In September 2021, we applied for a spot at the aws First Inkubator, a program to support young founders offering funding and coaching. We already had a lot of fun shooting the video during the application process and convinced the jury with our performance, as we actually received an invitation to the startup camp a few weeks later.

What is the aws First Inkubator?

First things first: Who or what is aws anyway? Austria Wirtschaftsservice GmbH is the development and financing bank of Austria. Its task is to handle the federal government’s business-related economic development programs. The aws First Inkubator provides startups with support at various levels: from workshops and mentoring by experienced experts on topics relevant to startups, to training for the further development of ideas, to scholarships and project budgets.

In other words: exactly what we needed, it was perfect for us!

The startup camp

The startup camp opening took place on a Thursday evening at the end of October. In an unexpectedly informal setting, we had the chance to get to know the jurors and the other startups while challenging them at a game night. It was a nice evening, giving us a good overview of the camp dynamics.

On the first day, Teamazing set us various team challenges that we had to master. Some challenges were quite difficult, but we had a lot of fun competing in every single one of them. The games challenged us in different ways, showing us what we could achieve as a team, where our strengths lay, and, in general, brought us closer together as a team. After a great dinner, we were hyped for our first workshop of the event. Together with two of the other startup teams and two mentors, we discussed our team’s values, visions, and roles, which was very stimulating. Later, we shared some stories and drinks around fire bowls, wrapping up an exciting day.

Saturday morning, we were greeted by the smell of fresh coffee and motivated coaches. Throughout the day, we received a lot of input from various presentations on different topics, e.g., target groups, persona, business model, and marketing. In working sessions, we had the chance to elaborate on the discussed subjects and review them with a mentor. However, during the constant exchange with other participating startups, first doubts arose. We wondered if we would fit into the aws First Inkubator concept because we had been working longer on our idea than many of the other participants and had already developed a prototype. Last but not least, we had pitch training in preparation for the last day. This second day was very long and intensive, but super exciting!

On our third and last day, we practised our pitch and got some last tips from the mentors. The pitching session was fascinating, as we could see how far we all got and how much we learned in the last few days.

Next steps

To sum up, the aws First startup camp was intensive, fun, and we could learn a lot! We really enjoyed the team challenges, which further strengthened our team spirit. The close exchange with mentors and other startups has sharpened our idea further. 

All we could do after the camp was to wait for the jury’s decision. On November 11th, our misery of waiting was finally over when great news reached us: we were accepted into the aws First Inkubator!

But what does that mean for us? Throughout 2022 we will have workshops every couple of weeks on different topics. All four of us are granted a scholarship, so we were able to reduce our working hours to focus on CityRiddler. Furthermore, we will receive a project budget, which we will use for some amazing things.

We are looking forward to a year of working together and the opportunity that aws First Inkubator creates for us. So be prepared for our development! 😉

Besides CityRiddler, the following teams were accepted as well – we are looking forward to work together with them throughout the year!

• Adorádes

• Grätsli

• inQmate 

• Intelliprint

• money:care 

• ProtectLIB

• seedcup 

• That Learning App

• Zeitgeber

You are interested in aws First Inkubator? Find more information about the application here: www.aws.at/aws-first-inkubator/