“We entered Get in the Ring Romania because we wanted feedback, to get our name out there and to meet other start-ups.”

Bucharest can become the Central and Eastern European hub for the creative industries — as shown by the first edition of the Creative Est festival. Under the tagline “Ideas that happen”, Creative Est meant a week dedicated to creativity, with 25 Romanian and international speakers, 70 local businesses and 3,000 supporters of creativity.

As a partner of Creative Est, Banca Transilvania awarded the winners of the Get in the Ring Romania competition, an event organized by GEA Strategy & Consulting, prizes worth 4,000 euros and a year’s free access to a range of BT services and advice for start-ups.

Eight creative start-ups took to the Get in the Ring stage. Congratulations to all the start-ups that entered the competition; we’re pleased to share the stories of the two winners. Today, episode one.

The Skeptic Dog Animation story: winner of first prize, worth 3,000 euros

An animation studio, Skeptic Dog Animation helps other start-ups and companies tell their story in a fun and engaging way, through the animations they create.

Andra Berila, co-managing partner, tells us about their business:

“I’ve known my business partner, Bogdan Crivoi, for 5 years. He used to draw all sorts of funny characters; I was in film school and wanted to make an animated film. We ended up working together on that film, then we came up with other off-the-wall ideas, so we did more projects. Only two and a half years ago did the penny drop that we could make money from what we do. A friend had an online platform and asked us to make an animated film for him; he gave us both trust and money. Until then we’d only made films for school, but it was a challenge we accepted. We made the film, it turned out well, but I wasn’t thinking about business at all.

In the meantime, I was a student at Universitatea Alternativa (UA) and heard about the business incubator there. It got me thinking. We didn’t sit still; Bogdan and I decided to join the incubator with our animations, under the name Skeptic Dog Animation. We started working on a business plan and then the snowball kept rolling. The feedback was positive and we gained confidence.

We entered Get in the Ring Romania because we wanted feedback, to promote ourselves and to meet other start-ups, and the competition’s format is unusual and interesting, so… why not?

Getting ready in two days was a challenge, but the team at GEA Strategy & Consulting were a big help: they answered all our questions quickly and shared tips & tricks. We didn’t make it to the rehearsals organized the day before the competition, but we got support over the phone and by email.

The jury were very open and attentive to each contestant; I liked their questions, which were meant to help us. That made me see our business’s strengths and weaknesses more clearly.

Both before and after the competition itself, I had the chance to meet the other contestants. We were all curious to learn about each other and we supported one another, even though we all wanted to win. At the end we exchanged business cards and there’s a good chance collaborations will follow. That makes me very happy! All the participating start-ups are doing great things and deserve to continue growing.

We’re happy that, besides the money, we’ll also receive consulting. The prize is a challenge in itself — to learn new things and get better. We’ll invest the money in technical equipment to help us produce animations more efficiently and at much higher quality.”