The future is here – and right now, it's in Vienna. The Pioneers Festival is taking place on June 1st and 2nd at Vienna's venerable Hofburg Palace. Munich Startup is there to share its impressions.
At the start of the second day of the festival, it's noticeable that several side events took place yesterday evening. The aisles aren't as crowded as on the first day, although this will change over the course of the day. The Academy, on the other hand, is already very full at 10:30 a.m., which is certainly due to the focus on social media and the speakers involved.
Followers love 24-hour content
While influencer Virginia Salas Castile While she gives a talk about Snapchat and ends up somewhat dodging a question from the audience—namely, whether Instagram Stories actually mean the end of Snapchat—her message still sticks: followers love 24-hour content. In addition to Snapchat and Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook have now recognized this. The element of "storytelling"—telling followers a story in real time—is therefore becoming increasingly important. Not only for fashion influencers, but also for startups and companies.
Keep social media real
This view is also shared by the next speaker, Elise Quevedo. The author of “Creating a Kick-Ass Attitude” was selected as one of the "Top 100 Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter" in 2013 and today advises many companies on their social media presence. While she doesn't see social media as essential to leading a business to success, she does see it as a crucial catalyst for achieving goals faster. Her credo: Keep social media real! Because behind every company are people with personality (sounds just not so good in German, we agree with Heidi Klum), all of whom have a story to tell. As proof of this, she conducts a short mentoring session live on stage with a tech startup and a vibrator startup. Both have problems with social media: The former doesn't know what content might appeal to users. The latter is censored, especially on Facebook, because of the topic of sex and isn't allowed to run ads, for example. Quevedo's solution for either startup isn't really clear in this short time, but she promises in-depth coaching for both of them afterward.
Ideas are overrated
At this point we actually want to leave the Academy, but the next speaker, Andrew Chen from Uber, won't let us go so easily. On the one hand, the topic “What's next in Growth” exciting, on the other hand, Chen is a really good speaker who, without having to stand up and shout loudly, “High Five” The messages that stick with us here:
1. Technology change, people don't. His recommendation: We shouldn't worry about every little algorithm change, but rather study which marketing strategies have always worked and then apply them to our own business.
2. Ideas are overrated. And with that comes the fear that ideas can be stolen. It's not the first implementation of an idea that's necessarily successful, but the best one!
“The focus here is clearly on networking”
We really like the content of Pioneers. We'd actually need Hermione's Time-Turner to see even more sessions. Instead, we're interested in what the Munich startups attending actually think of the event. Marco Maier from Viscopic expressed himself yesterday to the good quality of the participants. This is also where Dr. Philipp Seybold, CEO of Combyne, to:
"I really like the Pioneers Festival because there are many high-quality investors and many interesting companies with whom you can form partnerships. Furthermore, everything is done to ensure that the people who attend can meet each other very well. The focus here is clearly on networking. And that's what sets Pioneers apart from many other – lesser – events."
With regard to networking opportunities, Ricardo Vidal from tradico enthusiastic – but he also has a point of criticism:
My goal of the show was in one hand to get to know a bit more about the startup scene, what's new and hot – it always helps me keeping an eye on the future and facilitating innovation, and on the other hand to network. I think the event could offer a bit more on the startup side, with a very good lineup on the stage but rather poor on the exhibition side (and too much focus on rebotics and extended reality). On the network side, I think the event exceeds my expectation, many networking opportunities, and very good attendee list.
All that's left for us to do now is watch the pitch finals of the TOP 8 startups on the main stage in the Arena, unfortunately without any Munich participants. And unfortunately, without any female participants either. Nevertheless, we draw a positive conclusion from the Pioneers Festival 2017: Great location, relaxed atmosphere, good content, and plenty of networking opportunities. See you next year at the Vienna Hofburg.
