The Pioneers Vienna - how to prepare and what to expect?

7 min read

As this is the first time that I will have the opportunity to participate in Pioneers, I did not know what to expect. That was why I asked a few hundred people on LinkedIn about their experience with the event and asked them if there were any tips they could give me. I would like to share the feedback I got with others through the following article. I hope the advice I collected will be helpful to others who are taking part in this year's event or are considering taking part in its subsequent editions.

Before I get to the tips I received from my LI friends, I will briefly describe the basic information regarding the event itself.

Description

This is an annual event that takes place in May in the Austrian capital - Vienna. It is a gathering of start-ups, managers and investors, for whom innovation, new ideas that have been transformed into real products or services are the center of interest. More information is available on the event website: https://pioneers.io/pioneers19#/

Time & Venue

This year's edition is happening on 9 and 10 May.

The global community of selected startups, managers and investors meet under the roof of the 500-year-old Hofburg Imperial Palace in Vienna. This is certainly an extraordinary place, attractive with its splendor and fame. The possibility of communing with the interiors of the palace adds to the prestige of the event.

The price

Over 500 start-ups from around the world take part in the event. Before registering, you need to complete a fairly extensive survey, but definitely worth it, because selected start-ups receive 2 tickets for the Pioneers for free. Other participants can buy a ticket, the price of which depends on the date of purchase. It ranges from 790 € for presales up to 1590 € per late comer.

Event recognition

The people I talked to, even if they did not attend in person, mostly knew about Pioneers. It’s a widely recognized event. My interlocutors often referred to the circle of friends who had the opportunity to take part in it. All claimed that it’s an event worth participating in. Some referred to Pioneers as one of the largest and most prestigious events for startups.

Preparation

As before each event of this type, it is worth getting ready for it. Below you will find information on what to pay attention to at the Pioneers.

Defining goals

Depending on your situation, it is worth defining the goals you want to achieve. I, when going with our start-up, defined three goals to serve as a guideline during the event:

1) Networking, meeting new people, sharing ideas and the most important - listening

2) Finding someone who can help us with the further business development of our SupraCare start-up (supracare.co.uk)

3) Assessing if Austrians are keen to use Polish developers as our core is mobile and web development (itcraftapps.com)

For the first goal - I will look for people from the healthcare industry to exchange experiences. Then, in order to realize the second goal, I will try to arrange meetings with people for whom our solution could be of interest. The third goal is to investigate whether companies in Austria rely mostly on onsite developers or are also supported by programmers from abroad. If so, are Polish coders on top of their list of choices? BTW you can check out my last article titled: "Are Polish developers the right fir for Austrian companies".

Match and Meet App

As year to year the number of participants in The Pioneers keeps growing, it is increasingly more difficult to meet the right people. The organizers made sure to facilitate proper networking between start-ups and investors with common areas of interest.

Thanks to the Match and Meet application, available on the organizer’s website, you can not only find out who’s participating in the event but also arrange meetings with them. By scheduling meetings in advance, you'll be able to concentrate on your appointments 100%, instead of running around the event looking for people with similar interests. In addition, if you are with a start-up, it’s a great opportunity to present your proposal directly to several potential investors.

One of my interlocutors mentioned to be aware of the application’s algorithm, which sometimes can change the meeting times until the last minute. This can be a bit of an inconvenience so good to keep the fact in mind.

Exhibiting and pitching

Of the several hundred start-ups participating in the event, the organizers have chosen a 100 to set up their own exhibition stands. It’s a great opportunity to present to a wider audience with your product or services. It’s worth remembering to prepare appropriate audio-visual and advertising materials to attract visitors and to be remembered.

Another 50 start-ups will get a chance to speak in front of a larger audience. The start-up winning the largest number of votes will be awarded “traditional networking trip to Silicon Valley”!

Unfortunately, our start-up has not been qualified for this group, but it is worth remembering for your presentation to be meaningful, supported by examples and actually respond to the real needs of people who are to benefit from the given solution. It is good to spend a few days on preparing, refining the message and practising it. Thanks to this, you will feel more confident on the stage, and the final success depends on you after all.

During the event

The next important thing is your active participation in the event. Considering that it lasts two days, try to use this time as effectively as possible in order to achieve the previously set goals. Do not get distracted and follow your planned path.

Networking

Regardless of who you are representing a start-up or an investor, Pioneers is a great opportunity to exchange experiences and network. In one place there are those who can share their experiences with you, and people who are looking for solutions wanting to invest in them.

Such events are an opportunity to establish new business relationships that will be beneficial for both parties. You can be sure that after 2 days, your network of contacts will grow by several dozens or maybe even several hundred new contacts!

Meetings

During the event, try to meet the right people who can support your organization. The stage of direct meetings may bring you closer to achieving the goals set, provided that you took care of this using the application provided by the organizers.

Special areas will be designated during the event in which you can meet with potential business partners. Rarely do you get to plan meetings with so many important people in one place, so make good use of this opportunity.

Even if you weren’t able to set up many appointments ahead of time, as long as you're a communicative person, you will find plenty of opportunities to talk to people who are at the Pioneers with you. Who knows? Perhaps your interlocutor was in the past at a similar stage and will be able to advise you, and maybe even directly support you? Remember - you can never shake too many hands.

Listening panels

The Pioneers gives a great opportunity to listen to inspirational lectures by the keynote speakers. If your goal is to absorb knowledge and draw inspiration, discussion panels are likely to fill your calendar. The Pioneers organizers will not let you get bored. Just see the sample from the agenda.

After the event

The first days after the event will require further work to make sure that you and the solutions you talked about are not forgotten. Take a few days directly after the event, to sum up, and organize the outcome.

Follow up

The basis for establishing newly acquired contacts into business relationships is the follow-up. Add new people to your LinkedIn thanking them for the interview during Pioneers. If you have received a business card, you probably also got an email address and contact number. Depending on your strategy, select the appropriate communication channel.

Regardless of the form of contact, at this stage, it’s good to remind the context of the conversation to the people you contact to make it easier for them to recall you. Remember that just like you, most Pioneers participants talked to dozens or hundreds of other people. Then, together, try to determine how you can help each other. Remember to always look for solutions that are beneficial for each party.

Business outcome

According to many, Pioneers is a great networking event. If you are interested in technological innovations, solutions that will allow us to improve our everyday life in many areas then it’s definitely the right place for you. You will find a lot of people here who, representing their start-ups, can offer very interesting solutions that could be the answer to numerous problems.

I also asked my interlocutors whether participation in the event had a beneficial effect on their business or whether it contributed to further development. Most of them mentioned a great opportunity to establish new relationships, networking among people with similar goals and ways of thinking, however, as far as business opportunities go, only one of them mentioned that at Pioneers she managed to find her first client.

It is worth adding that a lot depends on the industry, the solution itself and your level of involvement. I can not therefore generalize whether the discussed event is or not, an opportunity to win new clients or investors. Perhaps I have not reached people who consider Pioneers helpful in this regard. I will have the opportunity to find out personally on May 9th.

Potential issues

Not every person I talked to, spoke about the event in all superlatives. Some have stated that it's a very crowded, flashy and party-like environment. The high ticket price was also mentioned.

One of the people, having taken part all the previous editions, stated that this year they will not participate, because year to year there have been less interesting start-ups, and more employees of corporations and politicians. This is of course a personal opinion, but worth noting.

I also met with comments that the organizers were not able to expand their reach internationally and remain a regional event.

Since recently, the event has new owners (Startup300), so you can expect changes. In what direction? I hope that I will be able to talk to people who, participating in previous editions, will be able to share their insight with me.

Alternative events

Some of the people also mentioned similar events taking place around Austria. The most frequently mentioned was the 4 Game Changers Festival, which also takes place in Vienna. This year, the edition lasted from 9 to 11 April. Another alternative is the Graz festival. It’s the Fifteen Seconds Festival, which will take place on June 6-7.

In addition, The Pioneers offers side events that are devoted to specific topics. These include Govtech Pioneers, Mobility Pioneers and Health Pioneers.

Summary

I hope that the above article and its guidelines will be useful for people who are also planning to attend the Pioneers. It is important to prepare for the event properly, make the most of meeting with people who are in our circle of interest and use as many opportunities as possible to exchange experiences during the event itself. Pioneers is a great opportunity as the main event for the start-up community in Austria.

After the event, I will write another article with my observations. If this is an interesting topic for you, all you need to do is like this article and I will send you another material as soon as it is created.

Meeting opportunity in Vienna (8-10 of May):

If you'd like to have a chat with us, you can meet me and our CEO in Vienna from 8th to 10th of May. You could use our experience to validate your ideas regarding mobile&web development as this is our core activity apart from our start-up SupraCare which was also developed by itCraft.

If it’s something of your interest, feel free to message me. If you wonder is it worth to speak with us, take a look at what our clients said about our cooperation on Clutch (https://clutch.co/profile/itcraft).

This article couldn’t have been created without the help and contribution of the following people whom I would like to thank:

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