1. Apply for public founding or release from public duties

A newly appointed law so-called “Anti-crisis shield” allows entrepreneurs to apply for many types of founding or release from public duties. If due to COVID-19 your incomes have decreased or you are facing difficulties maintaining your regular business, you may apply for many grants, including:

• Co-financing of your employees’ salaries;
• One-time benefits and loans;
• Exemption from paying social security contributions.

The terms and conditions of each grant vary, depending on the scope of your work, number of employees and the degree of financial liquidity loss. The newly adapted employment laws allow you also to change working hours of some employees or sign an agreement lowering their salaries.  Check the official government website or consult an adviser to get more information: https://www.gov.pl/web/tarczaantykryzysowa

2. Re-read your contracts

State of epidemic can be considered as force majeure in many business relations, influencing your rights and obligations. Check if your contracts include any specific provisions regarding that matter. Usually, you would be required to inform your business partner that you are currently acting under the force majeure condition. Take a special look at your insurance agreements as they may have clauses exempting the insurers liability during epidemic. If you are renting office space, you may be required to take up extra actions to regulate the rent (rental agreements in big shopping centres expire by law, other agreements may be subject to new regulations). In extreme cases, you may refer to rebus sic stantibus clause (extraordinary change of circumstances) and seek remedy at court.

3. Catch up with your partners

The state of epidemic affects everyone differently. Get in touch with your partners to learn about their situation. Will they be able to provide you service on site if your servers crash suddenly? Are they able to deliver goods on time or will they end up stuck on a border? If you are facing challenges in timely delivery of your own services, inform your clients immediately. In some cases, your returns policy can be more flexible now (i.e. if you are cancelling some events, time for returns have been extended, you can also propose vouchers). In other, more complicated matters, you may be required to re-negotiate your contracts. Don’t wait until the last moment – current situation calls for more flexibility in business and it will be much easier for you to maintain trust if you focus on transparency.

4. Move on-line – safely and efficiently

Moving from the offline to the on-line does not end with adapting your services to the other medium. Behind all that you offer there is the whole back-end business: signing contracts, communicating with authorities, taking care of corporate matters or ensuring safety and privacy of your data. If you don’t have it yet, get an ePUAP account that will allow you to communicate with governmental agencies. Relying on regular mail, even when applying for grants, may prolong the process extensively. Check if you can annex your contracts without regular written signatures. If not, you can substitute that by using certified electronic signature. If you have to operate the company from the level of Management Board or Shareholders Meetings, now you can do that on-line too. Last but not least, verify the privacy settings of programmes and apps you use for daily communication and document sharing. Many platforms are low-key scanning your data and for contractors valuing IT security, this will be unacceptable.

5. Take advantage of the extended deadlines

Spring is the time for many financial and reporting obligations. Running your business, you may inevitably be forced to follow other deadlines too. The “Anti-crisis shield” has extended many of those, such as:

• Deadline for notification to the central register of beneficial owners – 13/07/2020;
• Court deadlines have been suspended for the period of epidemic;
• Applying for extension of legal stay in Poland for foreigners – you can do that up to 30 days after the end of state of epidemic and remain legally in Poland;
• Payment of perpetual usufruct fee (opłata za użytkowanie wieczyste) – 30/06/2020;
• Other deadlines (such as for preparation and acceptance of financial statements) can be prolonged in the nearest future by the Ministry of Finance.

6. Remain calm

As trivial as it sounds, keeping your cool is the most crucial element of surviving the crisis. Don’t let your emotions overflow you but instead try to build up a strategy for upcoming months and monitor the current state of your company. If your financial situation is declining, make sure that you are not fulfilling conditions for applying for bankruptcy or restructuring. The deadlines for applying for those types of protection are relevantly short and as a Member of the Board you are liable for company’s debts if you miss them. Try to maintain objectivity and ask for help if needed. The business environment will change in the most unprecedented way in the upcoming months. It will definitely be a challenge, but hopefully, in some ways, it will also open up doors for new opportunities.

The post Maintaining Business Continuity in the times of COVID-19 appeared first on StartSmart CEE.

It is said that tech startups are the born-global firms. That seems to be a fair statement as most of the technology developed by tech entrepreneurs has a worldwide potential. The services and solutions developed by the startup founders are designed to work on a global scale. With just a few adjustments, of course.

In order to reach that globality, tech startup founders want to derive significant competitive advantage from the use of resources and the sale of outputs in multiple countries. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for their internationalization models. Yet, there are some common denominators. A strong business network is one of the most important parts of that equitation.

Founders, if you wish to scale up your #tech business and become a successful entrepreneur, apply to the 4th edition of MIT Enterprise Forum CEE Startup Accelerator. You have time until July 5th by midnight. Click here

Relationship capital

Networking is one of the most critical behavioral learning strategies used by startups due to the scarcity of internal resources in a business to cope with triggers and develop solutions.
I’ve been working with tech innovation for more than 15 years now. When talking to the startup founders, I often hear that it is the relationship capital provided by MIT Enterprise Forum that is what the entrepreneurs value a lot. At the MIT Enterprise Forum CEE, we have built a robust communications platform connecting young high-tech companies with large enterprises in support of our growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The access to the elite MIT ecosystem, our network of corporate and institutional partners, market experts and a truly impressive range of other startup companies relevant with their business operations has positively impacted their further business growth.

Our program combines the resources of leading global and regional enterprises with the capabilities of Polish and international mentors and trainers to foster the growth of a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem supporting an expanding pipeline of CEE startups. We help startups improve their business networking skills and connect them with the decision makers on the business side who are willing to test-drive their solutions as well as real-life mentors and market experts.

MIT Enterprise Forum network

We are a member of the global MIT Enterprise Forum network, joining 10 US chapters and several international chapters, including those in Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Spain. Our headquarters are located Warsaw which serves Poland and fourteen other CEE countries including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine to name just a few. We encourage innovators from all of the CEE region to get in touch with our team. Together we can achieve more.

Networking

There is a number of initiatives that we, as the MIT Enterprise Forum CEE team, take to ensure the most fruitful outcome for our program alumni. In a nutshell, we organize one-on-one sessions with mentors and experts from Poland and abroad. Their goal is to help founders with fine-tuning their “go to market strategy” by connecting them with relevant business partners and their network. We host networking events where they can create more informal relations with our partners, investors, and various market experts. And the top startups in the accelerator are invited to participate in our annual Boston Bootcamp, featuring an intense agenda of activities in one of the leading US ecosystems for entrepreneurs. While in Boston, we make sure the networking on the US soil really happens. Not to mention the pitching session in front of American investors, which is a gem.

The journey continues even after the program ends

To support accelerated graduates in commercializing technology on the European or Asian market, MITEF CEE also establishes bilateral partnerships with platforms such as FinTech Connector, or corporations on foreign markets. Advantech is a fine example of such cooperation happening in Taiwan. It focuses on providing IoT solutions to various sectors, particularly for logistics and hospitals, also rail transportation and energy sector. By working with Advantech, startups get the chance to gain access to its international clients and take part in sales and marketing events which are known for setting a high market standard.

Startups that cooperate with MIT EF CEE can also gain technological support, as the organization works closely with the Dassault System, a company delivering comprehensive engineering and management software to which founders get free access.

To benefit from the potential created for CEE region startups, we also initiate joint activities with community partners such as Innovox – an accelerator from Romania which opens doors for MIT EF CEE alumni to potential business partners in Romania https://innovoxaudio.com/. Last but not least, our latest undertaking will be a pilot of events called “Berlin Warsaw Station” which goal is to foster business relations between both ecosystems, providing German and Polish entrepreneurs the platform to learn from each other and initiate cross-border, innovative projects.

Supportive network with entrepreneurial spirit

Mutual help is the foundation of our organization as several entrepreneurs with MIT background decided informally to help each other with their business plans. Such was the beginning of what was called by its attendants as “MIT Enterprise Forum”. The very same idea determines the actions of the accelerator and activities undertaken by MIT EF CEE alumni club. So far, we have supported over 330 founders, who now constitute an excellent network of top talents with entrepreneurial spirit. We strongly encourage our alumni to establish relationships between startups from various editions and different locations.

Founders, if you wish to scale up your business and become a successful entrepreneur, apply to the 4th edition of MIT Enterprise Forum CEE Startup Accelerator. You have time until July 5th by midnight. Click here

The post The power of MIT Enterprise Forum elite ecosystem appeared first on StartSmart CEE.

The PZU Group is the largest financial institution in Central and Eastern Europe. We serve over 22 million customers in five countries (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine). We operate in the areas of insurance, banking, investments and healthcare. Altogether, we manage nearly PLN 300 billion in assets.

Areas for seeking innovation

Currently, we are looking for startups in three strategic areas – the use of Big Data, digitization and new interactions with clients.

In the area of advanced analytics, we are interested in using solutions supporting the implementation of advanced pricing methods, cross-selling initiatives or increasing the level of customer engagement and loyalty. It is important for us to use the potential of data science, which leads to better business management and risk prediction. In the area of digitization, we are interested in a wide range of new technologies that enable automation, simplification and acceleration of processes in all areas of activity – e.g. sales, claims or customer service. In particularly, we focus on technologies using  artificial intelligence, which are implemented on large-scale processes, both within the organization and at the points of contact with clients. In the last area – new interactions – we are looking for solutions supporting PZU in increasing the frequency and quality of contact with our clients. We want to implement services that respond to the changing needs of customers (both individual and enterprises), as well as reach them in new ways and channels that are the most suitable.

Under the 2020 program, the highest priorities for PZU include:

• automation of the area of claims and provisions as well as customer service
• digitization in the area of product distribution, including sales support by agents and redirecting traffic from online channels to traditional channels
• new interactions with clients – concepts that can increase the number of interactions with PZU clients, including the self-service portal www.mojepzu.pl
• cyber security services for individuals
• services added in the context of selected customer segments, e.g. pregnant women and parents
• the use of machine learning in investment processes
• the use of new technologies in the area of marketing – increasing the conversion of marketing activities, customer engagement, collecting feedback from customers in real time
• implementation of modern tools and automation in the area of tariff actuarial

Mutual benefits

We assume that PZU’s cooperation with startups should bring mutual benefits in the form of well-executed pilot projects and full implementations. The startups we are looking for must feature technology-based solutions that create exceptional value for PZU and our customers. We are looking for competent teams focused on solving well-defined problems, which are also important from the perspective of PZU. Not just descriptions of solutions, but the ability to quickly test them in a real environment and on real data  is essential to us. As the largest financial institution in Central and Eastern Europe, most of all, we offer the possibility of implementing large-scale solutions. We focus on pilot projects and hence guarantee that, if both parties agree on the business legitimacy of the joint project, implementation will be our priority. In addition, as part of the acceleration process, we offer the support of our mentors – members of the management team and managers of individual areas, appropriate for a given startup.

Welcome

All startups with unique solutions that fit into PZU’s search areas are welcome to apply to the MIT Enterprise Forum CEE accelerator as part of the next, spring edition of the program!

The post We are increasing innovation of the largest financial group in the CEE appeared first on StartSmart CEE.

A few words on Adamed

Adamed is a privately held Polish pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, with over 30 years of experience, based on the scientific thought and a portfolio of patents. Currently, it manufactures about 500 products offered to the patients in 70 countries around the world. Through subsidiaries, Adamed operates in Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Vietnam, Italy, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

In 2001, Adamed pioneered drug discovery efforts among the Polish private pharmaceutical companies. For over 19 years, the company has been carrying out innovative R&D projects. It has established several scientific and industrial consortia with the leading universities and scientific institutes in the homeland and abroad. The company’s intellectual property is protected by almost 200 patents all over the world.

Our ambition is to discover novel effective, safe therapies for patients all over the world and to foster knowledge-based innovation.

What do we seek in a startup world?

Our technological interests extend beyond medicinal products and related technologies. Yet those still play an important part. We are open to drug discovery and repurposing efforts (exploring a novel indication for a known therapeutic moiety). We find interesting technologies that are meant to improve a current process of discovering and developing medicinal products. We also seek innovation and value for the patients in the new, original dosage forms and drug delivery technologies. Especially those that render products more convenient and improve patients’ adherence. Adamed would also gladly explore devices and applications targeting a problem of adherence or providing other clinical benefits on top of the pharmacological interventions.

Outside the pharma space, we consider therapeutic and diagnostic medical devices, with a software-as-a-medical device included. We look with an interest at an emerging technology of the so-called digital therapeutics. On the diagnostics side, we focus on the Point of Care or Point of Treatment solutions and the tools for monitoring health-related parameters, preferably in outpatients. Monitoring of potential side-effects of drugs and postoperative complications also fall inside our scope.

We believe that e-health is to become an important part of healthcare in the coming years and that is why we are open to the telemedicine solutions, especially when founded upon viable business models. In our view, medical simulation is similarly a very interesting field with a growing market and a continuous need for training of medical practitioners to keep up with the technology advancement.

Challenge accepted

Adamed always welcome disruptors who do not precisely fit into a wish list but develop unique technologies for a broadly defined healthcare sector with a likely product-market fit. As regards the characteristics we value the most among startups, we seek entrepreneurs that target a very precisely defined problem that originates from a truly existing unmet medical need or an inefficiency of the healthcare system. An MVP is not a must for us as we speak of deep-tech, capital intensive projects. On the other hand, we insist on a product or service scalability and ability to be offered in a sustainable way. Most importantly, we cherish the well-versed and balanced teams.

We suppose that, as a startup, you enjoy taking on challenges. Then, we are curious if you can:

• come up with a concept of a novel indication for a known substance that would be patentable,
• target a new population of patients with your innovative dosage form,
• suggest a novel treatment for the Alzheimer’s Disease that will not rely on a beta-amyloid hypothesis,
• propose a technology that would be a perfect match for one of our products and deliver a tangible value to the patients,
• deliver a technology improving patients’ adherence being convenient and effective at the same time,
• develop an off-patent medicinal product with a value added that would not require a pivotal trial to be granted marketing authorization.

Adamed’s offer to MITEF CEE participants

Our offering to startups features an access to Adamed’s laboratories, experts and mentors in various fields related to life science industry, both on the scientific and commercial side. Moreover, we are able to arrange the consults with the key opinion leaders in the therapeutic areas relevant to startups’ projects. We also offer access to market data and our network of reliable and proven service providers and suppliers. We assist in devising business models and go-to-market strategies for startup. And last but not least, we may become an investor in your startup. Ready to take up the challenge? Because we are!

Apply to the spring edition of MIT Enterprise Forum CEE acceleration program ➡️ http://bit.ly/MITstartups

The post Adamed: technology, healthcare and pharma appeared first on StartSmart CEE.

Please tell us how you cooperate with the MIT Enterprise Forum CEE accelerator?

Under the CEE Accelerator Summit, InnovX Xelerator is happy to have found a leading acceleration program in Central and Eastern Europe that includes complementary elements to the structure of its own. The partnership between MIT EF CEE and InnovX Xelerator is meant to strengthen the added value received by startups entering both programs through the exchange of good practices materialized in the participation of Romanian Startups delegations to MIT EF CEE events and vice-versa. We also have in mind that by combining both markets: Poland #1 in CEE with 581 bn USD GDP in 2019 and Romania, #3 in CEE with 249 BN USD GDP in 2019, startups can access a larger pool of clients, ensuring that way the first step towards regional and international scalability. The results are also interesting: by acquiring new markets, startups have more chances to attract also pan-European VCs and international investors additionally to the national ones, as Poland, Slovenia and Romania have the fastest-growing markets in the region.

Following our first interactions in 2019, we can summarize the following directions of interaction:

• Gateway to Poland and Romanian markets: startups from Poland and Romania had the chance to interact with representatives of big corporations from various industries in the aim of attracting the lasts as their angel-clients;
• Creating a unique entry point for international investors interested in startups from Central and Eastern Europe: By having a pipeline that identifies startups from CEE, investors are more likely to access them through our partnership than by scouting each market separately.
• Startups delegations in CEE events: startups from both programs had the chance to participate at events organized in Poland and Romania but also in Georgia, where they had interacted with their peers, building strong bi-lateral partnerships with the aim of:
  • Offering complimentary products services to their network of clients;
  • Creating international consortia to apply for EU RDI grants;
  • Expending their network through collaboration as a more efficient way of growth.
• Startups delegation at international tech conferences: both acceleration programs have complimentary participation at international events, for example, MIT CEE Forum in Boston and InnovX in Silicon Valley, with the possibility for selected startups to attend them as a path to international growth.

What do you offer startups under the program?

The InnovX Xelerator is a non-equity program that offers to the selected startups a rigorous framework for acquiring the necessary competences for succeeding in a very competitive and dynamic global tech market. With the help of regional and international mentors, companies refine their product or service, by emphasizing their innovative advantages in an international context. While we do not directly finance the companies, we assist them to develop a functional business model materialized in business plans adapted to the different types of financing: European Grants, Bank Credits and Investments. Only after that stage, we offer them multiple opportunities of interacting with potential clients and finance professionals at specific match-making events conferences and pitch contests in Europe and the US. The results achieved by our 2019 alumni are encouraging for us as many of them won grants from the most competitive RDI program in Europe: Horizon 2020, attracted investments from VC’s and business angels and accessed the marketplaces of large corporations like UiPath, Microsoft and BCR part of Erste Group, Austria, just to name a few.

What do startups from your country gain thanks to your cooperation with the accelerator?

By cooperating with MIT CEE Enterprise Forum, InnovX alumni are participating in many of the events organized in Poland and worldwide. These are good opportunities to find potential partners in the MIT alumni and build strong partnerships for developing new complex innovative products and create international consortia for access to European grants and investments. But the main advantage is access to foreign markets, in our case Poland and Romania, and after that, Central and Eastern Europe. Also, we encourage startups from Romania and especially our alumni to register and participate to the MIT EF CEE acceleration program as we see it as a important step in their sustainable development.

Why was it worth establishing cooperation with MIT Enterprise Forum CEE?

MIT Enterprise Forum CEE is a leading accelerator in CEE that aims at developing high innovative startups scale in Europe and worldwide. While we share the same values, we found complementary activities that might complete the experiences that we can offer to our InnovX alumni. Also, at our last Demo Day in Bucharest, we welcomed MIT alumni to participate in our pitch contest and are happy to announce that two Polish startups won Full Access Tickets to one of the best events for entrepreneurs in the world: the Europe Conference organized by Startup Grind in partnership with Google for Startups in London UK. This interaction can be very well be described as a functional Coopetition (a neologism coined to describe cooperative competition, a portmanteau of cooperation and competition). Even if this is just the start, we are confident that by strengthening this bridge, we will help innovative startups scale faster and establishing CEE as an important hub for innovation and technology in the world.

What program values encourage startups from your country to apply for the MIT Enterprise Forum CEE program?

We found especially valuable the following:

• Disciplined pathway to the development of business: by using a proven methodology in entrepreneurship, startups are more likely to have a correct and successful launch;
• The international exposure: it is important for tech companies to have a global aim from their conception in order to ensure potential scalability;
• The support from, one of the biggest Polish and international organizations and companies in business model refinement;
• Access to the information, technical and technological resources of the program partners, as well as to key figures responsible for innovation.

Last but not the least, we are looking forward to welcoming MIT Enterprise Forum CEE Alumni to our next InnovX Open Day on the 27 of February 2020 where they will have the chance to see visionary speakers, talk with international investors, meet representatives of corporations from different industries and create partnerships with our innovative alumni. Also, by participating in our fire pitching contest, they might have the chance to win full access tickets to the next Europe – Asia Connect Conference organized by Startup Grind in partnership with Google for Startups in June 2020 in Tbilisi Georgia.

The post Co-opetition, our path for putting the spotlight on Central and Eastern Europe appeared first on StartSmart CEE.

Why we decided to participate in the MIT EF CEE program

We wanted to level up our business game and you can’t do it in isolation. MIT EF CEE is a class of its own so the decision to go for it was easy. It wasn’t that easy though to get inside as it’s one of the most recognized and prestigious accelerator programs in this part of Europe. But we’ve made it!

It made perfect sense from our business perspective. Our business is about helping companies worldwide run more effective recruitment campaigns and get more better matched candidates. We wanted to structure it well and formulate convincing business offer. We knew that participation in the program and becoming a part of MIT CEE ecosystem would give us the proper boost. And we were right!

How we benefited from the acceleration

MIT CEE EF has significantly accelerated ChallengeRocket’s progress on multiple fronts including product, sales, fundraising as well as team maturity. MIT EF CEE has provided exceptional support and training that would otherwise not be available for us. Plus, we got a chance to interact with amazing startups that were part of our cohort.

As part of the program we had a chance to cooperate with PZU and started a pilot of recruitment campaign for the biggest insurance company in Poland. They used our methodology based on the so-called “Skill Challenges”. Candidates demonstrated their real one-the-job skills on the platform. Top individuals have been invited to the next stage of the recruitment process. In 2 months, the pilot brought together more than 500 specialists around the brand!

How the MIT journey influenced our success

Having eyes of the mentors and other companies on our business was invaluable. It helped us achieve more in 2019. We’ve raised PLN 5.6 million in capital to fuel further growth, won several prestigious sector awards and validated our business model with more clients. We were acknowledged as the best start-up at the Economic Forum in Krynica, and in December, we won the “Startupy w Pałacu_EKSPANSJA” competition, receiving a memorial certificate from the hands of the President of Poland. Also, we won 1^st prize at GITEX, the largest technology conference in the Middle East, Africa & South Asia. We were privileged to be part of MIT CEE story and I definitely recommend it.

Was it worth participating?

If anyone is considering whether it’s worth it – my advice is simple: go for it! There are a lot of accelerators popping up these days. With MIT CEE you may be confident about the quality of everything you receive. MIT team and mentors are going to provide you with the direction, experience, knowledge and some emotional support as well. Also demo day does become incredibly valuable – especially if you can go in strong with great traction and a great story! MIT CEE puts a lot of spotlight at their cohorts. And it’s all equity-free: which means that in exchange for wisdom and insights you’re receiving you don’t need to take away any stake in your business.

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