BudapestCrunch II Was A Great Success
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I got to Budapest after a massive storm had gone from northern Europe through to the Central hills and plains. Trees were downed and it had cooled off considerably and I thanked the meet-up gods for ensuring that I wouldn’t sweat through my clothes.
I also realized that we were truly celebrating BudapestCrunch II, not one. The inaugural Budapest event happened way back in 2007 when I brought the first iPhone to the city in an effort to show everyone what Steve Jobs had wrought. That event was a scorcher with a few dozen folks hanging in an unair-conditioned student bar.
This latest BudapestCrunch was far better. We held it at the Design Terminal, formerly a bus station, where we held a small pitch-off and welcomed over 150 local startupers to enjoy beer and pizza. Sponsors included iEurope Capital, Axel Springer Plug n’ Play, IseeQ, and Design Terminál
The winners were Zizoo, a boat rental service that is disrupting that lucrative industry, and Smart Futuristic, a company dedicated to reducing food waste. Both companies had some great traction and Zizoo was already generating revenue.
In short, the startup storm is still raging in Central Europe and I was quite pleased to be a part of it – both way back in 2007 when we met in a scorching hot room and talked shop and today where we discovered that the Budapest ecosystem is growing by leaps and bounds.
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