--- title: "Seedstars Summit 2018: Inside Look At Startup Bootcamp" url: https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/seedstars-summit-2018-inside-look-startup-bootcamp/ --- 1. [HOME](/) 2. [RESOURCES](/content-hub/) 3. [NEWSROOM](/content-hub/newsroom/) 4. SEEDSTARS SUMMIT 2018: INSIDE LOOK AT STARTUP BOOTCAMP ![Seedstars Summit 2018: Inside Look At Startup Bootcamp](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/StartUp_Group_Picture-min.950a9277.fill-114.max-1500x500.jpg) GLOBAL • TECHNOLOGY ## Seedstars Summit 2018: Inside Look At Startup Bootcamp Grecia Miguez APRIL 11, 2018 Months of heavy work finally paid off this Monday for the Seedstars team as they officially kicked off the first phase of this year’s summit with the bootcamp sessions at the Swiss Tech Innovation Center in Lausanne, an event bringing together over 250 people including startup teams, mentors, staff and volunteers. #### WRITTEN BY ![None](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Grecia_Miguez.max-376x376.jpg) Grecia Miguez [CONTACT US](/contact-us/) The Seedstars bootcamp is a 2-day invite-only event designed to give to each of the regional startup finalists the support they need to rapidly scale their companies by providing direct access to an amazing international network and the most relevant mentors in their industry, as well as for partners and investors. Find out more in detail about what happened during the exclusive bootcamp, and the highlights of this long-awaited and exciting event. ## **Bootcamp day 1** ![Seedstars Summit](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Herve_Lebret_during_the_keynote_speech.width-800.jpg) _Hervé Lebret during the keynote speech._ The first day started off with a much needed yoga session to warm up and get all the startup teams ready for the packed day ahead. Meanwhile the mentors were finalising details in a quick briefing before moving into the first breakout sessions. For the official opening of the week, well over 250 people including mentors, participants and staff were gathered to listen to the keynote speaker of the day, Hervé Lebret. As head of the start-up and innovation unit at EPFL, he officially welcomed all attendees, proudly shared some of EPFL’S key figures and stated with the greatest of confidence that Silicon Valley had _better watch out_ because _Lausanne is a hidden champion_. Katarina, from the Seedstars staff, then took the floor, providing a recap of the 10 months of hard work that went into scouting the best startups from each region, and thanking all the Seedstars team for all their efforts. She stated that _the day 's key objective will be connecting to people, to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through entrepreneurship_. She also mentioned this year’s key figures: 64 finalists, 63 mentors, 109 founders, 96 Seedstars staff & volunteers; presented the programme for the Summit and explained the selection criteria for the finalists that will deliver their pitch on the main stage. _Stay uncomfortable, keep it Swiss_ , she said, as she advised founders and co-founders to embrace the process as a whole, even the stress and fatigue. This first encounter closed with Adriana’s presentation of the 18 domain groups that would be mentored during first day of domain sessions, including Agriculture Tech, AI, FinTech, MedTech, and Education, just to name a few. ### **First impressions of bootcamp day 1 – domain group sessions** ![Entrepreneurs and mentors](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Entrepreneurs_and_mentors.width-800.jpg) _Entrepreneurs and mentors during the first round of domain sessions._ Here are some of the first impressions from some of the mentors and entrepreneurs that we got during their well-deserved Nespresso coffee break after the intensive first day of bootcamp sessions. **Kathleen Mullaney** , VP of careers at Udacity: “I'm mentoring the education group and so far it has been a very engaging morning. There is a really good distribution of people from all around the world. And what's really awesome is that they have so much in common about the challenges that they're facing in their markets. As a mentor I think what's been really a nice refreshing moment is that it's not the top down mentorship where I'm imparting wisdom on them. It's mostly facilitating conversation because they are sharing wisdom with each other and that's been really awesome” **Yahya Goleanye** , Market Activator at YAPILI: “I'M SO EXCITED. I'M SO HAPPY!. Every moment, the whole experience has been very insightful. I have a lot to take back to our startup and actually help it accelerate _”._ **Enya Seguin** , CEO of YAPILI: “For today I expect to learn an overload of things... I'm hoping to take very good notes so I know exactly what to report back to my team. I expect to feel uncomfortable, but I also expect to feel excited for the next day” **Pavel Pichardo** CEO and co-founder at Madison: “ I am very impressed, especially with the mentors that we were assigned to. They are amazing people who have given us really good feedback. So far we had a great session.” **Jean-Francois Ricbour** , Branding Director at aREa Real Estate: “The truth is that the level is very high this year. My role as a mentor is to try to help the entrepreneurs especially if gaps are detected, that is where I try to help and ask them questions... and the truth is that the topic flows and there is an exchange of knowledge. You also learn a lot from these creative and dynamic young people…” ## **Bootcamp day 2** ![One-on-one mentoring sessions](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/One-on-one_mentoring_sessions.width-800.jpg) _One-on-one mentoring sessions on the second day of bootcamp._ The second morning of bootcamp opened with a quick introduction from Logitech’s President and CEO, Darren Brackell. Speaking to the participants, he said “I don’t want to hang out with people from big companies, I want to hang out with founders like you”, showing the kind of commitment to the future characteristic of Seedstars. This second day was devoted to longer, one-on-one mentoring sessions that allowed mentors and founders to work closely together, aiming at delivering incredible value, gaining ideas and insight on their projects, and working on how to improve their business and attract the right type of investors in a compact timeframe. ### **Feedback from the one-on-one mentoring sessions:** **Bernie Akporiaye** , CEO at MaTontine: “Day 2 has been the best day because we met some really relevant mentors like Oscar. Especially people who could really help us through their network directly.” He later commented: “Our biggest challenge has been how do you raise debt equity to be able to re-lend loans to our members. But we talked to our mentor today and he shared with us how some people who have done this already in South Africa are able to do it and how you leverage your equity founder to a banking partner to be able to solve that problem. So that was a way to look at it a bit differently and it will change the way we go about trying to solve that problem.” Another significant part of this day were the workshops hosted by many of the leading figures in the start-up scene. Amongst these we had: **Samuel Lagier** , from SamSpeaksScience, offered founders great advice on how to transform their knowledge into powerful and inspirational talks, on how to “be remarkable through your performance.” He pointed out that the key to master public speaking is to “show you are knowledgeable (master your content), to be in control (Stress, breath, pace) and to be a leader (connect to audience). “Public speaking is a dialog, so establish a dialog”, he added. **Rachel Crawford** , Innovation Manager at Village Capital, taught entrepreneurs through her viral workshop how to view their business from a perspective of an investor so that they are better able to communicate to investors that align to their interests: “So a lot of the time the same type of entrepreneurs receive funding because they're able to position themselves better to investors and not necessarily because their businesses are better. And so what we do is we run a lot of self-awareness activities which teach entrepreneurs how to switch their perspectives and look for **aha moments** that allow people to view their businesses more objectively. **Carlos Da Silva,** Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the HEG School of Management Switzerland and Managing Director of the Founder Institute. Mr Da Silva focused on scaling your startup and helping entrepreneurs write a business proposal that can be used in a timely manner and when landing a new investor: “When you’re about to propose a deal I need to be 99.9 sure that it will be accepted, so I will show you how to write an effective proposal that’ll be accepted,” he said. **Mangala Karunaratne** co-founder of Calcey Technologies talked about **Neuromatrics: UX and common mistakes** , emphasising the importance of performance **: “** It's not just to have a nice website but it should be performant as well”, he later added that **“** The hamburger menu doesn't work when you are asking for feedback, it's better to have a big button to attract attention”. **Raphael Conz,** Seedstars partner and Manager for the Economic Promotion of the Canton of Vaud, talked about the state of entrepreneurship in Switzerland and said to the audience that “Switzerland is more than lake, mountains, and chocolate!”. He continued, “Switzerland is not only known for its security and trust but now we can say that we are also one of the countries driving innovation and technology.” According to him, “One third of startups in Switzerland comes from canton du Vaud”. He also emphasised that besides the strong Multinational presence in diversified economy with world-class clusters, the canton of Vaud is home to strong academic institutions and offers a bridge to access the best talents and the most advanced technologies. He also touched on Government policy in terms of innovation supports. To show what Switzerland can offer to international startups, he presented LEDSafari and Monito, two startups that received great support from the Canton of Vaud. **Paul Ark,** from DV Accelerator **,** discussed with the startup teams about the importance of identifying, connecting with, and negotiating with the right investors: “You have to know what kind of investor you are dealing with. Some of them are like sticky girlfriends or boyfriends and want to be updated everyday, while others are more chill." He also advised founders on how to raise funds: “ The key of successful fundraising is connections. Connect with people, surroundings and venture capitalists to talk about your business. Do not go for contacting every VC around, one connection is worth 100 calls!” ![Seedstars partner and Manager](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Seedstars_partner_and_Manager.width-800.jpg) _Seedstars partner and Manager of SPECo, Raphael Conz, during his presentation._ ## **Wrap up time!** ![Seedstars Summit](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Startup_Founders.width-800.jpg) _A group of startup founders enjoying the happy hour._ After a very busy and extenuating day, the Seedstars team had prepared a well-deserved happy hour event with the EPFL for all the mentors and startups to celebrate the end of these two days of bootcamp, but more importantly, to recharge batteries for tomorrow’s Inventors Day. NEWS / BLOGPOST SEEDSTARS WORLD 2019/20 GLOBAL SWITZERLAND ECOSYSTEM ENABLER TECHNOLOGY ACCELERATORS & INCUBATORS EVENTS TECH ## More like this [ ![Running Events In The Times Of Coronavirus](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Running_Events.max-320x550.jpg) GLOBAL • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### Online Is The New Black: Running Events In The Times Of Coronavirus Event organizers are no strangers to crisis management. Last-minute speaker cancellations, Wi-Fi connectivity issues, missing files… The list goes on Apr. 14, 2020 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/learning-resources/online-new-black-running-events-times-coronavirus/) [ ![Sumitt](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/C-7_Early-Stage_startups_from_MENA_Won_Their.max-320x550.png) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### 7 Early-Stage startups from MENA Won Their Tickets to the global Seedstars Summit 2020 The Seedstars World Competition 2019 in MENA has come to an end during the latest edition of Seedstars Summit MENA 2019 in Morocco that took place from December 10 to 12. Dec. 20, 2019 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/7-early-stage-startups-mena-won-their-tickets-global-seedstars-summit-2020/) [ ![Startups Africa](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/10africanstartups.max-320x550.png) AFRICA • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### 10 Startups from Africa to Compete for 500,000 USD During Seedstars Summit Africa 2019 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Seedstars selected 10 the most promising startups from the continent that proved their ideas to be innovative and scalable. Dec. 15, 2019 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/10-startups-africa-compete-500000-usd/) [ ![Seedstars Summit CEE](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/C-From_Latvia_to_Mongolia_Seedstars_Summit_C.max-320x550.png) CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE • INVESTMENT #### From Latvia to Mongolia: Seedstars Summit CEE United 25 Countries in the Region What did the Seedstars Summit CEE 2019 in Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan bring to the community this year? Dec. 03, 2019 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/latvia-mongolia-seedstars-summit-cee-united-25-countries-region/) [ ![Seedstars Summit CEE](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/cee_summit1.max-320x550.png) CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### Seedstars Summit CEE Will Gather 100+ Founders From 20 Countries Under One Roof Kazakhstan, November 22. You would probably ask why Kazakhstan was chosen as the final stop for the Seedstars World Competition 2019? Oct. 30, 2019 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/seedstars-summit-cee-will-gather-100-founders-20-countries-under-one-roof/) [ ![Seedstars World Latam](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/latam_comeback.max-320x550.png) LATIN AMERICA • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### Seedstars World Is Coming Back to Latam for Its 7th Edition with 18 Cities on the Map The 7th edition of the Seedstars World Tour , the largest early-stage startup competition for emerging markets, will be launched on the 27th of June in Lima, Peru. Jun. 06, 2019 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/seedstars-world-coming-back-latam-its-7th-edition-18-cities-map/) [ ![Summit2019](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/summit_19.max-320x550.png) GLOBAL • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### The Seedstars Summit 2019: What's On? To do so, for the 2019 edition of the Seedstars Summit, we’ve based the event on two pillars: Networking and Content. Jan. 31, 2019 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/seedstars-summit-2019/) [ ![Seedstars CEE Summit](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/C-Seedstars_CEE_Summit_2018_Where_Change_Has.max-320x550.png) CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### Seedstars CEE Summit 2018: Where Change Has Its Roots Big change never happens overnight. It’s always the long-term work of a bunch of crazy people, who believe that they can break a status quo, move mountains, and change the whole world. Jan. 04, 2019 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/seedstars-cee-summit-2018-where-change-has-its-roots/) [ ![Seedstars Latam Summit](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/C-Seedstars_Latam_Summit_2018_Sum_Up_of_What.max-320x550.png) LATIN AMERICA • INVESTMENT #### Seedstars Latam Summit 2018: Sum Up of What You've Missed 3 days, 350 attendees, 34 investors, 20 startups from 12countries; 200 1:1 meetings between investors and entrepreneurs; plus thousands of interactions and new connections! Dec. 17, 2018 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/seedstars-latam-summit-2018-sum-what-youve-missed/) [ ![Seedstars MENA Summit](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Untitled_design_81.max-320x550.png) MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA • INVESTMENT #### Highlights of Seedstars MENA Summit 2018 3 days, 351 attendees, 45 investors, 119 startup founders, 21 countries represented, 303 one-on-one meetings, thousands of ground-breaking ideas — the Seedstars MENA Summit numbers are impressive, but it goes beyond the numbers. Dec. 10, 2018 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/highlights-seedstars-mena-summit-2018/) [ ![Startups from CEE and Central Asia](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/C-Meet_the_Top_22_Startups_from_CEE_and_Cent.max-320x550.png) ASIA • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### Meet the Top 22 Startups from CEE and Central Asia The 2018 Seedstars tour across more than ten countries in the region has come to an end. Nov. 07, 2018 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/meet-top-22-startups-cee-and-central-asia/) [ ![African Startups](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/africa_startups.max-320x550.png) AFRICA • TECHNOLOGY #### Discover the Most Promising African Startups in 2018 With the population of 1.2 B people, Africa is the second fastest-developing market in the world. The region growth rate is expected to increase from 3.6 percent in 2017 to 4.1 percent in 2018 and 2019. Oct. 16, 2018 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/discover-most-promising-africa-startups-2018/) [ ![The best startups in Uzbekistan!](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/C-Seedstars_is_coming_to_Tashkent_to_find_th.max-320x550.png) ASIA • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### Seedstars is coming to Tashkent to find the best startups in Uzbekistan! On May 18th, 10 of Uzbekistan’s best seed stage startups will compete to represent the country at the Seedstars Summit 2019 and win up to USD 1 million in equity investment. Mar. 02, 2018 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/seedstars-coming-tashkent-find-best-startups-uzbekistan/) [ ![Seedstars Asia](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Untitled_design_-_2020-11-05T090352.637.max-320x550.png) ASIA • ECOSYSTEM ENABLER #### Meet the startups pitching at Seedstars Asia! After another year in which the Seedstars World teams travelled to over 80+ countries around the world and 15 on the Asian continent with the mission to find the best tech startups in emerging markets, we are now just days away of hosting our Asia Su Nov. 17, 2017 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/meet-startups-pitching-seedstars-asia/) [ ![Summit Winners](https://seedstars-com.s3.amazonaws.com/images/C-Meet_our_2017_Global_Summit_winners.max-320x550.png) GLOBAL • TECHNOLOGY #### Meet our 2017 Global Summit winners Asafeer Education Technologies from UAE was awarded the TRECC Transforming Education Prize, a grant of USD 50’000, presented by TRECC. May. 09, 2017 ](https://www.seedstars.com/content-hub/newsroom/meet-our-2017-global-summit-winners/) --- ## Sitemap - [Sitemap](https://www.seedstars.com/sitemap.md): every public page on this site - [llms.txt](https://www.seedstars.com/llms.txt): what Seedstars does and where to start