It affects the ability to develop ideas and products, penetrate the market and set the right team. Setting the right team is so important, that it has a direct impact on the valuation of the company.
The network matters
What drives the team behind Danish Tech Challenge, is being able to help companies that create solutions for the future. It is amazing to work with entrepreneurs with a passion for creation and a will to go all the way to realize their ideas. They deserve the very best. One of the reasons we created Danish Tech Challenge is that we believe in the value of a strong network. This is also the reason we take such great care in choosing the participants. Only a third of the applicants are given the opportunity to participate in Danish Tech Challenge.
Elitist on purpose
The selection of participants and the intensive program creates a unique pioneering spirit among the participants. The thorough selection process has a clear impact on how the participants relate to each other – It creates confidence in the abilities of the others. There is a 100% consensus among the participants, that your network is strengthened by participating. When you spend almost all your time together with the other participants for four months, everyone should be the very best in their field.
To create a top class program, we also take great care selecting the external partners, we present the participants to. This includes speakers, mentors, the jury and those invited to drop by for speed-dating. “Speed-dating” is a concept, we introduced this year. People interested can drop by for a short coffee meeting, lasting 20 minutes, with 4-5 companies. This is typically senior profiles and business angels; however, we also had a young woman stopping by, who was looking for an internship and she is now employed in one of the companies.
Challenging the hard reality on the outside
Our goal is to offer the participants a network with the right diversity, depth and professional expertise needed for them to succeed.The tough selection has to match the hard reality facing the companies on the outside of the building. It usually takes longer to build a hardware company than a software company. It simply requires more stamina to be a hardware entrepreneur producing a physical object with everything that goes with it such as prototypes and production apparatus. You will have to rely on your network many times on such a journey, and that network better be good. It’s inspiring and reassuring to see how many of the participants can help each other out with valuable contacts and a lot of the external stakeholders that we introduce end up involving themselves in the companies as board members or the like.
