Kirill Bulatov: a venture fund will give a new impetus to private space exploration. Head of VEB Innovations Kirill Bulatov about startups in Russia Kirill Bulatov web

The grant and expert service of the Skolkovo Foundation shared with Sk.ru the first results of the microgrant financing program. According to the service, in the first six months, 177 Skolkovo residents took advantage of the program, who submitted a total of 522 applications for microgrants. Of these, 107 applications were approved total amount about 23 million rubles, payment was made for 62 applications in the amount of more than 18 million rubles.

The microgrant financing program for startups participating in Skolkovo started in August 2015. She allows in short time get necessary funds(up to 1.5 million rubles one-time) for certain purposes in four areas: “Intellectual property protection”, “Prototyping”, “Testing”, “Participation in exhibitions and conferences”. A Skolkovo participant can apply for micro-grant funding any number of times, but within one application one cannot receive more than 1.5 million rubles, and the total amount of micro-grants per participant per year for all programs should not exceed 4 million rubles.

“During the time that has passed since the launch of the program, we have become convinced that this tool is in great demand. We launched the program because we saw that our projects often needed minimal support in order for them to take a leap forward. Today there are more than one and a half thousand participants in Skolkovo. And it is very difficult to approach each individual individually on a separate request. Therefore, we have created a universal tool that allows you to quickly allocate the funds necessary to promote the project.”

The average time for making a decision on a microgrant is currently 13 days; in general, 20 days are allotted for consideration of the application - during this period the applicant will definitely receive a response on the provision of a microgrant.

“No development institute in Russia has such a deadline for making a decision on financing. Even when I tell my colleagues abroad about our experience, they are surprised, because no one has such deadlines. At the same time, we give a good chance for companies to advance into the market,” emphasizes Kirill Bulatov.

There are similar government funding programs for startups in the world - in France, Switzerland, Singapore, says Kirill Bulatov:

“But we have our own specifics, and the program was developed after communicating with experts and analyzing our experience of working with young companies. Within the framework of the microgrant financing program, you cannot “raise” money for the entire project, but you can take a step that will help you get closer to creating a finished product, bringing it to market, and protecting it from an intellectual property point of view.”

Requests and requirements

The demand for a particular program is largely determined by the type of activity of the participating company, explain the authors of the program. Thus, for the cluster of biomedical technologies, the most popular programs were “Intellectual Property Protection” (38% of the total number of applications received) and “Testing” (60% of the total number of applications received). Residents of the space technology and telecommunications cluster most often request microgrants for prototyping - 51.4% of the total number of applications submitted under the program are related precisely to this. The “Protection of Intellectual Property” program received the greatest popularity among energy efficient technology cluster projects - 21% of the total number of applications received. Cluster companies information technologies and the nuclear technology cluster, the most popular program was “Participation in exhibitions and conferences” - 41% and 16.6%, respectively.

“We started with four programs and deliberately made them very narrow. For example, in the “prototyping” section there are currently only three directions: packaging, industrial design and, in fact, the creation of a prototype. We wanted to accumulate enough statistics to understand what our startups could do under such a program, so as not to complicate their lives by filling out unnecessary documents, so that they could quickly move forward. To do this, we have created an absolutely transparent and formal protocol for receiving money,” said Kirill Bulatov. “The first six months were spent honing the program, but now the grant and expert service is preparing to expand the list of sub-areas for micro-grant financing.”

As part of the program, the costs of startups in the four listed areas are either advanced by the Skolkovo Foundation or compensated after the fact. At first, many startups requested amounts greater than what was needed to complete one of the stages of development - they tried to get the maximum possible. However, the strict restrictions of the program do not allow you to receive more money than is actually necessary, for example, for one trip to an exhibition or for the creation of one prototype.

“The beauty of the program is its simplicity, although on the other hand it sets very strict limits. It is necessary to strictly comply with all formal requirements - that is, fill out the documents correctly, down to the commas. If there is at least one error in the completed application, we are forced to make a decision to refuse. It often happens like this: a person fills out electronic form, sees some question or clarification, and simply removes them. But our formal requirement is that the questionnaire cannot be changed. On the one hand, there seems to be unnecessary bureaucracy. On the other hand, we just need to make sure that the startup is doing what is allowed to be financed with microgrants. It is precisely due to these formal requirements that we were able to make a very fast procedure, and it must be followed. And only if the application meets all the requirements, the participant receives money,” shared Kirill Bulatov.

An incorrectly completed application is the most common reason for refusal of a microgrant. At first, the rejection rate for applications was very high - only about 10% of applications were approved the first time. At the end of the first half of the year, the figure increased to 30% - companies have learned to listen to comments and take them into account when submitting applications for the following purposes, says Kirill Bulatov:

“The same statistics show that more than 65% of companies that apply a second time are approved. And this means that 65% of startups hear our comments and do not repeat the mistakes. There are, of course, those who apply for the third time. Almost 100% of applicants succeed the third time. Although there remains a certain proportion of applications that we cannot finance and reject, because they, in principle, do not fall into the four areas of microgrants.”

**First results**

At the start of the microgrant program, Kirill Bulatov stated that its main advantages would be quick and obvious results. The first six months of the program confirm this.

Thus, within the framework of the “Protection of Intellectual Property” program, the purpose of which is to support office work in the implementation of foreign patents during the validity period, compensation/advancement of 86 services for transferring applications to the national phase in more than 14 countries of the world was approved. 36 applications were approved for a total amount of over 7.6 million rubles. 25% of applications have been transferred to the US national phase; microgrants also help residents protect intellectual property in the markets of Japan, Canada, Ireland, Korea and other countries. Thus, one of the companies, Pharminterprices, with the help of the micro-grant program, implemented and reimbursed the costs of 15 services for translating applications into the national phase. Thanks to microgrants, NGT-Sintez was also able to partially reimburse the costs of IP protection.

Under the Prototyping program, 10 applications were approved for a total amount of more than 3.1 million rubles. Microgrants have already produced 13 prototypes, including two industrial product design projects. The most popular service within this program is the creation of a prototype based on design documentation (more than 60% of applications). “The dozen prototypes made with micro-grants are real working devices that can be shown to an investor, brought to a presentation, connected to a car, or otherwise demonstrated in some way,” says Kirill Bulatov. - For example, thanks to our micro-grant, a prototype of a laser ignition system was created rocket engine, which is already being tested in real conditions.”

Under the Testing program, 12 applications worth more than 6.2 million rubles were approved. More than 90 different tests have been carried out using microgrants. The most popular are tests conducted to study certain characteristics and properties of the test object (more than 65%).

“As a result of trials, one company was able to confirm the promise of a drug candidate for a drug for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Another pharmaceutical startup was able to show the preliminary effectiveness/toxicity of the drugs under study,” said Kirill Bulatov.

Finally, the most popular direction of applications for microgrants is “Participation in exhibitions and conferences.” Over six months, 49 applications were approved for a total amount of almost 10.6 million rubles. As a result: startups held more than 150 negotiations with potential clients; foreign representatives were selected for 4 companies; a number of agreements of intent were signed; 9 reports were made on the projects of the participants. The most popular expense item in this area is the cost of the stand.

Business travel under the microgrant program is strictly regulated. “You cannot fly away a week before the conference and return a week after - we do not finance business tourism, this does not correspond to our goals and objectives. You can arrive at the conference no earlier than the day before it starts and fly out the very next day after its end, emphasized Kirill Bulatov. - Very often companies complain that they arrange additional meetings with investors at the conference, but they do not have time to conduct meetings. We are currently discussing the possibility of changing the requirements to extend the period of stay by one more day after the conferences.”

Participation in international events is an important aspect of company development. For example, the Promobot company used a microgrant to travel to the Irex 2015 exhibition, found a customer and partner from China there, with whom it achieved long-term cooperation agreements. Another company, EligoVision, received an invitation to begin negotiations in the field of promoting the company’s product in China. educational institutions from representatives investment companies, innovation centers and universities.

“There are more and more such examples every day. And our goal is to create an ecosystem in which startups will be able to produce new products, create new teams, raise money for new projects, and finally be able to create “national champions.” And our role is to support them in this,” said Kirill Bulatov. “Financing in the form of microgrants helps startups get through the “valley of death,” and the more companies get through it, the better - not only for the Skolkovo Foundation, but for the Russian economy as a whole.”

The grant and expert service of the Skolkovo Foundation shared with Sk.ru the first results of the microgrant financing program. According to the service, in the first six months, 177 Skolkovo residents took advantage of the program, who submitted a total of 522 applications for microgrants. Of these, 107 applications were approved for a total amount of about 23 million rubles, and payments were made for 62 applications amounting to more than 18 million rubles.

The microgrant financing program for startups participating in Skolkovo started in August 2015. It allows you to quickly receive the necessary funds (up to 1.5 million rubles one-time) for certain purposes in four areas: “Intellectual property protection”, “Prototyping”, “Testing”, “Participation in exhibitions and conferences”. A Skolkovo participant can apply for micro-grant funding any number of times, but within one application one cannot receive more than 1.5 million rubles, and the total amount of micro-grants per participant per year for all programs should not exceed 4 million rubles.

“During the time that has passed since the launch of the program, we have become convinced that this tool is in great demand. We launched the program because we saw that our projects often needed minimal support in order for them to take a leap forward. Today there are more than one and a half thousand participants in Skolkovo. And it is very difficult to approach each individual individually on a separate request. Therefore, we have created a universal tool that allows you to quickly allocate the funds necessary to promote the project.”

“No development institute in Russia has such a deadline for making a decision on financing. Even when I tell my colleagues abroad about our experience, they are surprised, because no one has such deadlines. At the same time, we give a good chance for companies to advance into the market,” emphasizes Kirill Bulatov.

There are similar government funding programs for startups in the world - in France, Switzerland, Singapore, says Kirill Bulatov:

“But we have our own specifics, and the program was developed after communicating with experts and analyzing our experience of working with young companies. Within the framework of the microgrant financing program, you cannot “raise” money for the entire project, but you can take a step that will help you get closer to creating a finished product, bringing it to market, and protecting it from an intellectual property point of view.”

Requests and requirements

The demand for a particular program is largely determined by the type of activity of the participating company, explain the authors of the program. Thus, for the cluster of biomedical technologies, the most popular programs were “Intellectual Property Protection” (38% of the total number of applications received) and “Testing” (60% of the total number of applications received). Residents of the space technology and telecommunications cluster most often request microgrants for prototyping - 51.4% of the total number of applications submitted under the program are related precisely to this. The “Protection of Intellectual Property” program received the greatest popularity among energy efficient technology cluster projects - 21% of the total number of applications received. Among companies in the information technology cluster and the nuclear technology cluster, the most popular program was “Participation in exhibitions and conferences” - 41% and 16.6%, respectively.

“We started with four programs and deliberately made them very narrow. For example, in the “prototyping” section there are currently only three directions: packaging, industrial design and, in fact, the creation of a prototype. We wanted to accumulate enough statistics to understand what our startups could do under such a program, so as not to complicate their lives by filling out unnecessary documents, so that they could quickly move forward. To do this, we have created an absolutely transparent and formal protocol for receiving money,” said Kirill Bulatov. “The first six months were spent honing the program, but now the grant and expert service is preparing to expand the list of sub-areas for micro-grant financing.”

“The beauty of the program is its simplicity, although on the other hand it sets very strict limits. It is necessary to strictly comply with all formal requirements - that is, fill out the documents correctly, down to the commas. If there is at least one error in the completed application, we are forced to make a decision to refuse. It often happens like this: a person fills out an electronic form, sees some question or clarification, and simply removes them. But our formal requirement is that the questionnaire cannot be changed. On the one hand, there seems to be unnecessary bureaucracy. On the other hand, we just need to make sure that the startup is doing what is allowed to be financed with microgrants. It is precisely due to these formal requirements that we were able to make a very fast procedure, and it must be followed. And only if the application meets all the requirements, the participant receives money,” shared Kirill Bulatov.

“The same statistics show that more than 65% of companies that apply a second time are approved. And this means that 65% of startups hear our comments and do not repeat the mistakes. There are, of course, those who apply for the third time. Almost 100% of applicants succeed the third time. Although there remains a certain proportion of applications that we cannot finance and reject, because they, in principle, do not fall into the four areas of microgrants.”

**First results**

At the start of the microgrant program, Kirill Bulatov stated that its main advantages would be quick and obvious results. The first six months of the program confirm this.

Under the Prototyping program, 10 applications were approved for a total amount of more than 3.1 million rubles. Microgrants have already produced 13 prototypes, including two industrial product design projects. The most popular service within this program is the creation of a prototype based on design documentation (more than 60% of applications). “The dozen prototypes made with micro-grants are real working devices that can be shown to an investor, brought to a presentation, connected to a car, or otherwise demonstrated in some way,” says Kirill Bulatov. “For example, thanks to our micro-grant, a prototype of a laser rocket engine ignition system has been created, which is already being tested in real conditions.”

“As a result of trials, one company was able to confirm the promise of a drug candidate for a drug for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Another pharmaceutical startup was able to show the preliminary effectiveness/toxicity of the drugs under study,” said Kirill Bulatov.

Participation in international events is an important aspect of company development. For example, the Promobot company used a microgrant to travel to the Irex 2015 exhibition, found a customer and partner from China there, with whom it achieved long-term cooperation agreements. Another company, EligoVision, received an invitation to begin negotiations on promoting the company’s product to Chinese educational institutions from representatives of investment companies, innovation centers and universities.

“There are more and more such examples every day. And our goal is to create an ecosystem in which startups will be able to produce new products, create new teams, raise money for new projects, and finally be able to create “national champions.” And our role is to support them in this,” said Kirill Bulatov. “Financing in the form of microgrants helps startups get through the “valley of death,” and the more companies get through it, the better - not only for the Skolkovo Foundation, but for the Russian economy as a whole.”

Vnesheconombank (VEB) is reforming its innovation block as part of its new strategy. For this purpose, the VEB Innovations LLC company will be created within the structure of the state corporation, which will be headed by the former vice president for grants and examination of Skolkovo, Kirill Bulatov. Former colleagues describe him as “in a good way stubborn and corrosive.”

The VEB Supervisory Board, at a meeting on May 18, decided to create the company “VEB Innovations LLC”, which will support the projects of the National technology initiative(NTI), digital economy, attract co-investors, provide assistance to Russian innovative companies in entering international markets. The emergence of this company is associated with the reform of VEB’s innovation direction. " New company will be the senior innovation company in the group. The current VEB Innovations fund will continue to exist within this group and will be engaged in completing current projects (according to information on its website, it currently manages assets worth 1 billion rubles - “Kommersant”), and then will join the new company,” said Kommersant’s interlocutor at VEB. According to him, the existing fund was difficult to reorganize due to its design, at the same time new strategy involves a slightly different selection of projects, which VEB Innovations will do.

VEB’s strategy, approved at the end of last year (see Kommersant on December 22, 2016), includes the launch and scaling of innovative production and services, including NTI projects ( Government program measures to support the development of promising industries in Russia). We are talking, for example, about supporting prototype projects for new products intended for new markets, a scaling program (when a company needs to expand production to increase export volumes), as well as an acceleration program, which includes transferring the experience of some companies to others in entering new markets. It is assumed that the VEB Innovations company itself will invest in various projects and create late-investment funds focused on projects that are actually ready to enter industrial production, Kommersant’s interlocutors at VEB clarified.

Sergey Gorkov, head of VEB, May 17, 2017
We are ready to finance innovative projects and NTI projects at the stage of creating production and services... and scaling the business

Kirill Bulatov, a native of Skolkovo, will oversee innovation at VEB as an adviser to the head of the state corporation and the head of the new company. He confirmed to Kommersant his move to work for the state corporation, noting that he intends to bring deep technology expertise, market knowledge and synergy from Skolkovo to VEB.

Kirill Bulatov worked at Skolkovo from 2012 to 2017, holding the position of Vice President for Grants and Expertise. Under his leadership, in particular, 60 thousand examinations of innovative projects were carried out, seven grant programs were launched to ensure the development and commercialization of projects, with a grant issuance period of up to 18 days.

According to experts, Mr. Bulatov’s experience will be useful to VEB. The ability to find innovative projects and identify interesting ideas is useful for VEB as an organization whose primary tasks are modernization, says Morgan Hunt partner Maria Yankovskaya. “For any organization, obtaining such a specialist is an excellent acquisition,” says Alexander Chernov, Senior Vice President for External Communications and Advertising at Skolkovo. “He is stubborn and meticulous in a good way.”

Yulia Polyakova, Veronika Goryacheva, Ksenia Dementieva

The grant and expert service of the Skolkovo Foundation shared with the site the first results of the microgrant financing program. According to the service, in the first six months, 177 Skolkovo residents took advantage of the program, who submitted a total of 522 applications for microgrants. Of these, 107 applications were approved for a total amount of about 23 million rubles, and payments were made for 62 applications amounting to more than 18 million rubles.

Kirill Bulatov. Photo: website

The Skolkovo microgrant financing program is unique in its kind: it was developed within the grant and expert service of the Skolkovo Foundation directly for the “living” tasks of the participants in all five clusters, the program manager, vice-president of the Foundation for grants and expertise, Kirill Bulatov, told the website: “ During the time that has passed since the launch of the program, we have become convinced that this tool is in great demand. We launched the program because we saw that our projects often needed minimal support in order for them to take a leap forward. Today there are more than one and a half thousand participants in Skolkovo. And it is very difficult to approach each individual individually on a separate request. Therefore, we have created a universal tool that allows you to quickly allocate the funds necessary to promote the project.”

The average time for making a decision on a microgrant is currently 13 days; in general, 20 days are allotted for consideration of an application - during this period the applicant will definitely receive a response on the provision of a microgrant. “No development institute in Russia has such a deadline for making a decision on financing. Even when I tell my colleagues abroad about our experience, they are surprised, because no one has such deadlines. At the same time, we give a good chance for companies to advance into the market,” emphasizes Kirill Bulatov.

There are similar government funding programs for startups in the world - in France, Switzerland, Singapore, says Kirill Bulatov: “But we have our own specifics, and the program was developed after communicating with experts and analyzing our experience of working with young companies. Within the framework of the microgrant financing program, you cannot “raise” money for the entire project, but you can take a step that will help you get closer to creating a finished product, bringing it to market, and protecting it from an intellectual property point of view.”

Requests and requirements

Stand of a C3D Labs participant. Photo: C3D Labs

The demand for a particular program is largely determined by the type of activity of the participating company, explain the authors of the program. Thus, for the cluster of biomedical technologies, the most popular programs were “Intellectual Property Protection” (38% of the total number of applications received) and “Testing” (60% of the total number of applications received). Residents of the space technology and telecommunications cluster most often request microgrants for prototyping - 51.4% of the total number of applications submitted under the program are related to this. The “Protection of Intellectual Property” program received the greatest popularity among projects in the energy efficient technology cluster – 21% of the total number of applications received. Among companies in the information technology cluster and the nuclear technology cluster, the most popular program was “Participation in exhibitions and conferences” - 41% and 16.6%, respectively.

Anisoprint device prototype. Photo: Anisoprint.

“The beauty of the program is its simplicity, although on the other hand it sets very strict limits. It is necessary to strictly comply with all formal requirements - that is, fill out the documents correctly, down to the commas. If there is at least one error in the completed application, we are forced to make a decision to refuse. It often happens like this: a person fills out an electronic form, sees some question or clarification, and simply removes them. But our formal requirement is that the questionnaire cannot be changed. On the one hand, there seems to be unnecessary bureaucracy. On the other hand, we just need to make sure that the startup is doing what is allowed to be financed with microgrants. It is precisely due to these formal requirements that we were able to make a very fast procedure, and it must be followed. And only if the application meets all the requirements, the participant receives money,” said Kirill Bulatov.

An incorrectly completed application is the most common reason for microgrant refusal. At first, the rejection rate for applications was very high - only about 10% of applications were approved the first time. At the end of the first half of the year, the figure increased to 30% - companies learned to listen to comments and take them into account when submitting applications for the following purposes, says Kirill Bulatov: “The same statistics show that more than 65% of companies that applied for the second time are approved. And this means that 65% of startups hear our comments and do not repeat the mistakes. There are, of course, those who apply for the third time. Almost 100% of applicants succeed the third time. Although there remains a certain proportion of applications that we cannot finance and reject, because they, in principle, do not fall into the four areas of microgrants.”

First results

At the start of the microgrant program, Kirill Bulatov stated that its main advantages would be quick and obvious results. The first six months of the program confirm this.

So, within the framework of the program "Intellectual Property Protection", the purpose of which is to support office work in the implementation of foreign patents during the period of validity, compensation/advancement of 86 services for transferring applications to the national phase in more than 14 countries of the world was approved. 36 applications were approved for a total amount of over 7.6 million rubles. 25% of applications have been transferred to the US national phase; microgrants also help residents protect intellectual property in the markets of Japan, Canada, Ireland, Korea and other countries. Thus, one of the companies, Pharminterprises, with the help of the microgrant program, implemented and reimbursed the costs of 15 services for translating applications into the national phase. Thanks to microgrants, NGT-Sintez was also able to partially reimburse the costs of IP protection.

Prototype of the medical device "Aelita". Photo: "Aelita"

By program "Prototyping" 10 applications were approved for a total amount of more than 3.1 million rubles. Microgrants have already produced 13 prototypes, including two industrial product design projects. The most popular service within this program is the creation of a prototype based on design documentation (more than 60% of applications). “The dozen prototypes made with micro-grants are real working devices that can be shown to an investor, brought to a presentation, connected to a car, or otherwise demonstrated in some way,” says Kirill Bulatov. “For example, thanks to our micro-grant, a prototype of a laser rocket engine ignition system has been created, which is already being tested in real conditions.”

By program "Tests" 12 applications worth more than 6.2 million rubles were approved. More than 90 different tests have been carried out using microgrants. The most popular are tests conducted to study certain characteristics and properties of the test object (more than 65%). “As a result of trials, one company was able to confirm the promise of a drug candidate for a drug for the treatment of neuropathic pain. Another pharmaceutical startup was able to show the preliminary effectiveness/toxicity of the drugs under study,” said Kirill Bulatov.

Finally, the most popular direction for applications for microgrants is “Participation in exhibitions and conferences”. Over six months, 49 applications were approved for a total amount of almost 10.6 million rubles. As a result: startups held more than 150 negotiations with potential clients; foreign representatives were selected for 4 companies; a number of agreements of intent were signed; 9 reports were made on the projects of the participants. The most popular expense item in this area is the cost of the stand.

Business travel under the microgrant program is strictly regulated. “You cannot fly away a week before the conference and return a week after - we do not finance business tourism, this does not correspond to our goals and objectives. You can arrive at the conference no earlier than the day before it starts and fly out the very next day after its end,” Kirill Bulatov emphasized. — Very often companies complain that they arrange additional meetings with investors at the conference, but they do not have time to conduct meetings. We are currently discussing the possibility of changing the requirements to extend the length of stay by one more day after the conferences.”

"EligoVision" at an exhibition in Asia. Photo: EligoVision

Participation in international events is an important aspect of company development. For example, the Promobot company used a microgrant to travel to the Irex 2015 exhibition, found a customer and partner there from China, with whom it achieved long-term cooperation agreements. Another company, EligoVision, received an invitation to begin negotiations on promoting the company’s product to Chinese educational institutions from representatives of investment companies, innovation centers and universities.

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— Do you think the existing Russian business climate is conducive to the development of innovation?

— In my opinion, innovative entrepreneurship in our country is now developing much better compared to what it was at the beginning of the 2000s or even at the beginning of the 1900s. In this direction, state development institutions appeared - RVC was created, and later - which did a lot to raise the level of innovative entrepreneurship in our country and continue to work successfully, supporting the development of promising technologies and products for new markets.

But the rapid development of technology is also changing the market: new consumer demands are emerging, competition in the field of high-tech products is growing. Therefore, Russian startups, in addition to financial support, need other forms of support that allow them to more effectively promote their product in a highly competitive environment. The request for such support is quite serious, and there are various possibilities to satisfy it. For example, on the part of “Innovations” - the “acceleration” of Russian innovative companies into international markets.

Head of VEB Innovations Kirill Bulatov

— How to solve the problem of bringing most innovative solutions to real application? There are not many examples of successful Russian startups, while the situation abroad is the opposite. Why is there such a difference?

— First of all, you need to understand that our innovative business began to develop much later, so it takes time to solve a number of existing problems. Besides, Russian companies, especially beginners, should study and use successful foreign business practices in high-tech areas. In particular, we are also engaged in transferring experience from one company to another. But in fact, there are more and more examples of successful implementation of technologies created in Russia. Of course, it is not always possible to get quick results; a lot depends on the company’s field of activity.

An important factor for success is the team’s commitment, ambition and focus on commercial results, and not relying on regular receipt of grants from development institutions, which, unfortunately, happens quite often.

— What problems do novice entrepreneurs who already have an interesting idea most often encounter?

- In my opinion, anyone successful project characterized primarily by the presence interesting idea at its core, sufficient competencies for its implementation among team members and, of course, correctly used opportunities. If aspiring entrepreneurs have a promising and objectively in demand idea and have formed a team, then the most difficult step, as a rule, is the subsequent search for investment.

All investors are very pragmatic. They are ready to invest in those companies that not only have a promising idea, but also have a good understanding of target audience your product or solution, deep knowledge of the market and understanding of how to enter it.

Often, budding entrepreneurs are so confident in the genius of their invention that they build communication with investors solely from these emotional positions, and this makes effective communication difficult. Therefore, before you start looking for an investor, you should work through your project very carefully and answer the questions “Who are we doing this for?”, “How do we see our startup in a year, in two years?”, “What path do we take to get there?” Shall we come? Although, of course, you shouldn’t get bogged down in searching for answers to all questions. Moreover, the answers to them will change during the implementation of the project.

— Let's talk about VEB's TV project. In the West, the idea of a TV show about startups first appeared in the 80s of the last century. What project were you focusing on? Did you add anything of your own?

— Yes, the show “Million Dollar Idea” has analogues on Western television. Mostly we're talking about about American projects. We have carefully studied Foreign experience before its own launch. If we talk about differences, first of all it is worth noting that in such programs the emphasis was placed primarily on the entertainment component. The real applicability of inventions in everyday life or their commercial future was often the last thing producers cared about. The main thing is to entertain the viewer, and it doesn’t matter how it all ends for the participants, whether there are high ratings.

We made sure that projects with ready-made prototypes were selected for the program and that priority was given to qualified teams. In Russia, attempts have already been made to launch a show about startups, but “A Million Dollar Idea” currently has no analogues on television both in terms of the size of the prize fund and in terms of viewership, since the program is broadcast on one of the largest federal television channels. Our participants compete not only for a large cash prize, but also for the attention of the audience, their potential clients, investors and partners.

— It’s clear with the companies themselves, they are looking for investors and potential consumers. What is the viewer's interest? Should it be perceived by them as an entertainment format? Or do you think the project will be able to cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship in society?

— “A Million Dollar Idea” is aimed, first of all, at popularizing the image of a budding businessman, a young innovator who, together with his team, creates something new and achieves success with his own intelligence and competencies.

This is a very necessary model of behavior for our country - and we want to try to scale it with the help of federal television.

It is extremely important to stimulate new thinking, a new attitude of society towards breakthrough technologies, innovations, and inventions.

In addition, the project also has a certain “measurable” benefit: a number of specific startups will receive additional opportunities for their development, including financial support, which will contribute to the development of the Russian high-tech sector.

— In your opinion, how long does it take to achieve this new social outlook? How long will it take for such “social investments” to pay off?

— It is extremely difficult to set specific deadlines, but if you act on all “fronts” at once - through increasing the efficiency of measures to support start-up entrepreneurs, creating comfortable conditions for the development of high-tech business, attracting attention to this topic through television programs, then the desired effect will be achieved much faster than it might seem at first glance.

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