Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1124848
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 JUNE 2019 17 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY tracked into the fifth edition of YouStartIT accelerator, scheduled to begin on 2 Sep- tember 2019. Start-ups had until Sun- day 17 March 2019 to send in their applica- tions and by the dead- line, 21 applications were submitted. After having reviewed and interviewed the eligible applicants, the MIH shortlisted 15 start- up teams, of which 13 made it to the programme. The programme, which was spread over five weeks, adopt- ed a flipped classroom ap- proach and embraced mostly Lean Start-up methodologies, together with other tech- niques designed to help size and analyse the market, ask the right questions, formulate a business model, and so on. In-house mentor at the MIH, Jarek Bialek, would pro- vide all the necessary learning inputs and then put together a number of recommended assignments and guidelines for the teams to follow. Based on which, feedback would be provided both on a one-to-one basis, and dis- cussed collectively as a co- hort. This learning-by-doing ap- proach meant that during the weekly two-hour sessions, the startups discussed the out- come of their tasks together as a group to learn from each other's outcome. Blockchain guru and gaming expert, Alex Pfeiffer assisted in the mentoring from an emerging technology perspective. The programme ended with a full day bootcamp during which the teams were asked to produce a plan of their startup project (if select- ed) to follow the YouStartIT accelera- tor from September to December. A great emphasis was placed on delivering a quality five-minute pitch, since this is so important for an entre- preneur. Delivered the next day of the bootcamp, the final pitch to be selected represents a cul- mination of the programme. It is an intense five-minute presentation used to show- case the work done in pol- ishing and perfecting each team's tech business proposi- tion. Beaming with satisfaction, Alex Borg, manager of the MIH, said: "The outcome of the programme exceeded our expectations. All the teams worked extremely hard in validating their proposed startup projects. On top of the research and the number crunching – it was so inspir- ing to watch the founders put in so much passion and dedi- cation. We'll definitely be ploughing back these learn- ings to continue improv- ing and perfecting our pro- gramme, which is very much in our style of always engag- ing in ongoing experimenta- tion." The final pitching session, held on Saturday 11 May at the MITA Data Centre, was a closed event, attended by all the teams. Out of the 13 start-ups who participated in the Validator Programme, 12 made it to the pitching session, since one team decided to step aside following their validation re- sults. All teams delivered excel- lent pitches and after an un- precedentedly long delibera- tion, the judges chose five teams to be accelerated by the MIH. The chosen teams are Celu- na, Reap, Riktig, SECURA and Smart Athletes, all of them featuring emerging technolo- gies in their project. Three start-ups have a busi- ness idea based on Block- chain, one on AI and one on AR. The fact that one extra team was selected instead of the original plan of choosing four, is testimony to the hard and good work produced. Zoe Gatt, co-founder of Reap, one of the selected startups, remarked that "I never expected to come this far. I had no previous experi- ence in business strategy. Yet, in just five weeks, I became the CEO of a tech start-up. The training helped us strat- egise our business model, identify revenue streams, and create scaling opportunities, none of which were possible without Alex Pfeiffer, Jarek Bialek, and Alex Borg's men- toring." exceeds all expectations Alex Borg All teams delivered excellent pitches and after an unprecedentedly long deliberation, the judges chose five teams to be accelerated by the MIH