Chalmers: Winning video pitch in Venture Cup

17 Apr 2013 | Network Updates

At the end of March, the students in wyberry Technologies brought home the victory in the Venture Cup video pitch competition.

In the minute-long video, they brought out their business idea about new technology for wireless data transmission, which can solve today’s capacity shortage problems for telecommunications companies – caused by increased internet browsing on smartphones, among other things. With increased capacity, people can call family and friends to wish them a Happy New Year without fear of not getting through.

Venture Cup’s video pitch competition is the only one of its kind in Sweden, and it attracted participants from around the country.
Venture Cup has arranged competitions for entrepreneurs with business ideas since 1998, but the video pitch is an entirely new feature. In total, 146 entries were sent in, 39 of which came from western Sweden, so wyberry Technologies met with some stiff competition.

 - The video pitch is a chance to convince investors and customers in 60 seconds that your business idea has potential and to get them interested in it, the students explain.

The company is run by Jens Kellerup, Dzana Damjanovic, and Johan Wigelius as a part of their master’s education at the Chalmers School of Entrepreneurship.

“Patent pending” technology from Chalmers

The new technology wyberry is marketing, which has a patent pending, was developed by Chalmers researcher Zhongxia He. This means that market-leading capacity in wireless data transmission can be achieved in a cost- and energy-efficient way. The technology can be used in telecommunications infrastructure and help solve the capacity shortage and overloading created in the network when internet browsing on smartphones increases.
 
- It is useful for transmission of large amounts of data, and a possible area of use is within the event and entertainment industry, where all the fibre cables can be replaced with wireless links instead, Jens states.
Getting through to family and friends on New Year’s Eve
Over the last few months, the students met with several customers and potential collaboration partners, and learned how they could briefly present what they were working on and still cover all the important parts. The entire group likes giving presentations, and they say it’s the preparations that determine how good the final result will be. They had colleagues helping out with constructive feedback as well as a great deal of pitch training, which is an educational element of the programme. Being able to adapt the message to their target group was also crucial.
 
- We think everyday examples that many people can relate to make it easier to understand what it’s about. A lot of people might recognize not being able to get through to family and friends on the telephone to wish them a happy New Year because of network overload, Dzana says.

Fun on the job is the key to success

In addition to the honour, wyberry Technologies also won a prize – SEK 10,000 worth of consultant services to develop their own enterprise. The students see it as an acknowledgement of all the hard work behind the project and all the time they spent on it over the fall and spring. Their success is also a real motivator, of course, and all three are now extremely excited and have their sights set on getting wyberry Technologies to continue growing.
 
– We’re focusing on financing, improving the technology, and finding new strategic collaboration so we can reach our most important markets. The key to success is having fun while you’re working, and that’s something we always strive for, Johan says.
 
wyberry Technologies’ winning video pitch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRNcHunMS1Q

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