StartUp Navigator Is Mapping The Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Bulgaria and the Region
The Bulgarian startup ecosystem has a new online arena where individuals, teams or organizations with an entrepreneurial mindset can step on the scene, connect with others, and participate actively in everything that happens in this vibrant environment. The website is named StartUp Navigator – a platform that aims to provide visibility and to facilitate the connection between people with new ideas, startups and businesses, startups and talent[M1] s, startups and mentors, accelerators, non-governmental organizations, administration, co-working and all other stakeholders in their journey of being entrepreneurs. StartUp Navigator is a project of the Association of the Bulgarian Leaders and Entrepreneurs /ABLE/. The organization launched the first beta version of the platform in June. The second and current one was released at the end of August and it already has more than 400 registered organizations and individuals.
What distinguishes the platform from similar ones in Bulgaria is that it is not profiled on startups in a specific business area, being wide open instead for all industries and all stakeholders along the entrepreneurship chain. If someone has an idea and wants to start a business, they will be able to find support at every stage of the project – from co-founders or mentors, or even professionals, from whom to receive additional training, to getting an investment, then accelerating the idea in order to reach a larger scale and to go beyond the borders of Bulgaria as an established and stable international company. “We are aware that the participants in the entrepreneurship ecosystem know each other absolutely well, but our goal is to attract more participants from the periphery of this society who stand out there with their idea and should dare to start,” this is how Venetzia Netzova, project leader of the initiative and part of ABLE Bulgaria, explained in an interview in the Bulgarian National Radio the core idea behind the platform.
The Navigator has free access and registration. The platform has developed several categories to help registrants find and pin their place on the map of the Bulgarian startup ecosystem. During the registration or later on, anyone can filter to their profile exactly where they are in the ecosystem: an idea, an investor, an accelerator, a mentor, a freelance, a media, a research and development lab, a government or non-governmental organization, a co-working space or other. They can also state the industry, the stage of development, city and country. Thus, in practice, a digital map with all participants will be created and it will be clearly visible where they are in the Bulgarian business environment, what they need or what they can do to contribute the environment. It is not a coincidence that [M2] the platform is only in English, thus being internationally accessible.
What can you do in the StartUp Navigator platform?
- You can develop and maintain your profile as part of the ecosystem for more visibility
- You can browse the directory, categorized in 16 different groups of stakeholders just to check who’s who and where they are on the entrepreneurship map
- You can search counterparties whenever needed or filter the data for more relevance
- You can follow the calendar of events updated weekly
- You can post your needs or opportunities in the Call for Action section
For more news and updates, follow the Facebook page of StartUp Navigator. The initiators of the idea have already published there an open to fill in poll “Do you think our entrepreneurship ecosystem can become better?”. You can share your own opinion here.
