On Thursday, 19 March, an interesting CEED event took place, this time in partnership with the RGS Kapital Company and the Technology Park Ljubljana and in collaboration with Start:up Slovenija: the third consecutive Elevator Pitch or how to present oneself to investors in one minute.

10 young entrepreneurs, who had been preparing for the event at a two-day workshop under the mentorship of Ms Tatjana Zabasu from RSG Kapital, a company dealing with risk capital management and a partner to the event, and with Mr Leo Oblak from the Infonet Mediji Company, were trying to persuade an investor jury with one-minute presentations of their business ideas. The jury consisted of: Peter Jones from the London-based risk capital fund Eden Ventures, who in his 30-minute lecture presented the principles governing UK funds and their selection of companies, and presented his view on the possibilities for Slovenian entrepreneurs to obtain investments from the UK; Jure Mikuž from the RSG Kapital Company; and Aleš Špetič from the Zemanta Company, who also presented the Seedcamp international project.

In an atmosphere marked by well-prepared and energetic performances by the entrepreneurs and filled with the curiosity and anticipation from the part of the audience, the jury listened carefully to each ‘pitch’, commented on it and graded it from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest mark. The selected four finalists of the evening went on to compete in a second round, where they were allowed three minutes to present their idea. After the audience’s vote for their favourite, it became apparent who would become the evening’s laureate: the title went to Štefan Furlan from the Optilab Company, whose performance managed to persuade both the jury and the audience. He has also qualified to take part in the regional CEED conference scheduled for June in Belgrade, Serbia. The second place went to Matic Meglič from the Center za sodobne izzive (Centre for Contemporary Challenges), and Barbara Humar Gerbec from the Linea Snella Company, the only woman among the contestants, came in third.

And how did the winner comment on his success? “I feel great. There are not many events of this kind in our country and such a well-organised ‘pitch’ simulation is an exceptional opportunity to try your worth in front of an audience; if the audience reacts as positively as it did, the experience is all the more precious. But the excellent workshop held prior to the contest doubtlessly contributed to my success,” said Štefan. And what will be his next step? “For the time being, our company is still growing, which seems a natural course of events, but in a year’s time, we might reach the jump-off point when we will be ready for an investor.”