We did not walk away with an extra 50k Euro in our pockets, but we did earn a spot among the top 10 European startups invited to join Seedcamp in NYC and Silicon Valley in a few months to pitch our businesses.  But more valuable than any of this was being able to come out of Seedcamp with a clear plan for future growth. Prior to Seedcamp we were trying to juggle 10 balls at the same time and the event helped us focus on the one or two areas that will have the most impact.

Keep coming back to the blog to get updates on some of these new developments we’ll be releasing in the months ahead. In the meantime, here is the video from our Seedcamp pitch on Day 1:

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Things have heated up here in Joobili land as we were in London last week along with 40 European startups competing to be invited to Seedcamp week.  (I blogged about the Mini Seedcamp event back in March). This is an incredible opportunity for us to meet some of Europe’s top entrepreneurs and investors…the people who have actually been down this road a dozen times and can help us avoid expensive mistakes. You can imagine how  excited we were to be selected as one of the final 21 teams who will spend next week in London.

The craziness continues as we prepare to make the most of our week, but I wanted to take a moment to jot down a few reasons I think Seedcamp is worth the effort (and believe me, it is a lot of work to do it right).

Support: When I lived in the San Francisco I could not walk into a coffee shop without seeing a group of hackers huddled over a computer or a poster for a tech meetup. The idea behind such frequent gatherings was not so much to meet key contacts, but rather to act as a support group of people who understand the roller coaster we are all riding. Let’s face it, the path we’ve chosen is not easy and it helps to see other people suffering alongside us, right? Seedcamp acts as one of these vital connection among European startups.

Focus: Last week we had to pitch Joobili in 3 minutes (idea, biz model, competition, achievements, etc). Not a lot of time to summarize ideas that have been swimming in our heads for 2 years. We had to strip away everything but the absolutely essential. It was a painful process that we probably wouldn’t have done on our own without Seedcamp. The result was that suddenly a 5 minute pitch suddenly felt easy (kinda). It’s like runners who train at high elevation to make a normal run feel easy.

Exposure: One of the problems with European startups is we tend to have more difficulty getting exposure beyond our home market. It is always “A Hungarian startup…” or a “British starup…” despite the fact the offering is pan-European. Winning the Mini Seedcamp event in Warsaw really propelled our launch. We are seeing a similar boost in interest as a Seedcamp Week finalist and the interest is all coming from outside our home market.

These were just a few advantages and I know there are many more. Expect a follow up post after Seedcamp Week. Wish us luck!