Podim 2025 program

  • May 12
  • May 13
  • May 14
  • Monday, May 12
Location14:0014:3015:0015:3016:0016:3017:0017:3018:0018:3019:0019:3020:0020:3021:0021:3022:0022:3023:0023:30
Partners Show & PitchingMaribox Hall 3
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Partners ShowMaribox Hall 02
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Investors showMaribox KlubKlub
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Food & Drinks AreaNetworking terrace
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Side EventsJudgement Tower
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Registration DeskMaribox Lobby
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Monday, May 12
ACTIVE:
Time
Partners Show & Pitching
Maribox Hall 3
Partners Show
Maribox Hall 02
Investors show
Maribox KlubKlub
Food & Drinks Area
Networking terrace
Side Events
Judgement Tower
Registration Desk
Maribox Lobby
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
21:30
22:00
22:30
23:00
23:30
00:00
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
PANEL: How space data can fuel your business growth Powered by FIERCE project
15:00 - 16:00
Vid Jakopin (Flycom Technologies, Slovenia)Thomas Tanghe (Novaspace, Germany)Annabel Egert (Novaspace, Germany)Luka Zlatečan (SpaceGuardian, Slovenia)
[PITCHING COMPETITION] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Pitching Competition Jury Only
16:00 - 16:30
[PITCHING COMPETITION] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Semifinals of the Podim Pitching Competition
Investor and Business Executives Only
16:30 - 19:00
Andrea Mladin (Pet Travel Advisor, Serbia)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
TALK: Unexpected Legal Challenges When Scaling Your Company
15:00 - 16:00
Gašper Hajdu (CMS Slovenia, Slovenia)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
PANEL: Why intellectual property (IP) matters for start-ups in uncertain times
16:00 - 17:00
Klemen Grošelj (Slovenian Intellectual Property Office, Slovenia)Marta Klajnšek Gunde (Mysteria Colorum, Slovenia)Primož Zelenšek (Chipolo, Slovenia)Petra Boškin (URSIL, Slovenia)Yann Ménière (European Patent Office, Germany)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
TALK: Infineon Edge AI Startup Challenge 2025
17:00 - 18:00
Andreas Muehlberger (Infineon Technologies, Austria)
[STARTUP DEMO STUDIO] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
TALK & DEMO: Secure and Independent European Cloud Infrastructure
18:00 - 19:00
Gernot Horak (Exoscale, Switzerland)Iva Bosotina (Exoscale, Switzerland)Iva Janković (MDX, Germany)
[HEALTH ECOSYSTEM MEETUP] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
PANEL: Health Investment in Emerging Regions: unlocking CEE’s potential
Investors Only
15:00 - 16:00
Charlotte Taft (Pan-Adria Partners, Slovenia)Michael Stucky (Serpentine Ventures, Switzerland)Miha Štajdohar (Genialis, Slovenia)Jakob Gajšek (LUI & EIT, Slovenia)
[INVESTORS ACADEMY] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
NETWORKING: Connect & Exchange
Investors Only
16:00 - 17:00
Tatjana Zabasu Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)Dilan Sisu (e2vc, Turkey)Vuk Lau (Silicon Gardens, Slovenia)Laszlo Czirjak (Interactive Venture Partners, Hungary)Christian Kumar (Capital Kinetics, UK)
[INVESTORS ACADEMY] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
TALK: Mastering Portfolio Exits – Insights from 150+ M&A Deals
17:00 - 18:00
Peter Globokar (Octopus Ventures, UK)
[INVESTORS ACADEMY] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Networking Dinner
Investors Only
18:00 - 19:00
Tatjana Zabasu Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)
[NETWORKING] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Podim meetup
19:00 - 22:00
[NETWORKING] - REGISTRATION REQUIRED IN APP
Silicon Gardens’ Poker Night at Podim
21:00 - 23:59
MARIBOX LOBBY, 14.00–20.00
Registration of conference participants
14:00 - 20:00
Time
Main stage
Maribox Hall 01
Food & Drinks Area
Networking terrace
Builders stage
Maribox Hall 02
Stage 04
Maribox Hall 04
Expo Area
Maribox Lobby
DealRoom 1:1 meetings
Narodni dom
Feniks
Feniks
Registration Desk
Maribox
08:00
08:30
09:00
09:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
21:30
22:00
22:30
23:00
23:30
00:00
[OPENING]
Opening the Stage: A New Era for European Tech
09:00 - 09:30
Gregor Rebolj (Silicon Gardens, Slovenia)Urban Lapajne (Podim & Venture Factory, Slovenia)Maja Tomanič Vidovič (Slovene Enterprise Fund, Slovenia)Matevž Frangež (Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport, Slovenia)Daniel Cronin (Austrian Startups, Austria)
[CONFESSION OF A FOUNDER]
FIRESIDE: From Vision to Multimillion Exit
09:30 - 10:00
Bernhard Niesner (Busuu, UK)Daniel Cronin (Austrian Startups, Austria)
[CONFESSION OF A FOUNDER]
FIRESIDE: The Bootstrapped Path to Global Success
10:00 - 10:30
Nenad Milanovic (CAKE.com, Serbia)Vuk Lau (Silicon Gardens, Slovenia)
[CONFESSION OF A FOUNDER]
FIRESIDE: The Untold Chapters of Being a Founder
10:30 - 11:00
Elnaz Sarraf (ROYBI, USA)Daniel Cronin (Austrian Startups, Austria)
[DEVELOPING A WINNING ECOSYSTEM]
FIRESIDE: Innovation Insights from 30 Years at Philips
11:30 - 11:50
Roland Waldner (KWF, ex Philips, Austria)Mariya Konstantinova (AGRANA Fruit, Austria)
[DEV. A WIN. ECO.]
TALK: Global Tech Race from IP Perspective
11:50 - 12:00
Yann Ménière (European Patent Office, Germany)
[DEVELOPING A WINNING ECOSYSTEM]
PANEL: Europe in the Global Tech Race: How Can Catch up and move Ahead?
12:00 - 13:00
Sabine Herlitschka (Infineon Technologies Austria, Austria)Jonathan Chu (CMS, China)Julien Coustaury (Fil Rouge Capital)Varun Rekhi (Speedinvest, UK)Daniel Cronin (Austrian Startups, Austria)
[BUILDING A RESILIENT COMPANY]
TALK: The Inner Game of Global Success
14:30 - 14:50
Franci Zidar (Bird Buddy, Slovenia)
[BUILDING A RESILIENT COMPANY]
FIRESIDE: Lessons Learned from Scaling to $75M ARR
14:50 - 15:10
Max Azarov (Novakid, Turkey)Daniel Cronin (Austrian Startups, Austria)
[BUILDING A RESILIENT COMPANY]
PANEL: Survive, Adapt, Grow The DNA of Resilient Teams
15:10 - 16:00
Franci Zidar (Bird Buddy, Slovenia)Jennifer Lee (GSV Ventures, USA)Marius Iordache (Bible Chat, Romania)Magdalena Surowiec (Unfold.vc, Poland)Daniel Cronin (Austrian Startups, Austria)
[AI & FINTECH]
TALK: The Future of Customer Engagement Powered by AI
16:30 - 16:50
Nabila Moumen (HubSpot, France)
[AI & FINTECH]
TALK: From Solving Equations to Shaping the Future with AI
16:50 - 17:10
Damir Sabol (Microblink and Photomath, Croatia)
[AI & FINTECH]
PANEL: Fintech x AI: Redefining Finance Through Intelligence
17:10 - 18:00
John Velissarios (Otranto Limited, Monaco)Nabila Moumen (HubSpot, France)Mark Palfalvi (PortfoLion Capital Partners, Hungary)Aleksandra Brdar Turk (OTP, Slovenia)Emma Burrows (Portia AI, UK)Nejc Novak (Nlaw, Slovenia)
[GALLERY NETWORKING]
Pitching competition final warming up
18:00 - 18:30
[PITCHING]
Final of the Podim Pitching Competition
18:30 - 20:00
Jure Mikuž (South Central Ventures, Slovenia)Izet Zdralovic (Silicon Gardens, Croatia)Jennifer Lee (GSV Ventures, USA)Karlo Kukec (Vesna VC, Croatia)Magdalena Surowiec (Unfold.vc, Poland)Stefan Despotović (Infobip, Croatia)Patrick Platzer (Carinthian Venture Fund, Austria)Francois Mazoudier (Fundraising Bootcamp, UK)Rok Huber (Slovene Enterprise Fund, Slovenia)Julien Coustaury (Fil Rouge Capital)Daniel Cronin (Austrian Startups, Austria)
[TERRACE NETWORKING]
Refreshment break
11:00 - 11:30
[TERRACE NETWORKING]
Lunch break on Maribox terrace
13:00 - 14:30
[TERRACE NETWORKING]
Refreshment break
16:00 - 16:30
[TERRACE NETWORKING]
Victory toast and dinner
20:00 - 21:00
[PARTY]
Podim party
21:00 - 23:59
[B2B]
Scaling Through Corporate Partnerships
11:30 - 11:50
Perica Baškarić (all eyes on screens, Croatia)
[B2B]
Trade shows as a go to market strategy
11:50 - 12:10
Marin Ribać (Sportradar, Slovenia)
[B2B]
5 Market Entry Mistakes and Proven Solutions
12:10 - 12:30
Boris Pogačnik (Ex. Infobip, Croatia)
[B2B]
From Zero to Enterprise: Strategies to Secure Your First 5 Large Customers
12:30 - 12:50
Tomaž Šuklje (Nordoon, Slovenia)
[BOOK LAUNCH]
Exclusive Book Launch: The Launch Code by Zoltan Vardy + Author Signing
12:50 - 13:10
Zoltan Vardy (The Launch Code, UK)
[B2B]
Finding Product-Market Fit in B2B with Limited Data
14:30 - 14:50
Luka Šlibar (Microblink, Croatia)
[B2B]
Key Lessons Learned from Expanding into 100+ Markets
14:50 - 15:10
Timothei Jukić (Native Teams, Croatia)
[B2B]
Winning Sales in Banking as a Startup
15:10 - 15:30
Mladen Markovic (Uhura Solutions, UK)
[B2B]
TALK: How Synthesia Successfully Scaled in the B2B Market Through SM Advertising
15:30 - 15:50
Mark Mavretic (Synthesia, Slovenia)
[B2C]
TALK: How to Scale Your Product with an Exit in Mind
16:30 - 16:50
Jennifer Lee (GSV Ventures, USA)
[B2B]
FIRESIDE: Fundraising Masterclass – How to successfully close a VC round
16:30 - 16:50
[B2B]
TALK: Deconstructing HeyReach’s Growth to $4M ARR Using Word-of-Mouth.
16:50 - 17:10
Vukašin Vukosavljević (HeyReach, Serbia)
[B2B]
Scaling hardware against all odds
17:10 - 17:30
Miha Jagodic (Bloq.it, Lisbon)
[B2B]
Scaling B2B SaaS Revenue Operations – from $2 to $20M ARR
17:30 - 17:50
Matic Užmah (Colossyan, Denmark)
[BUILDING AN RESILIENT COMPANY]
PANEL: Disrupt or Die: How AI Is Transforming the Business Scene
11:30 - 12:30
Mojca Štruc (Ministry for Digital Transformation, Slovenia)Dr. Luka Stopar (Solvesall d.o.o, Slovenia)Dr. Teodor Štimec (Optics Trade d.o.o)Iztok Renčelj (EdgeTech d.o.o)Mag. Jure Verhovnik (Faculty of Electrical Engineering UL, Slovenia)
[MARKETPLACE EXPO]
Partners Expo – All Day
09:00 - 11:00
[MARKETPLACE EXPO]
Startups Expo Group A
11:00 - 14:00
[MARKETPLACE EXPO]
Startups Expo Group B
15:00 - 18:00
[DEAL ROOM]
One-on-one pre-scheduled 20-minute meetings
11:30 - 13:10
[DEAL ROOM]
One-on-one pre-scheduled 20-minute meetings
14:30 - 18:10
[FENIKS NETWORKING]
Podim party
21:00 - 23:59
Registration of conference participants
08:00 - 20:00
Time
Main stage
Maribox Hall 01
Food & Drinks Area
Networking terrace
Builders stage
Maribox Hall 02
Expo Area
Maribox Lobby
DealRoom 1:1 meetings
Narodni dom
Side Events
Secret Location
Registration Desk
Maribox
08:30
09:00
09:30
10:00
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00
12:30
13:00
13:30
14:00
14:30
15:00
15:30
16:00
16:30
17:00
17:30
18:00
18:30
19:00
19:30
20:00
20:30
21:00
21:30
[DEEP TECH]
TALK: A Pan-European View on Tech Investment
10:00 - 10:20
Daniel Beck (European Investment Fund, Luxembourg)
[DEEP TECH]
TALK: How to Bridge The Financing Gap For Deep Tech Commercialization
10:20 - 10:30
Miguel García González (Sploro, Spain)
[DEEP TECH]
PANEL: Funding Deep Tech Growth and Unlocking Europe’s Potential
10:30 - 11:30
Daniel Beck (European Investment Fund, Luxembourg)Angela Ivanova (LAM'ON, Bulgaria)Snježana Miliša (Merlin Hat, ex. Bugatti Rimac, Croatia)Nina Dremelj (Vesna VC & Business Angels Slovenia, Slovenia)Yann Ménière (European Patent Office, Germany)Michael Stucky (Serpentine Ventures, Switzerland)
[DEEP TECH]
TALK: Unlocking Deep Tech Commercialization Through Open Innovation
12:00 - 12:20
Pedro Costa (Beta-i, Portugal)
[DEEP TECH]
FIRESIDE: How Collaboration Among Research, Academia, Industry, and Entrepreneurs Drives Impactful Innovation
12:20 - 12:45
Stefan Dobrev (EIT, Switzerland)Pedro Costa (Beta-i, Portugal)
[DEEP TECH]
PANEL: Open Innovation – Catalyst for Deep Tech Commercialization
12:45 - 13:40
PJ Mistry (Unilever, Netherlands)Naoki Kamimaeda (Global Brain, UK)Jerneja Lončar (Good Tech Ventures, UK)Christian Kumar (Capital Kinetics, UK)Rok Pestotnik ("Jožef Stefan" Institute & University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)Anja von der Ropp (World Intellectual Property Organization, Switzerland)Tamas Szeker (iScale Group, Spain)
[TERRACE NETWORKING]
Refreshment
09:30 - 10:00
[TERRACE NETWORKING]
Refreshment Break
11:30 - 12:00
[TERRACE NETWORKING]
Lunch break on Maribox terrace
13:30 - 15:00
[B2C]
TALK: The Hard Lessons of Reinventing a Leaner, Stronger Business
10:20 - 10:40
Johannes Berger (Mimo, Austria)
[B2C]
From 0 to 1: Building and Scaling a B2C Product
10:40 - 11:00
Andrej Kugonic (Nordeus, Serbia)
[B2C]
TALK: How to Build a Growth Marketing Machine
11:00 - 11:20
Marius Iordache (Bible Chat, Romania)
[B2C]
TALK: Design-Driven Growth: How User-Centric Innovation Fuels Success
12:00 - 12:20
Katarina Lotrič (Gentler Stories, Slovenia)
[B2C]
TALK: How to Validate Your Product Before You Build It
12:20 - 12:40
Tom Vodopivec (Bird Buddy, Slovenia)
[B2C]
TALK: Product Validation in Different Stages: Between Science and Gut Feeling
12:40 - 13:00
Ante Odić (Outfit7, Slovenia)
[B2C]
TALK: Pivoting from B2C to B2B
13:00 - 13:20
Igor Čarapina (Rolla, BIH)
[MARKETPLACE EXPO]
Partners Expo – All Day
08:30 - 09:00
[MARKETPLACE EXPO]
Startups Expo Group C
09:00 - 12:00
[MARKETPLACE EXPO]
Startups Expo Group D
12:00 - 15:00
[DEAL ROOM]
One-on-one pre-scheduled 20-minute meetings
10:00 - 14:30
[PARTNERS & SPEAKERS MEETUP]
Entertainment program with dinner
17:00 - 21:00
Registration of conference participants
08:30 - 09:30