• Am I building something that’s actually compelling?
• Do I have a good user interface, do I have a good product?
• Do I have a good product-market fit? Am I building something that’s actually interesting enough for the customers to use?
• Am I able to charge money for this product/service?
• Am I able to acquire the right amount of cash flow over time in order to become profitable?

These are just some of the questions that early-stage entrepreneurs ask themselves when they are starting a business, according to Husein Kanji. The road to actually building a business is paved with many obstacles, sometimes even with self-doubt and without a recipe for success, as every case is different.

At Techsylvania, we challenged investors and venture capitalists to share their part of the story and how they decide whether or not to invest in a business and we outlined some of the most important lessons we’ve learned so far, so we can lend a hand to entrepreneurs that want to give their business a check before going for funding.

Lesson 1

Brand new industries, brand new markets, brand new companies.

Husein characterized VCs as “momentum investors”. According to his checklist when he’s on the look for businesses to fund, the ones that get his attention are the ones that have the potential to turn into something really interesting. Usually, the disruptive shifts in the tech industry are generating new opportunities and that’s the point where a new company can capture all that value.

“So it’s not about your business plan or how good of a product you have, it’s really about the magnitude of the company: is this going to turn into something super interesting?”

*Apparently the millennial phenomenon of FOMO (the fear of missing out) is actually a thing around VCs also, so make sure that your product/service is so disruptive that you can trigger this around them.

 Lesson 2

Be in the right place.

What is a good place where you can get funding and start your business? When you’re a digital entrepreneur and want to have access to a larger market, you have to have this in mind.

Constantin Von Bergmann-Korn presented us Berlin as a great idea for starting a business. Besides the fact that it has a great startup ecosystem, this place has a friendly environment in general, it provides you with the right context to meet with like-minded peers and is super inclusive.

“As a founder, it’s not necessarily about what you know, but especially about whom you know.”

Berlin is a tech-hearted city and you can build a unique network being there. Of course, there are many other places where you can find the right context for your business, but Constantin put his town in such a good light that you just have to take it into consideration.

Lesson 3

Be interested, passionate, and… not completely sane.

Tim Draper is often on the look for new investments and he has a keen passion for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. He’s a strong believer in taking that first step that transforms your perspective on things and throws you in the business world.

What’s his secret about making his first million? Exactly this

“If you want to advance, you’ve got to be interested and passionate about one thing and then be willing to be interested and passionate about another, and then another, and then another.”

Taking steps is all about advancing, even if many of them are backward. Being willing to fail is the first lesson of entrepreneurship, according to Tim.

“You’ve got Elon Musk that says he’s going to Mars and then you’ve got 96% of the population that will say he’s crazy and the other 4% that will want to work for him. It’s that 4% that we’re looking for: the greatest engineers in the world, the greatest marketers, the greatest business modellers. If you have a goal, a wild mission like that, I think that ends up attracting the best and the brightest people of the world.

[…]

So if you’re starting a business right now and it qualifies in that category that it might not be completely sane, then send me your plan.”

 Lesson 4

Just start that business.

“You have the world on your fingertips now. Your advantage is global distribution soft. You have the app store, you have Google Play, you have a global distribution, no matter where you sit.”

Stefan Glaenzer showed us something that maybe most entrepreneurs have in common: passion & determination. The most helpful confession was that he fails to see any risk in founding either a startup or a company, as the experience that comes with this is the most valuable and he doesn’t know anyone who has regretted doing this.

The post Are you looking for funding? Here’s what you should know beforehand. appeared first on Techsylvania.

The times we are living have empowered remote connections and work has acquired a whole new meaning due to its ability to take place wherever. Entrepreneurial wisdom is now founded more on a global comprehension of the market and its needs than on the local overview. Yet, there still are some differences when it comes to businesses in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

During past editions of Techsylvania, we have debated many aspects of investing or growing a business in Eastern Europe and have discovered valuable insights both from entrepreneurs that have come from other parts of the world to invest or grow their business here or from local entrepreneurs that have chosen to take their businesses on foreign lands.

What did we discover?

Narrowing it down to Romania, the region is well-known for its technical talent and many entrepreneurs have put an eye on this scarce resource. Many business-oriented people have discovered this fertile ground for businesses in tech, as high-quality engineers are more visible and even assembling a team can be easier here.

During a panel with 4 worldwide successful entrepreneurs, we got many of our questions answered, regarding how our land may look in the eyes of an outsider and whether they see competitive potential with the tech skills that are found here.

“I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer — it depends a lot on the attitude and the beliefs of that specific person. Personally, with this environment, here, in Romania, I would try to succeed on my own, I would try to be an entrepreneur, maybe to ask for support, to develop my own idea by my own. We always have time to move from our own entrepreneurial initiative into a large corporation, but being young, being capable, having a possibility as it is here, in Romania, to start my own company — I would really do that.” Patrizio Mapelli, CEO at NTT Data

Patrizio is very fond of Romania and states that he has found very capable professionals here, ready to take it to another level. We hope he inspires you in creating or growing a business here.

How can Romanian entrepreneurs catch the eyes of global investors?

The relationship with a potential investors ultimately comes down to the same core aspects, regardless of your region.

“You have to start building bridges from Day 1.”

As Felix Peterson revealed his investor point of view , in order to catch someone’s eye, you have to make yourself visible. Concentrating on places like London or Berlin, where the tech movement happens at the time, going to 2–3 conferences/year, actively following-up with the quality later-stage investors, treating them like they already are your investors, are some of the key ingredients in his successful recipe.

Entrepreneurs have started to consider things differently, and, given our remote nature of interacting, they understand that good companies can come from anywhere nowadays.

“Silicon Valley investors found Facebook in a basement, somewhere in the Valley- so it doesn’t matter.”

But how about working from Romania for American clients?

Another satisfying aspect that comes along with our remote connections is our remote work. Many professionals choose this route, not necessarily for the monetary facet, but for the flexibility it gives you.

The first and most significant guidance Shahar gave us was that:

“It’s all about who knows you — you really need to realise that networking is your job. Your job is not to be the best developer out there, your job is to make sure that everybody knows that you’re the best developer out there.”

From his vast experience as a freelancer and consultant, Shahar has understood that you have to eliminate risks in order to be among the most sought-after experts in the market. Even though this type of contracting comes with many freedom, it also presents more risks, both for the contractor and the contractee. Here are some steps you need to have in mind if you want to present your work as a responsible and risk-free one:

How does your thinking process look like?

What’s your process of work?

What happens at the end of the project?

How are you going to transfer knowledge?

How do you do documentation?

How do you do testing?

*All these matters that people hate to do — these are the things that you need to talk about, because nobody else is talking about them and they represent the aspects that customers really fear.

And finally: How do you build a business in Romania?

“I think it’s the same as it would be anywhere else: just think of who the customer is, what problem you want to solve and go solve it. If that happens to be here, stay here. If that happens to be in New York, go to New York. Wherever you need to be to make the world a better place. I think the location is becoming more and more irrelevant.”

The post The business potential in Romania appeared first on Techsylvania.

In 2018, Techsylvania reached across the globe for the ultimate industry experts and created an intense knowledge transfer between 40+ speakers and over 2.200 attendees, through 70+ keynotes, panels, workshops, satellite events, executive roundtables, pitching and Q&A sessions.

After such an intense 5th edition we’ve given everybody the opportunity to watch all speeches from Techsylvania 2018 for free. We’ve even included the pitches from Startup Avalanche.

Through these you can catch a glimpse of the fabulous event hosted every year in Easter Europe. Make sure you don’t miss the 2019 edition! Buy a €44,5 Builder Ticket or a €99 Premium Pass for a 360 experience.

As a reminder of all the knowledge shared on the Techsylvania stage, let’s recall some of the highlights. We’ve made a top 10 of the most viewed 2018 Techsylvania talks on Youtube and the most voted speakers (a big thank you goes out to all our attendees that filled in our feedback form!).

Sebastian Dobrincu (Storyheap) — What School Doesn’t Teach You About Building Companies

Sebastian Dobrincu is a serial entrepreneur, investor and software engineer. He serves as the Founder and CEO of Storyheap, the leading analytics and management platform for social media stories, helping brands and influencers such as Tumblr, Universal Studios, HubSpot, Selena Gomez, Kevin Hart and more, optimize their campaigns to maximize the return on investment.

Robert Altinger (Crossover) — The Soul of Engineering: How to be the Solution

Robert Altinger, SVP Engineering & Operations at Crossover has an interesting history with both Microsoft and Avanade technologies, with a hands-on experience in designing system processes, recruiting teams, and running multi-tiered, partially outsourced IT operations.

Niv Liran (Auto1 Group) — Optimizing Tech Throughput

Niv Liran is Auto1 Group’s Chief Product Officer and co-leads its tech department, which he scaled from 5 people to over 150 within 3 years. He joined Auto1 from Rocket Internet, where he was Vice President managing online payments and checkout experience for the group’s portfolio companies. Before that, he was a Director of Product Management at Groupon.

Ashley Carroll (Social Capital)- Capital as a Service Democratizing Venture Through Data

Ashley Carroll is a former Partner at Social Capital where she focused on early stage venture investments. She currently serves on the boards of mParticle, a multi-channel customer data platform for marketers, mPharma, a pharmacy benefits manager for sub-Saharan Africa, and Sempre Health, a US-based individualized healthcare pricing platform that improves medical adherence and affordability. She also leads the Capital-as-a-Service initiative.

In Conversation with Yossi Vardi — What it Takes to reate a Successful Startup Ecosystem

Yossi Vardi is an Israeli investor most famous for being the original investor in ICQ — the first Internet-wide instant messaging system. Vardi has invested in over 80 tech companies in diverse areas of software, energy, Internet, mobile, cleantech, and others. Many went public; and others were acquired — such as Gteko (by Microsoft); Tivella (by Cisco); and FoxyTunes (by Yahoo).

In Conversation with Florin Talpes — Using Market Knowledge to Catalyse a Fast Growing

Florin Talpes, is a visionary entrepreneur, who has worked in the IT security business for the past 20 years. Right after the “fall” of the soviet block in 1990, with his wife Mariuca, he created Softwin, one of the first ever Romanian private software companies and the mother company of Bitdefender.

Sonny Vu (Misfit) — Lessons Learned from Failure and the Most Important Skill for Entrepreneurs

Sonny Vu, Founder of Misfit (Acquired by Fossil for $260 million)works with founders to build companies that will have a positive, lasting impact on a lot of people. Much of his work is about getting technology resulting from scientific breakthroughs to market quickly. Current themes include materials science and chips that enable energy-related and other engineering breakthroughs and novel biotechnology that can massively scale synthetic biology for delicious, affordable and clean food production.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content. In 2019, Techsylvania is taking place on June 8–11.

The post Learn from Techsylvania’s most popular talks from 2018 appeared first on Techsylvania.

Where in Romania can patients find Medicover?

In 24 years, Medicover România successfully developed its presence on the healthcare services market and, at the end of 2018, operated a network of 36 clinics in Bucharest and within the country (Timișoara, Cluj-Napoca, Constanța, Iași, Ploiești, Brașov, Galați, Pitești, Craiova, Slatina, Târgu Jiu, etc.) and two general hospitals: one in Bucharest: Medicover Hospital, and one in Oradea: Pelican Hospital. The Medicover hospitals in Romania meet the highest medical standards — modern, safe, close to patients — and include all departments: ambulatory, day hospitalization, as well as a wide range of medical and surgical specialties.

What makes Medicover a successful company is the team of highly qualified specialists that are passionate about their job and mission: the safety of the patients.

Therefore, Medicover permanently assures that all its patients — corporate or individuals — can access high standards services, wherever they are.

With a medical system in continuous development, influenced by the new technologies, Medicover keeps up the pace with innovation.

Medicover has caring in its DNA and, besides its high-quality services and passionate specialists, Medicover has designed a set of services according to modern principles of preventive medicine that offer flexibility through tailor-made solutions for the needs of individuals and companies.

Last year, Medicover has launched Medicover App, available on Google Play and App Store. Some of the app’s advantages for our patients are the following: you can schedule consultations that are synchronized with your calendar in order to remind you of your visit at the physician, you can receive referrals and recommendations, you can see the test results, saved as PDF documents in order to be used in other places, such as a clinic or a physician abroad.

Also, our corporate clients can access a wide range of tailor-made services that meet their needs. Much more, Medicover also provides business innovative applications for corporate clients that facilitate online registration of new employees for medical services, real-time access to the aptitude sheet, access to reports and e-invoicing, direct contact with an administrative consultant and that generates reports for Occupational Health.

Besides, Medicover is the only insurer providing access to the electronic medical record and that guarantees the company and the employees benefits: active involvement in employee welfare, optimal cost control and reduction of additional contributions.

Medicover is a driver of innovation and prevention and starting this year will make digital tech available to our clients. We will invest in technology-based start-ups and in innovation so as to be at the forefront in meeting customer demands for a personalized experience and increased service levels.

Medicover România, the leading international healthcare and diagnostic services provider is Techsylvania’s Platinum Partner for the 2019 edition. We are proud to be supported by a company with such high standards of healthcare and professionalism.

The post Discover what makes Medicover România the best choice for your health appeared first on Techsylvania.

Novis Plaza, a A Class office building represent the future in terms of working spaces combined with nature-inspired relaxation areas. In 2016, the developer Transilvania Constructii saw the potential of this building and decided to bring it back to life by converting it into a new, innovative and attractive concept with the purpose of becoming one of the best office building in Cluj-Napoca.

Techsylvania: Tell us more about Novis Plaza and the facilities offered by the class A office building.

“When I think back, the story of Novis Plaza is like an epic tale for real estate developers. Novis Plaza represents a modern rebirth of the office building by using a new & innovative concept. The vision behind our building is to develop an evolved urban ecosystem where together with our tenants we can achieve business excellence in balance with technology and nature. We offer our tenants a mix of wellbeing oriented facilities like the Oasis Terrace, a Japanese-style terrace with a 360 degree panoramic view of the city, The Lounge which houses a coffee shop, a game room and other relaxation methods, Novis Event Hall with a 300 people capacity, a gym and several green mobility options”, said Andrei Timofte, Director General Transilvania Constructii.

Techsylvania: Why would a company choose to relocate here?

“By using the current technology behind ambient intelligence and smart spaces, Novis Plaza offers the experience of a unique mix of amenities and ultra-customizable office spaces. We consider our potential tenants as active users in our urban ecosystem. Their wellbeing is a key factor in our community building efforts. Why would a company choose to relocate here? The answer is simple enough, we develop, we involve, we inspire”, declared Andrei Timofte.

Techsylvania: Which are the biggest problems office buildings in Cluj-Napoca have right now and how did you address them in Novis Plaza?

“Accessibility is a key decision factor in deciding which office building is best suited for a company. That being said, most office buildings are built around the center of the city, which offers better connections with other facilities, like transportation. In recent years, however, accessibility is not enough. tenants needs have multiplied. Novis Plaza is situated near the wooded hills of Cluj-Napoca, in a prime location for outdoor team-building sessions for our tenants. Other than that we offer our tenants a mix of wellbeing oriented facilities like the Oasis Terrace, a Japanese-style terrace with a 360 degree panoramic view of the city, The Lounge which houses a coffee shop, a game room and other relaxation methods, Novis Event Hall with a 300 people capacity, a gym and several green mobility options”, added Andrei Timofte.

Message for Techsylvanian participants:

The only OS we like at Novis Plaza is Kali, only legends know.

The post Andrei Timofte: “Novis Plaza offers the experience of a unique mix of amenities and ultra-customizable office spaces” appeared first on Techsylvania.

Highlights for the 6th edition or why you won’t be able to say “no” to Techsylvania 2019:
two decacorns from Southeast Asia will be present at Techsylvania: Go-Jek and Grab
technical experts from: Go-Jek, BBC, Ambrosus, Packboard, InCountry
co-founder of the €15 billion tunnel connecting Helsinki to Tallinn and the person credited for building the Angry Birds brand: Peter Vesterbacka
executives from world-renowned technology companies will be at Techsylvania to share their insights: Shane Luke (Nike), Calin Vaduva (Fortech), Remus Lechintan (Roundassist)
technical experts from Go-Jek, BBC, Ambrosus, Packboard will get you all excited about science
founders of international technology companies like Databricks, Braintrust are ready to show the participants how is done
two unicorn founders: Databicks and Sisense
co-initiator of Apache Spark: Ion Stoica
the world’s largest technology investment fund (SoftBank’s USD 100 Billion Vision Fund) will be represented by Sakshi Chhabra Mittal, the VP of Investments
workshops will offer answers to technical questions, product challenges, and business development issues
leading media publications: BBC, Techcrunch, Forbes Romania, PressOne, Business Review
Premium tickets that offer access to a lounge (network with the speakers and partner companies) and Q&A sessions
& more amazing speakers and activities are going to be announced soon. Stay close!
Startup Alley, a new concept dedicated to 20 brave and international startups
Startup Alley, supported by Google, offers startups a new place to showcase their business to a wider target audience. We have up to 20 exhibition booths ready for your product. Participation to Techsylvania Startup Alley is open to startups with less than 10 employees and have a product to showcase. It is also the perfect place for launching a new product. You can sign up here or spread the word!

We’re excited to announce: Techsylvania has a new home

Polyvalent Hall — BT Arena
For the 6th edition, Techsylvania is moving to a new and amazing location: Polyvalent Hall (BT Arena). We’ve chosen the largest and most technologically advanced polyvalent hall in the country because it captures our unique vibe and matched our needs for more space and innovation.

Our main goal is to give our participants a unique and complete experience. The 38.410 m² Polyvalent Hall will allow us to open the event for as many as 3.000 IT and non-IT participants.

The event has evolved both in scale and in complexity. Step by step, Techsylvania became a growth platform through technology. What does growth mean through technology? It means, on the one hand, the latest innovations in technology and business around the globe, revolutionary ideas brought by specialists from all over the world and, on the other hand, facilitating a context of interaction between large companies in Romania, entrepreneurs, start-ps and investment funds that create synergies for development — Vlad Ciurca, co-founder and executive producer

Incredible speakers from around the world are joining the 6th edition
This year, the line-up went above amazing and it’s so impressive that we hardly think you’d want to leave the event even for a short break. Ion Stoica, co-initiator of Apache Spark and co-founder of a $2.7 billion company (Databricks), Adam Jackson, serial technology entrepreneur and investor that co-founded Doctor On Demand, which raised $165 million and Braintrust, Shane Luke, Sr. Director, AI and Machine Learning at Nike Digital Innovation, Matthew Postgate, Chief Technology & Product Officer at BBC and Matt Michelsen, a Silicon Valley insider working with Leading Brands: Lady Gaga, Nike, Cirque Du Soleil, YouTube are all going to be at Techsylvania 2019.

And we are just getting started. Almost a dozen investors managing funds of over $150 billion are set to come to Cluj-Napoca due to the event. Sakshi Chhabra Mittal, the VP of Investments at the SoftBank Vision Fund is coming to the 2019 edition. She’s managing SoftBank’s USD 100 Billion Vision Fund, which has shaken up Silicon Valley and the entire technology world. Also joining Techsylvania in 2019 is Fang Yuan, VP at Baidu.ventures. She’s managing a USD 500 million fund with a focus on AI & Robotics.

Eldad Farkash, a serial entrepreneur, investor, and technology thought leader in the field of big data, real-time analytics, and hardware conscious algorithms, Abdullah Al-Shaksy, co-Founder and CEO of Phaze Ventures, Tim Sullivan, CEO of Oceanic Partners, an investor that managed thousands of private transactions, valued at over $3 Billion, across hundreds of companies and many more are set to arrive in June, at Techsylvania.

Enter a Fintech Hackathon to prove you are a master coder

This year we are spicing up the Hackathon with a new theme: Fintech with a focus on PSD2 — Revised Payments Service Directive. Pick a challenge and you have 24-hours to complete it.

Real-time analysis — Create a customer profile based on transactions and a behavior analysis taking into consideration transactions history, value, the overall number, and all banking transfers client related.
Risk Assessment Tool — You’ll need to connect sandboxes, based on client accounts, transaction history, currencies and to establish clients’ risk appetite for product development and testing.
Payment Initiation — Develop a Monitoring Tool that can detect fraudulent transactions or a Stress Testing Tool capable of creating a suspicious transaction in order to test the safety measures implemented in the banking system.
Limited to 70 developers — Register here!

Attend a Satellite Event during Techsylvania 2019

The Scouts of Cluj-Napoca are inviting you to join a quest based on technology and scouting methods.
In 2019 we are adding for the second year, satellite events to the initial 4-day agenda. We are expanding the borders of the event so it can become a hub for technology and business.

With Techsylvania being the central hub, satellites will be available from the first hours of the morning until 9 am and after the official schedule ends at 6 pm. Check out the satellites already scheduled and start adding them to your calendar.

We can’t wait to see you there! Book a ticket and make sure you explore the whole event.

The post Get ready for Techsylvania 2019 | The 6th edition brings top-class international speakers and new concepts, all in a new location appeared first on Techsylvania.

Techsylvania offers a unique opportunity for change-makers to experience the event at the highest level. In 2019 we are introducing the Executive Ticket. Dedicated to founders, top-level CxOs and senior management of global companies, the €599 ticket brings exclusive benefits.

In other words, network with top-class speakers, interact with international leaders and connect with the partners of the 6th edition, all in a private setting. The custom tailored benefits include:

Attend Exclusive Events — the ticket includes an invite to the Official Dinner with speakers, investors, and executives from partner companies

Priority Access — reserved seat in front of the Main Stage (speakers area) and priority badge claim

All Access Entry to Techsylvania — over 3.000 attendees, 50+ speaker’s keynotes, panels & fireside chats, access to 10 classroom-style workshops, 50 exhibiting companies, Q&A sessions, Startup Avalanche, and Startup Alley

Access to Premium Lounge — mingle and network with the speakers, partner companies and attendees you met during the event days

If you are looking to meet peers from your industry and expand your business vision this is the right ticket for you. Apply for a pass by filling in this form.

Techsylvania is a 360-degree experience and to make sure you don’t miss anything these are some of this year’s highlights:

• two superstar decacorns from Southeast Asia will be present at Techsylvania: Go-Jek and Grab
• the world’s largest technology investment fund, SoftBank’s USD $100 Billion Vision Fund, will be represented by Sakshi Chhabra Mittal, the VP of Investments
• two unicorn founders: Databricks and Sisense
• co-initiator of Apache Spark: Ion Stoica
• co-founder of the €15 billion tunnel connecting Helsinki to Tallinn and the person credited for building the Angry Birds brand: Peter Vesterbacka
• technical experts from: Go-Jek, BBC, Ambrosus, Packboard, InCountry
• founders of international technology companies: Databricks, Braintrust, InCountry
• international venture funds managing over $100 billion in assets: SoftBank Vision Fund, Baidu Ventures, EQT Ventures, Starburst Ventures, Hoxton Ventures, Phaze Ventures, Oceanic Partners
• leading media publications: BBC, Techcrunch, Forbes Romania, PressOne, Business Review
• executives from top technology companies: Nike Digital Innovation, Seguru, Fortech, Shopkick, Medicover, BCR

Techsylvania prepares its 6th and largest edition to date with 50 top-class international speakers, 25 satellite events and 3.000 expected participants.

The post Techsylvania Executive Ticket | An exclusive chance to connect and network with global leaders appeared first on Techsylvania.

The energy for a better life. This is the company’s credo and the main driver of what is known to be the largest oil and gas producer in SE Europe and one of the largest corporations in Romania — more than 13700 people contribute to the fulfillment of OMV Petrom’s vision every day.

OMV Petrom’s involvement extends beyond its own team though; having successfully launched Andrei’s Country (know as ‘Tara lui Andrei’) program for the past 10 years and counting, donating 10 million euros to build the first Paediatric Oncology and Radiotherapy Hospital in Romania are just a few examples. This year, OMV Petrom joins us for the 6th edition of Techsylvania and we’re honored to have started this journey together.

1. Tell us more about OMV Petrom’s plans of setting up a digital academy.

The digital academy is part of an OMV-wide initiative to provide education to our people on digital technologies and new ways of working (digital dexterity). There are several layers of initiatives that help people with either initial awareness, basic skills or advanced skills. Masterclasses are for the general audience and provide a day full of external and internal speakers who explain the basic concepts and how they hang together and some basic use cases. From the videos and presentations of these masterclasses, we make computer-based trainings that can be watched by people who were not there. For the next level of providing basic skills to all our people, we are setting up a collaboration with one of the major online training providers like Udemy, Coursera and LinkedIn. In fact, hundreds of people are already following courses privately on LinkedIn.

For the advanced skill levels, we are setting up specialized courses like an Advanced Analytics and Data Science course, together with external specialists in a blended learning concept. Suppliers of advanced software (like Petrel from Schlumberger) we are using are also providing advanced trainings, as are the usual specialist course providers like PetroSkills for Upstream.

So it’s not so much a real separate academy, but more a collection of educational layers that will help all employees to become more digitally dexterous and use technology and innovation to become more efficient and agile.

2. Sustainability is a big part of the OMV Petrom culture. Tell us more about your vision and projects in this area

OMV Petrom is the largest Group in South-East Europe and is active along the entire energy value chain: from exploration and production of oil and gas, to refining and fuel distribution, and further on to power generation and marketing of gas and power. We provide sustainable access to energy needed for modern day-to-day life: light, heat produced from our gas, and fuels for mobility.

Conducting business sustainably is crucial for OMV Petrom in creating and protecting value in the long term, in building trusting partnerships and in attracting customers as well as the best employees, investors, and suppliers.

In 2018, we made efforts to maintain and consolidate our vision on sustainability from the bottom up. Fifteen measurable targets have been set in the five focus areas: “Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE)”, “Carbon Efficiency”, “Innovation”, “Employees”, as well as “Business Principles and Social Responsibility”.

Sustainability means we focus on conducting our business responsibly, efficiently and in an innovative way. We are committed to creating long-term value for the company and our stakeholders while respecting the environment, supporting the communities in which we operate, and striving to support the Sustainable Development Goals.

In terms of Social Responsibility, Andrei’s Country is the social responsibility platform of OMV Petrom, one of the most known CSR initiative in Romania and the amplest program.

Since 2009, through Andrei’s Country, OMV Petrom supports the projects that inspire the Romanian communities to take action and change their lives in key domains: creating new jobs, accessing the non-formal education and nurture the citizenship. Andrei’s Country’s values are the civic spirit, the entrepreneurial spirit, the (non-formal) education and innovation, it can be done spirit.

Andrei’s Country is a large community oriented to finding solutions, a community of those who do not back down from the fight to transform their initiatives into reality. Andrei’s Country believes in people. It believes in the power of those with ambition who succeed to evolve through their own strength and it also believes in the power of those who guide and inspires them.

Andrei’s Country is about projects like: RO SMART, Vocational Romania, Access to Life, Made in Andrei’s Life, Parks of the Future, and the first Trees Planting campaign in Romania, but not only, more details on www.taraluiandrei.ro.

3. This year, OMV Petrom gave an immense example by getting involved in the community with a 10M grant. What determined this decision and do you see this as an example for other companies?

Over the past ten years, OMV Petrom has taken an important role in supporting health initiatives.

In 2011, through OMV Petrom’s social responsibility project ”Access to life”, OMV Petrom supported the expansion of the emergency telemedicine network in 16 hospitals in the country, with the coordination center at the Floreasca Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, providing access for 9.5 million Romanians to emergency medical services. The same project has contributed to the training of Romanian doctors through specialized courses in emergency medicine at European level.

In 2012, the company provided the SMURD Foundation with 3 fully-equipped ambulances.

Between 2014 and 2016, OMV Petrom in partnership with ExxonMobil supported the design and construction of the SMURD Aeromedical Base in Constanta, the most modern unit of its kind in the country. The base has increased the capacity and efficiency of emergency operations of the SMURD Constanta in the entire South-East region of Romania.

In 2017, OMV Petrom supported the SMURD Foundation by acquiring the first neonatal transport incubator for the Emergency Unit of SMURD Constanta, suitable for both helicopter transport and SMURD ambulances.

In 2019 OMV Petrom grants EUR 10 mn sponsorship to the Dăruiește Viață Association project for the construction of the first integrated Pediatric Oncology and Radiotherapy Hospital in Romania. Because is an important need for Romania and because every child deserves a chance in life.

The post The greater good meets digital: OMW Petrom joins Techsylvania 2019 appeared first on Techsylvania.

Dear friends, we’ve reached the 6th edition of Techsylvania! We’re just a few more days until the biggest edition so far and we couldn’t be happier to see this huge enthusiasm! We’re sold-out (again!) and we’re looking forward to meeting old friends and new friends, as we mark an important event in the technology & innovation ecosystem!

Some of the brightest minds will share their proven tactics and valuable insights with us:

Tom Mueller

Co-Founder & Former CTO at SpaceX

We are very excited to announce that Tom accepted our invitation and we will have a really cosmic journey at Techsylvania 2019!

Tom is a rocket engineer and rocket engine designer. He’s a founding employee of SpaceX, a space transport services and one of the world’s most valuable private companies. Tom Mueller is considered one of the world’s leading spacecraft propulsion experts and holds several United States patents for propulsion technology.

Ion Stoica

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman at Databricks, Co-initiator of Apache Spark & Professor of Computer Science at Berkeley

Ion Stoica is the co-initiator of Apache Spark, the first unified analytics engine, that aims to help clients with cloud-based big data processing and machine learning and the co-founder of Databricks, the platform developed for working with Spark, which is now worth $2.7 billion. He’s currently doing research on cloud computing and AI systems as a professor in the EECS Department at the University of California at Berkeley, and the Director of RISELab.

Sakshi Chhabra Mittal

Vice President of SoftBank Vision Fund

Sakshi Chhabra Mittal is currently managing the world’s largest technology investment fund. Working across a range of sectors but with particular experience in healthcare and life sciences, she has a focus on the huge opportunities presented through the intersection of computation and biology and the role that the genomic revolution can play in addressing some of the largest issues facing society. Last year Sakshi led a $1billion equity investment into Roivant Sciences and serves on the board of a number of Vision Fund portfolio companies.

Peter Vesterbacka

Co-Founder of FinEst Bay Area

An angry bird flew all the way from Finland to Romania, especially for Techsylvania 2019!

Peter Vesterbacka is a global entrepreneur from the FinEst Bay Area and the Mighty Eagle at Angry Birds. Peter has always been into outrageous ideas, but he has also applied them with success so far. He is well-known in his homeland, Finland, as an entrepreneur who has actively contributed to the country’s development through his projects. One project that stands proof of this affirmation is the construction of a 103 km-tunnel that connects Finnland to Estonia, through which we will be able to travel from Helsinki to Tallinn in just 20 min.

Koen Köppen

CTO at Klarna

Koen is CTO at Klarna, a company that recently launched its first open banking platform, which will enable access to more than 4,300 European banks, and provides a proven infrastructure, superior market coverage, and connectivity, with access to 99 percent of online banking consumers currently across 14 European markets. Koen joined Klarna in 2011 as a solutions engineer and has since held multiple key roles within the Engineering and Product organization and has led some of the companies largest and most complex merchant integration and system re-architecture initiatives.

Always one step ahead

How can you stay one step ahead?

By always learning.

At Techsylvania, we’ve always tried to bring some of the most relevant professionals whose expertize can result in added value in our attendees’ knowledge base. At the 6th edition, we’ll be learning some of the hottest topics of the century and will reach together important conclusions.

Thus, here’s a brief presentation of the workshops:

• Modern operations approach for microservice architectures w/ André Duis / Domain Owner at METRONOM
• Venture Deals. Tricks and tips w/ Achim-Sorin Răzoare, Partner Laurenţiu, Laurențiu & Associates
• Journey Mapping — It’s not just a pretty picture w/ Caroline Zenss, Principal Interaction Designer/ Macadamian
• Human-Centered Product Design w/ J Cornelius / Founder & President
• Fitbit beyond the devices: building experiences across 3 different screens w/ Alexandru Badescu / Lead Software Engineer, Andrei Dragomir / Staff SW Engineer
• Scale-up Internationally with digital w/ Anabela Luca / CEO AdLemonade
• NLP in fintech w/ DR. KAROL PRZYSTALSKI / Managing Director, Codete
• Easy steps to conduct Lean User Research w/ Valli Ravindran / UX Lead, Google
• How to process 50TB of data per month using serverless technologies w/ Razvan Bretoiu — CTO & Darius Bogdan — Full Stack Developer
• Augmented Reality on Android w/ Alexandru Gherghina — Senior Android Engineer
  Cognizant Softvision
• Convolutional neural networks (CNN) explain w/ Cristian Lungu, ML Trainer / Consultant

Want to dive more into the topics?

Then you can attend our Q&A Sessions, where you can address directly to the speakers any question left unanswered. This kind of sessions give the opportunity to discover all the angles of a topic in a more intimate environment, as the limit to attend them is at 100.

Sustainable is one of our favorite words

And that’s why we’re making an important step towards a more eco-friendly world and a planet which will be able to sustain all the technology innovations we’re about to embrace.

We’re counting on you, too, to make this happen, so we recommend you to:

• Reduce the waste by recycling, composting and eliminating the use of products not suitable for such
• Use public transport
• Use reusable utensils
• Choose local providers.

And last, but not least, special thanks to our Techsylvnia 2019 partners:

Accenture ● Pentalog ● D’Institute ● Bosch ● Arobs ● Fitbit ● CBC ● Halcyon Mobile ● Novis Plaza ● Connatix ● Macadamian ● CertSIGN ● Telenav ● Wolfpack Digital ● OMV Petrom ● E.ON ● Fortech ● George ● Betfair ● Glo ● BMW ● Medicover ● Migrantcoin LTD ● Maren ● Bannersnack ● ROCAX ● La Villa Numeris ● Dual IT ● Porsche Engineering ● TrueLayer ● British American Tobacco (BAT) ● Klarna” ● HyperMedia ● G4A (Bayer Digital Health) ● Metro Systems Romania ● Riverbed ● Embassy of Canada ● Philips — Health Tech Partner ● Coca Cola- Glaceau Smart Water ● Hansen ● Rondocarton ● Laurentiu, Laurentiu & Associates (LLA) ● Pitech+Plus ● Ursus ● Microsoft ● Emerson

We’re really looking forward to meeting you. See you soon!

The post Bigger, Better, Sold-out. Are You Ready for Round 6? appeared first on Techsylvania.

What is the story behind Wolfpack Digital?

Wolfpack Digital started off as a full-service digital product agency in early 2015. The company started from a deep passion for digital products. I wanted to bring together my interests and skills in IT, psychology, PR, design and business management, after returning from London, where I studied in a Master’s in Business Management and later worked as lead iOS developer for a wearable tech company creating smart fashion jewellery.
The name of the company stems from my surname, which means “Wolf”, and as a team, we do our best to embody the values associated to this powerful symbol: loyalty, teamwork, dedication and a strong orientation towards results.

What is your mission?

As one of the top development companies according to Clutch, we are here to build versatile web and mobile apps using optimal technologies, so as to ensure the best delivery of the digital product from start to end: from defining product strategy to design, development, testing, and launch.

We must say we prefer native technologies for mobile applications, and Ruby on Rails and all the cool new flavors of Javascript for web applications.

The people of Wolfpack Digital are more than builders, we are strategists too, having worked with more than 40 startups so far, and successfully being part of their journey to becoming scaleups. We have product experts onboard who have lead products on their successful business paths. Our B2B and B2C clients and partners are from all over the world and are part of industries such as healthtech, fintech, IoT, transportation, entertainment, etc. Some of them
have evolved to million-dollar companies.

This year our work has been rewarded by some notable mentions and successful journeys. The top highlight was being one of the winners of an accelerator with Pamble, one of our internal projects, and being mentioned in Forbes magazine. Another accomplishment which we are really happy about is being amongst Top Strongest IT Employers in Cluj-Napoca according to Brainspotting.

This is a short tour of our company, nothing special, just a pack of wolves in their natural habitat and a cosy office. Our doors are always opened for visitors. Don’t want to give you any spoilers but it happens very often that we have goodies and healthy snacks around. Let us know if you want to give us a visit.

Take us through the steps you follow when starting a new project like an iOS app, Android app or a web app. Does this method ensure success?

At Wolfpack Digital, we start by learning as much as possible about our customer’s business needs and priorities. In this phase, we also advise our client with respect to product strategy, we commit together to an action plan, and document the specs. We afterwards choose the best technology stack so as to build the initial product both scalable and fast. We begin by creating
the wireframes, which are in fact black and white block-schemes of the application depicting all possible flows, content, and component types. We iterate together with the customer who is highly involved in this process until we reach an approved version.

We go to the next phase afterwards, where we focus on the UX/UI design of the app and iterate efficiently until the approved version is brought into the world. Usually, a number of 3 iterations is enough using our approach. Next, the fun starts with the actual coding, after which we perform thorough testing and move through a loop of testing-adjusting to launch a flawless and stunningly beautiful and friendly product to the market.

This method is definitely a successful one and one we have used repeatedly with great results. By using this phased approach and combining it with an Agile way of working (we work in 1-week sprints), resources are used as efficiently as possible with the best results. All these processes are tailored so as to follow the lean startup methodology, which we are very fond of
when dealing with a new or young product.

What are your future plans at Wolfpack Digital? Any interesting projects coming up?

Our team is at a moment in life when our focus is divided in two: continuing to partner up with companies to help manage and build their products, and creating our own products. This second scope is materialized by Wolfpack Digital Labs, our newly created startup division.

We believe it’s time for Romanian IT companies to gradually expand towards building our own tech solutions since there is important progress in the ecosystem regarding business knowledge in the past years.

The local community understands marketing, business, and strategy much better, with some notable successful examples of Romanian ventures available. This also adds to the dimension of sustainability.

We believe in investing and growing truly meaningful products at Wolfpack Digital Labs. Most of the products we are working on come from the healthtech and greentech industry.

We built the first mindfulness app in Romanian, knowing that mental health is an essential topic and listening to meditation recordings in one’s native language has a tremendous impact on the efficiency of the session.

We have also recently won an accelerator competition with a healthtechapplication dealing with gambling addiction treatment and responsible gambling education called Pamble.

Another rewarding project we are currently working on, which is a cross-collaboration between several entities and companies here in Cluj-Napoca, is RainDrops, a greentech solution bringing nature closer to home and office, by offering a slick-designed smart flower pot. In this IoT project, we cover mobile and web application development, and we will be using machine learning to offer even better user experience after launch. These times couldn’t be more exciting for Wolfpack Digital.

• Want us to build your app? Contact us and let’s build powerful web and mobile apps together!
• Want to work with us? Because Wolfpack Digital is hiring.
• Want to know what Wolves are up to? Because Wolfpack Digital has a newsletter.

The post CEO Georgina Lupu on building a mobile and web app development company in Cluj-Napoca and the future of Wolfpack Digital appeared first on Techsylvania.