About

WHAT IS SWITCH' STARTUP COMPETITION?

 

Welcome and thanks for your interest in SWITCH Startup Competition powered by Microsoft. We want to showcase talented startups and entrepreneurs, allowing them to present in front of a tech-savvy audience and providing the platform so they can reach the public, media and investors.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

You can apply your startup until the 10th of April, 2011 in the form available here. Our team will then select up to 10 startups that will present on SWITCH Conference. Startups start by doing an 8 minutes elevator pitch in front of our juri (and whoever wants to watch the presentations) in the 16th of April (on our Second Room). The juri will then select 3 startups that will present on SWITCH main stage on the 17th. Those are the winning startups.

WHAT IS IN FOR YOU?

We do not offer any cash reward to the winning startups, but rather a compelling package of benefits such as:

  • Access to Investors right on the room;
  • Exposure in front of a tech-savvy audience ready to try-out your products;
  • Exposure on media (such as printed newspapers in Portugal and worldwide known tech blogs);
  • Access to mentors;
  • Recording of your presentations for future usage;
  • Offers from our partners (such as free software, software licenses, training, etc.);
  • among other cool surprises;

Plus, we do offer 2 tickets per selected startup for SWITCH 2011 full event.

WHEN?

The startup Competition takes place during SWITCH on the 16th and 17th of April, 2011. You should reserve the two days for both networking and presenting.

JURI

The juri that will vote your company on the 16th will be composed by:

  • 1 Entrepreneur;
  • 1 Investor;
  • 1 Microsoft representative;
  • 1 Media representative;
  • 1 Marketeer;

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

SWITCH Startup Competition is totally free. Free to apply (see below) and the selected startups will also be granted free SWITCH tickets (valued 100€ each).

RULES

  • In case you’ve a legally established company behind the product or service your presenting it should not have more than 2 years;
  • Your startup should present a product or service, should not be a service provider (eg. webdesign / development / consulting) company;
  • We’re looking for early stage technological startups;

SELECTION CRITERIA

  • BizPlan Quality;
  • Viability;
  • Originality;
  • Vision;
  • Innovation;
  • Market;
  • Entrepreneur Profile;

OFFICIAL PARTNER

Microsoft® sponsors SWITCH Startup Competition through the BizSpark program, betting on innovative companies and technological solutions.