Report on participation in Webit Congress 2012
Last week we participated in Webit Congress 2012 in Istanbul. We were invited to the event as one of the 21 Webit Startup Challenge finalists. The organizers provided an exhibition stand and 2 free tickets to all finalists, which allowed them to participate in all events that took place over 2 days. The event ended with start-up pitches and award winners. The event is large and not traditional for startups (since startups are only one of its parts) and therefore especially interesting. A detailed report and some photos under the cut. The program of the event consisted of 2 days and was divided into 5 sections:
- Digital Marketing and Innovation Conference
- AppsWorld & MasterClasses
- Leaders of the future ( startups here )
- eCommerce Conference
- Telco conference
+ free seminars for all visitors and an exhibition.
The participants had various “access rights” depending on the type of ticket: from the admission ticket - only an exhibition and free seminars (mainly of an advertising nature), to platinum - access everywhere and free food :) We, like other Startup Challenge finalists, there were gold tickets that gave free access to everything except food. There, by the way, was especially once, because we were essentially tied to our stand - there were many interested and they approached as a whole fairly evenly and regularly.
Our stand. We write down useful tips :)
The event was held at the Lutfi Kirdar ICEC (a large exhibition / conference complex in the center of Istanbul), so there was plenty of space, although at times there was a feeling that there really were a lot of people. Each section was held in a separate room, the space between which was occupied by the exhibition.
Central zone
Main stage. There were free seminars and reports of conference sponsors mainly of advertising nature, although there were quite interesting presentations. In particular, Andrei Sebrant spoke remarkably.
By the way, Yandex, which started very vigorously in Turkey about a year ago, was one of the main sponsors of the conference, and its representatives participated in all sections of the event, although Yandex did not have a separate stand.
PayPal stand, also one of the main sponsors
Webit Startup Village. There are startup
stands. Company stands. A lot of companies engaged in e-mail marketing ...
Business communication A
place to relax and chat next to the main stage
Another place to chat
Part of the Digital Ecosystems company
stand Boomads stand. In the foreground is a chocolate fountain :)
We did not have the opportunity to attend all the lectures we wanted, but Leaders of the future seemed to us the most interesting section (maybe, of course, simply because the subject is close to us).
Alexander Galitsky gets acquainted with startups
In general, there were not very many investors at the event, but this, as far as we can tell, was not the main task. Much more interesting for startups (in particular for us) was a meeting with a potential audience and partners. About 30 visitors were from Turkey, so the standard question was “Do you already work with us?”
The Wall Street Journal interviews one of the
startups. Pitches
Pitches were at the end of the second day - just before the end of the event (in my opinion, this is not a good time). All startups were really very cool + great presentations and performances, incl. I think the jury was not the easiest task. As a result, the winner was the mySugr project- a mobile application for patients with diabetes with elements of gamification and certified as a medical device. The jury particularly appreciated the social significance of the project, the involvement of the team (the founders themselves have diabetes) and an excellent, emotional performance. The second was Sellbox - a system for selling content from dropbox. And the third is INFODIF - a company engaged in the recognition of images in a video stream in real time.
Very helpful tip.
The event was organized just fine, except for problems with Wi-Fi, which went to bed both days as soon as there were a little more visitors. All companies, by the way, were warned about this in advance and offered to buy wired Internet, however, at exorbitant prices in our understanding (1 Mbit for 2 days would cost 300 euros). It is clear that for PayPal and other large companies this is not the amount, but most startups were without the Internet. Although, in general, we perfectly demonstrated our project from the local environment, and mobile applications worked offline (once I accidentally clicked Logout in an iOS application, after which I urgently had to search the Internet) - we couldn’t only quickly tweet from the scene.
Many thanks to the organizers and everyone who came to our stand. We hope to visit the event next year.
And yes, Istanbul is a very interesting city - vibrant and beautiful - with a special touch, but, in general, quite European, incl. recommend.
I will be glad to answer your questions.