Lisbon Challenge by Beta-i, our flagship accelerator program, kicked off today in our Beta-i building, for its 11th edition.
Get to know one another
The day started with really getting to know each other. After a healthy breakfast to break the ice, Ricardo Marvão, Co-founder and Head of Education at Beta-i, spoke to the teams about the history of Beta-i, and the scope of the team’s work.
Eduardo, Head of Acceleration at Beta-i, and the Lisbon Challenge’s team walked them through the schedule and highlights of the program:
- Workshops on methodologies with the Beta-i team;
- Contact with alumni from the program and people who have been through the entrepreneurial journey;
- Mentorship from a vast network of entrepreneurs, investors and corporate partners.
Alumni Talks
This year, Lisbon Challenge’s teams got an inspirational talk from alumni of the program – Miguel Santo Amaro, co-founder of Uniplaces and André Miranda, founder of Musiversal.
Mainly they spoke of how, at the time, they applied the methodologies learned in the program and were able to grow their business through that:
Because we validated with clients a lot of things we were doing right and wrong, we were able to grow our operations. We didn’t do any sales pitching or advertising – just by listening to people we adjusted the service, it cost us zero, and we were able to grow our sales because satisfied customers came back with bigger projects.
André Miranda, founder of Musiversal
Miguel Santo Amaro also shared a lot of his experience as a founder of Uniplaces – from his struggles with being a first-mover in the market to their pitch to investors to Uniplaces’ pivots.
Like André said, “This is not fluff advice, I really think if you keep this advice in mind, you’re gonna take much more from the program.”
First Pitch
The startups will pitch their solutions for the first time for the Beta-i team and the ecosystem of alumni and mentors. It’s an exciting moment for all – for the startups it’s the first impression they are making on the ecosystem, for the team is a chance to learn something new. It’s also a good memory to have – so the teams will know how much they grew in the program.
Read about the startups joining the spring edition here.
