Program

Here are the main things you need to know if you want to be part of our next batch!

THE PROGRAM

 

  • Know-how

    Workshops and crash courses in customer development, product, growth hacking, investment, legal & more

  • Business development

    Mentoring, on-demand meetings and access to a network of 400 + mentors & 700 startups

  • Pitching for investors

    Lots of presentations & pitch practice sessions to help you fine tune your pitch

CALENDAR

The program structure follows a series of natural steps for your further development: mentoring sessions to get contacts early, high-quality training and workshops, pitching practice.

09 January 2017 – Application open

19 February 2017 – Application close

27 February 2017 – Selected teams announced

6 March 2017 – Program starts

8 May 2017 – MVP Academy Demo Day

Evaluation Criteria

All applications are evaluated taking into account the criteria listed below. Check them out and keep them in mind when you do those final tweaks on your application form, to increase you chances of being accepted:

  • Team fit & experience
  • Market size & trend
  • Market validation & traction
  • International potential & impact
  • Overall feasibility
NEXT STEP: Submit your application via F6S and we will contact the shortlisted candidates for a brief interview.

Evaluation Board

Our experienced evaluation board will help us make the best startup evaluation and make sure we get THE most promising teams into the program. Time to meet them:

  • Bogdan Iordache

    Co-Managing Director, MVP Academy

    Bogdan is the founder and board manager of How to Web and TechHub Bucharest. Tech entrepreneur at heart, Bogdan has been deeply involved with the development of the tech community in Bucharest and in the region, contributing to the development of other tech initiatives as Tech Angels and Innovation Labs. Bogdan has founded Conectoo, an email marketing service, sold to Conversion Marketing, and has worked as an investor with 3TS Capital Partners. Also, he has been a mentor for accelerator programs such as Seedcamp, Springboard, TechStars, Hub:raum, LauncHUB, Eleven or HackFWD.

  • Mircea Vadan

    Program Manager, MVP Academy

    Mircea’s focus is on digital products and acceleration programs for tech startups. Along the years he worked in 3 startups as business developer, marketing or product manager. In the last 2 years he focused on acceleration programs for startups and workshops on topics like customer validation, product definition, product metrics, user acquisition, user engagement and investment. Nowadays, he is working on MVP Academy and he also contributes to the startup ecosystem through his volunteer work at Cluj Startups.

  • Tudor Stanciu

    Startups Community Manager, TechHub Bucharest

    Through the intellectual property and general legal advice he’s given in the past couple of years, Tudor has gained some valuable insight on what problems entrepreneurs and their projects face.
    With a background in programming and law, he is now investing more time in understanding the “how”s and the “why”s, by expanding his horizons: he co-authored a couple of failed projects and a semi-profitable startup currently in pivoting mode, and he creates content and handles social media on a regular basis for This is NOT a Storm, Refuga and Digital2Law. As a Startups Community Manager at How to Web, Tudor is providing support for all the stakeholders involved in the Startup Spotlight competition.

  • Cosmin-Ochisor

    Cosmin Ochisor

    Business Development Manager, hub:raum

    Cosmin is highly experienced in a wide variety of business fields within or near the telecom industry: Directory Services, Value Added Services and general new business development. His extensive set of skills and knowledge also encompasses re-organization/outsourcing processes, M&A; and working with multi-skilled international teams. Moreover, he is a product manager experienced in product development, marketing communication (ATL&BTL;) and rolling-out new products on the market.

  • Robert-Knapp

    Robert Knapp

    Co-Founder & CEO, CyberGhost

    Robert Knapp is the Co-Founder & CEO of CyberGhost, one of the best known VPN suppliers worldwide. The company is headquartered in Bucharest and now has more than 30 employees who established an extraordinary service with more than 7.5 million users in a very short time.

  • Carmen Sebe

    Angel Investor

    Carmen is a technology industry executive with a significant operational, general management, P&L;, international experience. She has an extensive experience with new products and markets, business partnerships, transition planning and execution, organisational development and product development and an in-depth knowledge of multi-channel go to market models.

  • Mihai Sfintescu

    Private equity / Venture Capital Investor

    Mihai is a Partner at 3TS Capital Partners, one of the leading private equity and venture capital firms in Central and Eastern Europe. He specializes in Private Equity, Mergers and Acquisitions Management. In the past, he was the Founder of Abilito Capital, Senior Partner at Altria Capital, Director and previously an Associate/ Transaction Manager at CA IB and he worked as an Analyst at Capital SA.

  • Bogdan-Ripa

    Bogdan Ripa

    Director of Product, Fitbit

    Entrepreneur at heart, Bogdan has co-founded his first startup when he was only 21 years old. He started by doing outsourcing work (consultancy for websites, web apps, ERP systems, analytics tools), but he got bored by doing repetitive things and decided to make a shift and start building his own products. 6 years later, the company he Co-Founded was bought by Adobe Romania, where he worked in engineering and product management, until last month, when he decided to return in the startup environment. It’s then when he decided to join Vector Watch, one of the most promising Romanian Startups, as Director of Product.

  • Adrian Gheara

    Co-Founder, Neobyte Solutions

    Adrian is a consultant and investor in technology startups. He founded several online projects, with successful exits, and he’s now helping other local entrepreneurs grow their business. He specializes in Online Business Development, Software/Web Product Development, Project Management, and he is an experienced Technology Consultant and Angel Investor.