1 July 2014

On July 28, the Hi-Tech Park administration together with StartIdea.by conducted the first MENTOR DAY. During the event new IT entrepreneurs received practical assistance in developing their startup projects.

The event consisted of 2 blocks. Within the first one, the visiting expert Vitaly Vinogradov conducted a training seminar addressing the issue of creating a project roadmap. It was developed by Vitaly for Open University Skolkovo and showed a detailed step by step plan of project development in compliance with the market characteristics and existing technologies.

Over 30 startup teams applied to participate in the second block of the MENTOR DAY; 7 of them were selected as the most promising. The organizers ensured that all projects meet the requirements. The projects were selected on the basis of several key criteria, including the stage of project development, its practical implementation, cost-effectiveness, social component and a team.

Visiting expert Vitaly Vinogradov, founder of TUT.BY Yury Zisser, head of the Department for Innovative Business Support at the HTP administration Yury Sudarev, director of Apalon Technologies Dmitry Karnei, product manager of Game Stream Konstantin Keller, development director of the International Accelerator GamAK Andrey Mogin and CEO of R-Style Lab Vitaly Nikulenko were among those who shared their experience with young startuppers.

Yury Zisser, founder of TUT.BY and co-founder of StartIdea.by:

"First of all, I like the project itself. This is a good start for the HTP business incubator. What I like even more is that it is a joint project of a state-run and public organization – HTP and StartIdea.by. Until now governmental and public, private initiatives have not coincided so this project is especially valuable.

In my opinion, the projects here are of higher quality than those participating in our multiple startup activities – there is a lot to choose from."

There were no winners and no medals. The main task of the MENTOR DAY expert council was to identify promising projects and help to promote them. Thus, the project Vnutri.by was awarded with the diploma from the MENTOR DAY experts, the project Little Red Cap Tests – from StartIdea.by and the project Keep Eye On – from the HTP. The projects will get financial and expert support. The projects Vnutri.by, Stuffmates and Staronka received special prizes from the HTP resident-company Apalon Technologies.