureKick’s second stage on the 13th of May 2009!

Venture Leaders

Another contest organized by the VentureKick team, Venture Leaders grants its winners (20 each year) with a 10-day stay in Boston as members of the “Swiss National Start-Up Team”, during which they get coached by teachers of the Babson College and interact with local actors of the start-up field (mostly entrepreneurs and investors).

HouseTrip was one out of 40 projects selected to present on the 19th of March 2009 among approximately 100 applications.

After much suspense, a couple of days after the presentation we received an email came with the title : “venture leaders 2009: you’re in the team!“:

“CONGRATULATIONS! You belong to the winners of the «venture leaders» Prize 2009! You can definitely book your agenda from June 9th to June 19th and prepare for an exciting experience into the entrepreneurial world in Boston.“

Interesting is to have a look at what Paul Sevinç wrote about his experience as a jury member this day.