First edition of BtoBe Demo Day takes place in Sao Paulo

Tomorrow (April 19), the young fashion companies in the BtoBe (Brazilians to Be) incubator will take part in the first edition of the BtoBe Demo Day. The event will be held in Sao Paulo, highlighting how these new entrepreneurs interact with mentors from various areas, exchanging experiences, networking and developing business. Taking part in this first edition are the Gabrielab (SP), Helen Rödel (RS), Japonique (SP), Reptilia (PR) and Trendt (SP) brands, along with the 2016 BtoBe winners – Ocksa (RS), Larsan (DF) and Femman (MG). This action is an initiative of Texbrasil, the Brazilian Fashion Industry Internationalization Program, developed by Abit in partnership with Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency).

In line with the most modern ways of doing business and setting up new companies, the 1^st edition of BtoBe Demo Day was developed by Tropos Lab, a consulting firm based in Belo Horizonte that specializes in startups. The term Demo Day comes from Demonstration Day, used in the world of technology-based startups. It is a time where companies show investors and other stakeholders their business ideas in an effort to raise funds, create partnerships and more.

“The BtoBe Demo Day is yet another event that consolidates the entire BtoBe Project as a platform for accelerating fashion startups. We will also use this demo day to discuss the international business promotion we have been doing since 2012 and which has already introduced various Brazilian brands abroad,” says Evilasio Miranda, fashion and design manager at Texbrasil.

The brands have undergone a process of acceleration in the last five years that was also conducted by Tropos Lab. During this process, entrepreneurs are submitted to a heavy volume of information, consulting and mentorships during a short time span, so that they can develop hypotheses about their companies, products and customers and find an economically sustainable business model. Each entrepreneur has around 10 minutes to make their pitches to mentors, who come from different backgrounds in areas such as finance, management, investments, marketing, products, media and technology.

The following mentors are confirmed to attend: Anaisa Brito (Buscape), Andrea Bisker (Sparkoff), Camila Yahn (FFW), Carla Ribeiro (Pair), Carlos Mello (4 Legacy), Dany Carvalho (Microsoft), Karine Liotino (Abit), Luiz Morais (Patricia Bonaldi), Marco Oliveira (Google), Mario Viana (M360/Casa de Criadores), Paulo Conegero (Farfetch) and Renata Iwamizu (Moovexx).

After the individual presentations, the mentors will visit each brand’s showroom set up at the location, at which time they will be able to exchange ideas with the entrepreneurs, providing feedback not only on the product and material presented, but also on the company’s numbers, market potential and business model.

The high point of the program will be a panel where some guest mentors will discuss the topic of “Fashion today: a new (dis)order.” Andrea Bisker will be the session’s keynote speaker and the panelists will be Luiz Morais, Paulo Conegero, Camila Yahn and Carla Ribeiro.

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