Mircea Vădan

Another edition of CodeCamp Cluj has just finished. In the "track" for startups and software products we had topics like: switching from outsourcing product development, product metrics and measuring them, user acquisition channels and existing accelerator programs. I feel that we are beginning the upslope, when talking about startups is not only interesting for the community of startups, but also for many other people in IT companies.

The startup world is getting active in the new year. Here you have a few options for the upcoming two months:

Given this month’s topic, Internet of Things, I’ll focus on the startups in this area. Doing an IoT startup proves to be much more difficult than a purely software one. This doesn’t seem to stop founders, but it pushes them to be more realistic and more clear about their customers and the problems they solve for them. Statistically speaking, last year has seen a boom in IoT and hardware startups in Romania, even if it takes more time to finalize the product and sell it.

In this issue, I will focus on a different ecosystem. I am writing this text while I am in Chișinău for a few startup events and workshops. I was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm and energy of the people there. Aware of their economic and political situation, they are hungry to improve, to grow the ecosystem, knowing that technology is a ladder that can take them to the next level, just like us, in Romania, some years ago. There are more than 15 supporting organisations, events or coworking spaces which contribute to this growth and we will see successful examples soon for sure.

We entered the Fall season which is marked by a soaring activity in the startup area as well. A few accelerators and funds are searching the market, scouting for startups to invest in (check the meetups coming up: StartupYard and Hub:raum. On the programs/competitions side, Imprezzio Idea Challenge and Startup Spotlight – paired with How to Web conference) have their application deadline at the end of this week. And one more thing: the new Cluj Startups website is up and running.

The ecosystem of a city/region is given by the diversity of the active organizations in that environment. Although Cluj is very active in terms of events, communities, hubs and meetups, the results are less obvious when we look at start-ups. It is true that it takes several years for a start up to be successful and be taken as a good, inspirational model to follow. I think this is what we need, for the coming period: start-ups which can prove that our efforts can indeed lead to something quantifiable in this regard.

A new initiative was launched in Cluj this spring: Seed For Tech is a product development fund, with go-to-market support and seed investment. Through Seed For Tech, we want to help good ideas and talented people reach the next level while contributing to the development of the regional ecosystem of startups and tech products.

As in the previous 2 years, it’s time for a review of the past 12 months. In general, I feel that Cluj ecosystem is settling down; the “brownian movement” with support initiatives for startups seems clearer now and I believe we’re entering a phase of growth in which the “actors” are already known and they will keep on playing and improving their role. In the following lines, I tried a classification based on the size and overall purpose of these initiatives and, then, a reminder of several startups that got noticed in the last year.

Is clear that, as in any other project or organization, „communication” forms the basic of teamwork and human interaction, both regarding founders and users, or other stakeholders. So, from this perspective, I asked myself if I had to start a new startup, how would I do it? What advice would I give myself based on the experience so far? And the answer you’ll find below. I got in touch with the startups world almost 3 years now and so far I have been involved in UseTogether (with its spin-off - Momly) and ZenQ.

During the last year, I forgot my tablet in various places at least 3 times (in the supermarket, in restaurants, at events) - luckily I recovered it quite quickly every time. One of my phones is still in Bulgaria somewhere, it had fallen from my pocket. With the wallet there’s no problem: I forget it at home all the time, this way I know for sure where it is. Let me be clear about all these: I’m not forgetful! Perhaps, a little careless, but I’d rather prefer to think it happens to anyone, anytime and anywhere.

Now we can clearly feel the startups wave in Romania too. In Cluj, in 2012, niche events and startups which were funded appeared. In recent weeks I have participated in several discussions about startups, investments and accelerators. But all these discussions were in smaller circles and I haven’t seen an event or a meeting to gather all active and interested people on this topic. So putting all this information together, we discussed the issue at Open Connect Cluj #6 in January (summary can be found here) in order to bring out all the ideas and projects that together could form a solid startups ecosystem.