Ajujaht (or Brainhunt if translated directly to English) is the largest business idea competition in Estonia. As the people behind Ajujaht say themselves, this broadcast gives an opportunity for people to challenge themselves in trying to start a business in a supportive environment while also competing for the final places with the prize fund of 60 000 euros. Enterprise Estonia started it back in 2007. So after difficult calculations you know it’s running for the 9th season and we in Feelingstream decided to take part of it as well.
Task for Ajujaht
Apply, get chosen to TOP100 and then further to TOP30.
Delivery from Feelingstream
Participating at Ajujaht was the next logical step for us. The competition has a great image in Estonian community and one of its partners is also SEB, a bank we would like to work with in the future. We had just started the Nordea Nestholma startup accelerator in Helsinki but still decided to join the TV-broadcast craziness.
And I’m totally glad we did, since we were proudly chosen to be part of the TOP30 teams of this year! We got a lot of support from the other VUNK teams that decided to take on this journey as well: Marina Ahoy, Need2Park & Tippy. It was great to see familiar faces, discuss how to be better in front of the jury and figure out the best moves to win this competition.
TOP100 were chosen completely according to the applications so I don’t have any feedback from there. But choosing the 30 best teams out of the whole meant a lot of work. It took the jury 2 full days of work – listening to every team pitch and deciding on who to pass or not. What it meant for us, the participants, was actually a lot of waiting… A LOT of waiting. Little did we know back in December that waiting is an integral part of making a broadcast.
If we’re talking about the actual pitching, it was one of the first times when it actually came out really naturally. Terje did a great job, was self-confident and successfully shared the story behind Feelingstream. Of course we hoped to get to the next round, who wouldn’t, but it was still a huge stream of feelings and a lot of happiness, since all other VUNK alumni were given the chance as well!
Congratulations to all other 29 teams who got the jury’s approval as well! This time the jury consisted of Mart Maasik (SEB), Pirkko Valge (Heateo SA), Juta Kuhlberg (Tartu Loomemajanduskeskus), Martin Goroško (Tehnopol Startup Incubator), Marion Raudsepp (EAS), Oleg Shvaikovsky (Nortal), Krista Kink (Tallinna Ettevõtlusamet).
The episode aired yesterday evening and you can check it here – http://etv.err.ee/v/elusaated/ajujaht/saated/d08669aa-4cd4-4e13-92df-3cba3d1e08a2/ajujaht-2016-18 – – just hold back, it’s in Estonian 🙂
Good luck in the competition to all teams and let’s continue in a week!
