Ship it and Sip it

Pitch day is on Monday, who will win the prize of a free MVP build with Paralect? In order of appearance: * Sam Cholera from PT Fitness Coach 💪 * James Hutchinson at Lingoers 🎙️ * Chris and Joe from Myne 🏡 * Andrew Manchenko at City Scout 📍 * Brooke LeBlanc from Point Five 🍹 Stay tuned for the results, and bravo to all the founders for working hard to gain traction these last 4 weeks 👏 This i...

Every time we kick off a fresh product build with a founder, a creative designer is one of the first on the scene. Most times, a quick design prototype is step 1 to a successful launch. So how does it happen? And what does the environment that supports each product designer look like? Let's pull back the curtain on our design process this week with Head of Design Lena Grechits 🥂 Highlights from t...

That's one of the main topics on this week's Ship it and Sip it with Bodii founder Chris Fernandes. Beyond Bodii, Chris has teamed up with Victoria to launch our Startup Bootcamp — already wrapping up week 1 of 4 🚀 John and Chris broke down the inspiration and strategy behind both the Bootcamp and Bodii: - How are validation and traction different yet equally important? - Why is the Bootcamp a su...

How? One way is now super-clear thanks to Victoria Barouskaya's new partnership package code-named Kickstart 🥾 "We pulled together all the tools and startup services we use and trust to build better products. With Kickstart we launch faster and cheaper thanks to consolidated discounts on everything from databases, hosting, analytics, and more." – Victoria On today's Ship it and Sip it, John and V...

“It's not like I've been a successful entrepreneur. I think I've failed almost all the other startups I tried doing when I was in university, before university and after university. But I think now the greatest thing I have is the experiences I've gained from failing — and also the exposure and the education.” – George Nimfour, co-founder of PremedGo. Where did the inspiration for PremedGo come fr...

Our guest Max Flietmann shares his experience from a decade of entrepreneurship and helping other founders reach their funding goals. We discuss: * The current state of fundraising in Europe and worldwide * What industries and areas are most affected by the slowdown in VC funding * Which ones are still holding steady and could come out of stronger * What investors want to see now from founders in...

"You ask for something, and you don't search for it in the existing world — you create it from scratch. It's like high-tech cyberpunk or something, because we're gonna live in this world where you ask for something and we don't bring it — we create it." – Vladimir Panteleev Our guest this week is Head of Research and Development Vladimir Panteleev and we had a whirlwind conversation about new and...

But like all simple answers, there are layers and certain nuances to keep in mind.  “I think for me, the key is that you can really boost your business with no-code tools. And even if you do know how to code like me — often you find no-code and low-code tools perform better than actual coding.” – Andrew Orsich In this discussion, Andrew Orsich and Artem Kukharenko break down 5 tools they find valu...

Paralect Accelerator teams are getting ready to launch two startups of batch 2022 — Selva and Menaflow . This week Michael Lapidus, PdM at Selva, was invited to the new episode of Ship it and sip it. He shared all the insights about the upcoming launch of Selva and talked about the features that will surprise the microbial community. "Selva right now is a Frankenstein of all that you have on the I...

"If we speak about tech itself, I'd say that Portugal — for some reason — is becoming a second Silicon Valley. We even have a bridge like the one in San Francisco." – Konstantin Kariapin, Head of Business Development This week we have a special preview show ahead of Web Summit in Lisbon 🤝 Konstantin has been in Lisbon for the last few months getting to know the startup scene and checking out loca...

What's it take to build a startup venture studio? How do you go about creating a sustainable, local tech ecosystem?   We set out to find answers to these questions and more in the latest Ship it and Sip it.   The guest is Trevor Newberry, Director of Product Delivery at Harmony Venture Labs. Over the past year, we've worked with Trevor and the team to launch startups including Cowello and ListedKi...

Watch the interview with Alex Washburne to find out:   🔍 How the Community reacted to the rebranding of the startup 🔍 What are the core features of joinselva.com 🔍 Why the microbiome is going to be the focus of the platform 🔍 How the team plans to monetize Selva 🔍 What are the impressions of working with the Startup Summer team   If you don't want to miss the launch date, visit www.joinselva....

Meet Irina Demidova, Senior Business Analyst at Paralect.  This week we invited Irina to "Ship it and Sip it" to talk about her experience in ProductLab, Paralect Accelerator and Startup Summer courses.   Watch the video to find out:   👉🏽 How to understand that your startup idea is brilliant 👉🏽 How to define the MVP scope and prioritize features 👉🏽 What are the ways to communicate efficientl...

This week we had an interview with Nihal Hassan, Founder of Menaflow . He shared:   👉The main idea and mission of Menaflow 👉His impression of the Paralect Accelerator 👉Customer feedback on the product 👉Key issues that Menaflow solves 👉Plans for fundraising   And much more insights 🔥 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epis...

"In the last couple years, we've been in an unbelievably long upwards spiral in the venture market which was mainly driven by cheap capital. I wouldn't go so far as calling it a venture crisis or venture winter, more-so a market correction back towards normality." – Konstantin Lotter from Trustventure. This week we sat down with Konstantin and Konstantin Kariapin to talk about: - startup fundraisi...

It's a turbulent time for startups, fundraising and investments. Was there too much hype into certain sectors? Are VCs making smart choices? And how can founders navigate the scene in Europe to raise the funds they need from the right partners for their stage and industry? I had all these questions and more for our latest guest Lukas Rieder from Greca . Lukas and his team have been matchmaking bet...

Science is amazing — but scientific discourse is broken 🫤   So let's fix it.   "We're calling it a social medium for science, but it's really so much more. We're thinking more broadly about the social functions of science and all the things that scientists do — and trying to bring them into one place." – Alex Washburne, co-founder of Agora   Right now our Accelerator team is working with Alex and...

"Let's say you relocate, or go to Portugal on a business trip. We wanna build the app for people who are traveling a lot and change places a lot — you don't know people there but you want to somehow have a quality time." – Kate Novoselova This week's show explores a bunch of fun topics with our teammate Kate. Mostly they revolve around the theme of community and its many forms, including: How her...

"Creativity nowadays is the best team-building. I think that creativity and activity of our teammates can build a bridge between locations, departments and the whole ecosystem of the company" – Alina Nikon, Head of Human Capital. This week on Ship it and Sip it 🍻 John and Alina dug into Paralect's unique culture and how the Human Capital team supports it. Who creates the positive and thriving atm...

"The most essential part is to ask your users the right questions — think twice or three or four times about the questions you're gonna ask." – Lyubov Dementyuk This week's guest has been a co-founder at a few startups, helps lead us as Managing Director at Paralect and most recently joined Founder Institute Bali as a mentor! That's a lot! So we tried to get through the highlights and most valuabl...

When you watch a video, do you usually think about how much work was done to get us to see it? 📹 A beautiful setting, high-quality sound, a catchy plot — the combination of these elements is the result of the work of a passionate team. John McTavish interviewed Paralect's videographers to find out how our video content is created and what goes on behind the scenes. Vlad Nazarenko & Ilya Kravc...

Today startup founders need to go beyond just data-driven. That means collecting, analyzing and using data on a day-to-day basis to understand and inform product growth.   This workshop focuses on designing a data strategy that fits early-stage startups to meet these goals: 1. Launch the MVP and follow data towards Product-Market Fit 2. Select metrics and insights that appeal to Accelerators, Ange...

"Once you tell people 'I already have someone invested in us', your status changes. You've become part of that pool of founders who are 100% committed to their products — so they know you will do whatever it takes to succeed." – Julie Landeroin, Founder of Nudge Julie's journey since finishing the Paralect Accelerator hasn't always been easy. But she's learned a ton as a founder and shares it with...

‘I like doing a bit of everything but I do specifically like the people part of things — working on partnerships and networking and expanding your reach.’ – Alexandra Cote Here’s what John got into with Alexandra this week on Ship it and Sip it: How should founders prioritise their marketing approach at an early stage? Which channel works best for early-stage startups? What you can do to different...

"It's normal … this imposter syndrome is never really going to go away — you just learn to dance with it better." – Jasna Klemenc Puntar.   For this episode of Ship it and Sip it, we went remote and talked with Jasna about how to make the most of e-networking and professional branding.    Any founders (or anyone) who want #BuildInPublic can learn:   👤 How to create an appealing profile and digita...