Setbacks and a lot to learn

Good things take time. Even if in a startup life everything seems to travel at a tremendous speed, some things take time until they coalesce and result in a larger whole.

Some bitter disappointments, a lot to learn

The early summer was marked by a series of setbacks. Due to the fact that there were a lot of successes in recent months, the disappointments weighed twice as heavy each time they happened. But that’s part of a startup life.

pingeb.org submission to the Prix Ars Electronica has been completely ignored. The jury hasn’t even tried our demo cards.
We failed to get a grant from the KWF (from the TD|IKT call).
We haven’t gotten a subsidy under the cultural program of the region of Carinthia for pingeb.org due to the region’s fiscal austerity program.
Finally, in July, a giant construction site from a development perspective opened up that has set us back several weeks.

We have used these disappointments for intense self-reflection. From sleepless nights and evil doubts, coupled with good literature (Lean Startup, Startup CEO, Built to Last, Do More Faster and others) and many conversations with potential customers, our sight changed and our direction emerged. We reworked our business model and implemented tools that should hopefully make us much faster.

Finally, we could also tell a really good ‘story’ and have a crystal-clear vision & mission.

Launch in September

In saloon.io we have found great partners who are helping us to be on the market faster. This will be crucial, since we have set ourselves the goal to launch version 1.0 on September 20, at 09:00 am. It will not be a feature-complete version, but we have something to show.

The countdown is on … 49 days!

Competitions

Today we also learned that we are in the finals of the Mazda-Challenger-Competition. The car company is looking for people who want to change something and face real challenges. The video shooting will be held at the end of August, followed by an audience voting.

There will also be voting for the competition Austria’s Next Top Startup by Futurezone and A1. We are anxiously waiting to hear if we are in the next round.

And last, but not least, we are going to apply for Techstars London. It’s a 90-day accelerator program that catapults entrepreneurs through an intensive mentorship.

The deadline for submission will be on September 7. Out of 500+ applicants, only ten startups will be chosen. You can help us a lot by keeping your fingers crossed.

Be assured that we not only participate in competitions! We are working hard on version 1, the funding for 2015, processes, use cases, marketing strategies, various tests, spreading the word of pingeb.org and more.