Zögern sich. Roughly translated (and boy, do we mean roughly), that’s procrastinators rejoice. Why all the excitement? Early-stage startup entrepreneurs now have an extra week to complete their applications and compete in Disrupt Berlin’s Startup Battlefield. Applications will now remain open until October 2 at 5 pm PT.
Still, this is no time to dawdle if you want a shot at winning the $50,000 prize, hoisting the Disrupt cup and launching your pride-and-joy to an international audience of tech investors, media and thought-leaders. Startup Battlefield shines a bright international spotlight, and it can make a big difference in your business growth.
How big, exactly? Here’s how Daniel Zajarias-Fainsod, founder of LOCK8, the winner of Disrupt Europe 2013, described the effect that winning Startup Battlefield had on his business:
“Launching LOCK8 on the Battlefield was the stepping stone for the company to reach worldwide recognition within 24 hours.”
If that’s not enough to get you to buckle down and break open a fresh case of Red Bull, consider this. Even if you don’t win the Battlefield, you can still reap benefits in the form of exposure, expert business coaching and investor funding. Case in point: Zenefits, a Startup Battlefield finalist at Disrupt NY 2013, went on to raise $583.6 million.
So far 648 companies — including such notables as Mint, Dropbox, Yammer, TripIt, Redbeacon, Qwiki, Getaround and Soluto — have competed, collectively raised $6.9 billion and generated 95 exits. This is your chance to join their ranks.
Here’s a quick reminder of how Startup Battlefield works. In the preliminary round, roughly 15 to 30 competitors have six minutes to pitch their startup to a panel of judges consisting of well-known investors, entrepreneurs, technologists and TechCrunch editors. An in-depth Q&A follows each pitch, and the whole shooting match takes place in front of an audience of several thousand people. It’s also streamed live to a global audience on the TechCrunch website.
The judges then narrow the field to approximately four to six startups. A second round of pitching follows (to a fresh panel of finalist judges), and from that select group comes the winner and one runner-up. If you want to get a feel for the Startup Battlefield experience, The Road to Disrupt video follows five startups as they launch on the Disrupt San Francisco Battlefield stage.
Startup Battlefield takes place at Disrupt Berlin on December 4-5, 2017 at the Arena Berlin, Eichenstraße 412435.
You have a one-week reprieve. Applications are open until October 2 at 5 pm PT. Do. Not. Wait. Apply today.