On September 19th in Ljubljana, over 300 entrepreneurs and founders gathered for CEED Slovenia’s International Conference, CEED Founder’s Talk, for mentoring, peer-to-peer groups, and panels to discuss the challenges of entrepreneurship. Guests traveled from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Germany, Macedonia, Serbia, the United States, and other parts of Slovenia to have an honest dialogue about the triumphs and obstacles that come with being a business owner.

“One of CEED’s goals is to openly share experiences and challenges – especially those that are mostly not discussed, to successful entrepreneurs and to those who need that knowledge to grow successfully,” said Andrej Šolinc, CEO of CEED Slovenia.

 

Leading the panels were:

  • LUKA ABRUS, co-founder and CEO, Five, HRV;

  • IGOR BOGIČEVIČ, co-founder, Seven Bridges Genomics, SRB

  • BOŠTJAN BREGAR, co-founder and CEO, Loop Email;

  • NENAD CUBRINOVSKI, COO, InPlayer, MK;

  • DAVID HENZEL, co-founder, MaxCDN & TaskDrive, GER;

  • UROŠ ČIMŽAR, co-founder and CEO, DHH;

  • DANIJELA DIVAC, Digital Product Consultant, SRB;

  • MARKO GUČEK, co-founder and CEO, GoOpti;

  • ALI KARBASSI, founder and CEO, WE All Code, USA;

  • MATEJ KOŠMRLJ, Managing Director, Euro Plus in Nicelabel;

  • KARLO KUKEC, Managing Director Tech_Park Varaždin, CRO;

  • JAKA LEVSTEK, co-founder and CEO, D.Labs;

  • ANDRAŽ LOGAR, co-founder and CEO, 3fs;

  • JURE MIKUŽ, co-founder and partner, South Central Ventures;

  • DAMIAN MERLAK, co-founder, Bitstamp Exchange, Tokens.net, Quantum Project;

  • GUILLAUME MOUBECHE, founder and CEO, Lemlist, FRA;

  • PEGGY PARFENOFF, president, WorldChicago, USA;

  • GREGOR REBOLJ, founder, Silicon Gardens Fund & Kyuriosity Inc;

  • BRIAN STARR, CEO, Inspired Engagements – YWCA, USA;

  • TILEN TRAVNIK, co-founder in partner D.Labs;

  • BOŠTJAN TROHA, co-founder, Zootfly;

  • FARIS ZACINA, co-founder and CEO, Ministry of Programming, BiH.

 

Panelist Boštjan Troha Karo shared his journey in ‘The Founder’s Dilemma: Control or Wealth?’ panel, where he said, “Your enterprise should grow faster than your skills. If not – shut it down and start something else.”

In the panel, ‘How and When to Scale’ hosted by Marko Guček, Faris Zacina, and Ali Karbassi, Guček said: “Scaling is great, but helping others to do so is even better!”

The conference helped guide new entrepreneurs down the path of success while showcasing CEED Slovenia’s Global Learning Initiative. CEED Slovenia developed this Global Learning Initiative with some of the most successful global entrepreneur-founded technology companies from Slovenia, including Outfit7, Nicelabel, Cosylab, Sportradar, D.Labs, Loop, Avantcar, GoOpti, 3FS, and Parsek.

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Watch videos from the conference here.