Catapult and STPSS have strengthened their cooperation year after year. One of the joint activities is the Startup Weekends, where students develop a business idea, prepare a business plan and present it to a (demanding) panel of Katapult and Dewesoft mentors over two days.
Most of these business ideas seem to lose their initial enthusiasm day by day until they fade into oblivion, but the experience and practical skills of entrepreneurship remain with young people. Every now and then, there is an individual who gives up after two days, but develops the business idea further.
One of them is Urban Valentič, who with his team had the idea of Teglcu - An innovative solution for watering plants. Teglc is an advanced additive that allows automatic watering of plants using the capillary effect, ensuring even and constant soil moisture.
How did they come up with this idea?
"When we were told to remember a business idea, I looked around. I saw the flowers you have at the Catapult. They were somewhere poor, withered." That is true, we often forget to water them. "I thought, how could we solve this without having to constantly remind ourselves when and how much to water these flowers?"
As team leader, he inspired the other team members to write a business plan, draw up a first prototype and present it to their mentors. They won! Or rather, two teams were declared winners, so they were also awarded a prize - each received €1500 initial investment for product development, the opportunity to create in Katapult and benefit from all the shared services, support, mentors and contractors.
It can be a long journey from idea to realisation. A path that only those who have the perseverance and the ability to be excited every day by the vision of what can be created can walk. So, out of the three members, only Urban persevered in the end.
"I understand them. We developed the product on top of all our school commitments, on top of our hobbies. In this kind of development, you don't see concrete results for a long time, so it's easy to give up." Why did he persevere?
"I don't know. Maybe it's that entrepreneurial orientation..." He wants to be an entrepreneur. He is interested in engineering, which he would like to combine with entrepreneurship. He has an important role model.
"It's over there, opposite the Catapult. Jure. He comes from Trbovlje, like me, but he knew how to make almost an empire. I too would like to work all over the world, but I would keep all the production here in Trbovlje. Like Jure. I want to give other people jobs. I saw an opportunity to learn how to do that here, so I jumped at it."
With his mentor Jernej Ženek, he worked on prototypes and was only good enough to finish sixth or seventh. "Every time I thought it was done, but every time we remembered that there was still something we could improve." Vid Kok helped him with 3D printing the initial prototypes, Matej Kebrič with tolerances, Jure Knez advised him on how to get to market and what else to fix... His most memorable piece of advice: "Try to see this product through to the end. Even if it doesn't end up being a worldwide bestseller, it's worth it." He is aware that this product is unlikely to reach all the world's borders yet. But perhaps the next idea will be one that he can spread around the world, with the knowledge and business experience he is gaining from Teglec.
He made the website, took good photos for marketing, finished the product, prepared the packaging... Just when he thought he had it all sorted, a comment came: 'Just put a little more finishing touches on the stickers for the packaging'. He's got that sorted too, so now the product is really ready for sale.
It was Jure who first ordered some Teglci for the flowers in his office. "I need this," he commented succinctly on the decision.
What would Urban say to those who are still toying with an idea but have not taken the first step into entrepreneurship? "It's worth a try. The biggest loss in life is not trying. You will regret it more if you never try than if you fail. Don't be sorry if you ever see someone else succeed with the same idea because you didn't take the first step."
But maybe one day he will walk from shop to shop and see a big TEGLC logo in every one of them, with the words "Made in Slovenia" underneath. Maybe even "Made in City of Acrobats".
You can order Teglc here >>that your flowers will not be as poor as they were in the Catapult.
