#shiftsplit

#1 Diocletian palace

Split is home to one of the best preserved Roman remains in the world – the Diocletian Palace!

Emperor Diocletian -who voluntarily gave up the throne of the Roman Empire, on the turn of the 4th century CE - built this palace and after his retirement, settled there, on the beach, in the roman province of Illyria.

Discover the ins and outs, secrets and secluded spots of Diocletian’s Place, a UNESCO World Heritage spot, as you traverse this 1,700-year-old palace that has become a part of the city, with some original remains, such as the peristyle and Jupiter's temple.

#2 Cathedral of Saint Domnius

The Cathedral of St. Domnius is a complex of a church (formed from an Imperial Roman mausoleum), and a bell tower; strictly the church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the bell tower to Saint Domnius. Together they form the Cathedral of St. Domnius. It's locally known as the Saint Dujam.

#3 Grgur Ninski statue

A huge statue of archbishop Grgur Ninski stands outside the northern walls of the palace, right in front of the Bronze Gate.

Grgur Ninski (Gregory of Nin) was a medieval Croatian bishop who strongly opposed the Pope and introduced the Croatian language in the religious services in 926. Until that time services were held only in Latin and therefore not understandable to the majority of population.

Last and not of less importance, the statue is work of Ivan Mestrovic, the greatest and wide world famous Croatian sculptor. The sculpture was originally located in the Peristyle but during WW II the statue was moved outside the city by Italian occupying forces.

#4 Narrow streets

Split is an adorable town with a lot of narrow streets. You will notice it as soon as you wander around. The nicest thing to do is to follow those small alleys - you always find something interesting which not every tourist can see and it is often picturesque.

#5 Pjaca - People’s Square and Fruit square

Pjaca - This centrally located square is one of the most popular piazzas in the city and one of the main Split attractions.

Surrounded by stunning buildings: the Renaissance clock erected on the ruins of a Roman tower, the first town hall and Renaissance palace of aristocratic family Karepic with the exceptional coat of arm on its facade. This is also home of the legendary City Café (Gradska kafana).

Fruit square - On the west side of the square rises, the octagonal tower, built by the Venetians who feared the local revolts and the Turkish raids. On the opposite side of the tower there is a spectacular palace Milesi with a fascinating Baroque facade the witnesses of the traditional Dalmatian architecture.

In front of the palace stands the statue of Marko Marulic, father of the Croatian literature from the 15th century, carved in bronze by the hand of Ivan Mestrovic, the greatest Croatian sculptor.

#6 Meštović Gallery

Ivan Mestrović (the Croatian Michelangelo) is the greatest Croatian sculptor, whose works are visible in every corner of the city (Grgur Ninski, Marko Marulic and many others). His gallery is an art museum founded in 1952 dedicated to the work of this 20th century sculptor located in the south slopes of Marjan hill. It is one of the prominent Split attractions sights.

#7 Riva promenade

This Promenade presents the cities living room, the most popular and most important public place in Split. It has been widened and reconstructed several times, but it was always blessed with the most spectacular set, the south facade of the Diocletian Palace, with the entrance into the Substructures, and later on with the buildings that were built west of the Palace, also the Franciscan monastery with the church of St. Francis, and the Bajamonti Dešković Palace and last but not least the Port Authorities building on the east end.

Riva today is a pedestrian heaven, thrusting with Cafés and restaurants, an ideal place for having your morning or afternoon coffee, or for an evening out with friends over drinks. Riva is the stage of the city life of Split, a venue for numerous cultural and entertainment events, boisterous Split carnival, as well as the stage for meeting Split sportsmen after countless successes, such as Goran Ivanišević, Hajduk football club players and Jugoplastika basketball players, Olimpic medal winners... Riva is also a political forum, with decades of political opportunities being depicted through mass rallies. Naturally, Riva is always at its best in time of Sudamja, a celebration dedicated to St. Domnius, the patron saint of Split.

#8 Bačvice

The main visitor-magnet east of the city centre is Bačvice beach, a few minutes’ walk east of the ferry terminal. This simple crescent of sand and shingle can’t compare with the beaches farther south, but it's a popular destination for “Splićani” of all ages.

Bačvice is also the spiritual home of picigin, a game only played in and around Split, which works rather like a netless version of volleyball in the sea, involving a lot of acrobatic leaping around as players try to prevent a small ball from hitting the water.

Local players of Picigin, an unique game in a shallow water with a small tennis alike ball, would be keen to get you into a team.There are plenty more cafés along the way, and the whole stretch is a popular strolling area all year round.

#9 Marjan hill

Marjan is a hill on the peninsula of the city of Split. It is covered in a dense Mediterranean pine forest and completely surrounded by the city and the sea, making it a unique sight. Originally used as a park by the citizens as early as the 3rd century, it is a favorite weekend excursion destination and a recreational center for the city. It is also the setting for numerous beaches and jogging trails as well as tennis courts, all surrounded by the scenic forest. The tip of the peninsula houses the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries.

#10 Wine and dine in Split

Split has many charming restaurants, wine and olive oil bars. After your evening stroll at the seafront promenade, go for an aperitif and a plate of small bites at Paradox, Zinfandel or Uje Oil Bar. Proceed with an enjoyable Dalmatian-style meal, finest seafood or juiciest steaks, in one of Split restaurants. After the dinner, barhop in and around the Palace. Grab a pillow at Luxor, sit on the stairs, and relax with a glass of wine while listening to the live music. More than museums, gastronomic or tourists offers, Split gives you itself, and its unique style of life. This is your opportunity to experience Split to its fullest and have a vacation you will always remember. 

Photo credits:  total-croatia-news,  tripadvisor,  anttijohansson, skyscrapercity,  hotelglobo.com,  creativelunatics.com,  e-architect,  wanderlusting.info, 

Bellabeat is a pregnancy tracking system that rethinks the pregnancy experience. The team believes that by giving women a way to autonomously track and share their pregnancy experience, this engaging, comforting and enjoyable at-home experience will become a part of the contemporary prenatal care...

Success timeline

The two founding partners, Urška Sršen - a trained sculptor, and Sandro Mur - an engineer, entered the business world in mid-2013 with the product BabyWatch, precursor of Bellabeats Shell, by making a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo. Soon afterwards, they entered the Shift 2013 Challenge. Sandro and Urška pitched their Babywatch project which consisted of a hardware device and a smartphone application that allows parents to monitor their unborn child’s heartbeat. Their potential was recognized by the judges at Shift Conference and they won the first prize, competing against 32 other projects.

But they didn’t stop there. They kept pressing on, and had success at the Pioneers Festival 2013 in Vienna. Nobody could’ve anticipated what would come next. In December, they joined Airbnb, Dropbox, Reddit, Stripe and many other start-ups in Y Combinator, founded by Paul Graham. There they passed the mentoring program, changed their name from BabyWatch to Bellabeat, upgraded capabilities and features, and in the process raised a $4.5M seed round from renowned Silicon Valley investors.

Bellabeat now

In 2014 they had 25 employees, now they have grown to 80. Their main office is in Zagreb, but they also have a sales office in San Francisco and a production office in China, and they are still growing. Co-founder Sandro Mur claims that they aim to create a unicorn startup that will be worth a billion dollars, which is higher than Agrokor and the Atlantic Group – flagships of the Croatian industry.

They were declared the best European health start-up as part of the prestigious ‘The Europa’s awards’ that recognizes the best technology companies all over the continent. Also, by the choice of TechCrunch, they are one the most interesting companies to keep an eye on.

Bellabeat products

Bellabeat offers a fitness tracker called Leaf, a smart scale for before, during, and after pregnancy called Balance, and Shell - a revised version of the original hardware that lets pregnant mothers listen to their baby's heartbeat.

Be our next success story

Sandro Mur and Urška Sršen are living proof that anything is possible when you combine hard work and dedication to your goals! So if you have something that you put your mind to, the Shift Conference is the place to be. We hope you empower us with an opportunity to talk about your success story next year.

If you don't have any ideas yet, dont’ worry, maybe some of this year's speakers will inspire you with their stories. Representatives from companies like Amazon, Docker, Shazam, Uber, Trello, Automatic, GitLab, Cloud66, Localystics, Intercom, Autodesk, Five, Toptal and many more will be in Split, June 2nd & June 3rd, and they had been where you are now at one point.

What does it take to win the award for the best project in Croatia :: #biz

by Ivan Lupić, Director ICT solutions for Industry and Society @ Ericsson Nikola Tesla

You want to be a star of project world? It can take a liftime to found out how! So don't waste your time and listen to Ivan Lupić. He knows what it takes to be fiercely sought-after. Ericsson employs over 1600 professionals whose knowledge and expertise has been incorporated in all projects and activities in domestic and export markets

The Cost of Free; What is wrong with Open Source? :: #dev

by Khash Sajadi, Founder @ Cloud66

He is specialized in the development and operations for Rails and Docker, which allows developers to build, deploy and manage any application on any server via the cloud of choice. Khash is bound to raise a few eyebrows with such a controversial subject. He will also speak about the great flexibility of work on their own servers and the challenges facing developers when managing apps. 

Supercharged React Native development with Shoutem :: #dev

by Luka Abrus, CEO @ Five

In just seven years, Five has signed over 50 high profile clients such as Squarespace, Ministry of Sound, Allianz, MTV, Siemens, hired 85 full-timers, and during Shift Conference 2016 will host ‪‎FiveLabs, where you can get help with actual development of your apps. We don't mean discussing ideas here, but actual coding, so bring your portable devices (if only there was an app that let's you code anywhere).

As for Luka, listing all his accomplishments would turn this reveal into a blog, so let's just say: CEO, co-owner of several companies, university lecturer, ex-president of CISEx, author of 3 books, columnist for major IT magazines, and mentor at Founder Institute & ZIP - Zagrebački Inkubator Poduzetništva. Sounds impressive? Don't miss your chance to listen what this guy has to say!! 

3D on the WEB with Node.js :: #dev

by Cyrille Fauvel, Sr. Worldwide Developer Network Manager @AutoDesk

His company's software is intertwined with so many branches of ‪engineering, it will feel like meeting the guys who invented the wheel. AutoDesk is leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Since their introduction of AutoCAD  software, they continues to develop  the  broadest portfolio of 3D software for global markets. If anyone wants to create and design the future or just share their ideas with the world,  this is the speaker you will want to hear!

Tradeoffs in Creating Beautiful Mobile Products :: #design

by Edward Bridges, Engineering Manager @Squarespace 

Squarespace was founded in 2004 in a student dorm room and presently employs 550+ professionals and services over million of paying customers yearly. Edward, who also worked for CBS as Senior Software Engineer, is responsible for Squarespace turning its focus to Android as a key mobile platform, and has introduced 4 major apps on Google Play and Apple Store in last 2 years. He will be talking about tradeoffs in creating beautiful mobile products!

The Right Tool for the Right Job :: #biz

by Borja Burgos, Product Manager @ Docker

We're especially proud to announce Borja Burgos of Docker! Amazing Borja leads the product direction of Docker's commercial services and solutions in the cloud. He is currently focused on the intersection of cloud and container technologies to enable organizations to efficiently build, ship, and run their applications.

Hear what he has to say and what it takes to really take the pain out of deploying complex infrastructure. Docker is more than just a virtualized OS, it's a whole way of thinking about how you deploy.

How World of Warcraft prepared me for Automattic :: #biz

by Andrija Vučinić, Code Mangler @ Automattic

Here’s a fan service if we ever saw one. Amazing subject with one of the greats. Automattic is a network of people behind WordPress. They operate in 45 countries, and pride themselves in reaching 131 million unique users monthly, while employing only 459 professionals. This puts their estimated company value at 1.6 billion USD. If this is a level of efficiency you strive for in your business come and hear what he has to say. 

Scaling Venture Capital :: #biz

by Mike Reiner, Business Development @ Amazon

Amazon is company that is willing to deliver anything to anyone, anywhere in the world. What to say about the man who covers venture capital business development for Amazon Web Services, is the the co-founder of CCC Startups and Startup Addventure with which he organized startup conferences in more than 7 different countries. He also co-founded and managed the B2B Accelerator Startup Wise Guys with which he invested in 43 startups in 25 different countries.

He’s an ex-IBMer with a passion for bright ideas and business model innovation, who has worked with many startups around the globe and is a mentor at various incubators/accelerators such as Techstars... we could go on for hours if we tried to describe everything that got Mike's attention during his colorful career so, just come and see.

#PARTIES

Both Conference nights, starting from 21:00 CEST, will include amazing socials @ Avalon Club Split. Bring your friends too, it’s ‪‎open‬ nights and EVERYONE is invited! ‪#‎workhard‬ ‪#‎playharder‬

Keynote :: #biz

by Ivan Burazin, CEO @ Codeanywhere

A local prodigy and one of the key figures in development of Croatian tech scene, will deliver a keynote speech for ‪Shift2016‬. Come and meet the man who put ‪Split‬ on IT map of the world, and established Shift Conference as the leading developer event in South-Eastern Europe.

How we scaled from 0 to 450 Cities  :: #biz

by Davor Tremac, General Manager @ Uber

Uber is a wildly popular mobile app, but also somewhat of a controversial topic that everyone has an opinion on, so we're pretty excited for Q&A part of this session. Davor will talk "How we scaled from 0 to 450 cities", and explain in-depth how their app overcame the odds and even emerged victorious versus big capital and powerful interest groups.

How we build Trello? :: #biz

by Hamid Palo, Director of Product, Partnerships @ Trello

Ditch the sticky notes, spreadsheets, calendars and other clunky software for managing your products, Trello is coming to town! Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on and who's working on what. Pretty handy, no?

From 4 to 70: Growing an Engineering Team at a Hypergrowth Startup :: #biz

by Darragh Curran, VP of Engineering @ Intercom

Intercom is innovative customer communication platform with a suite of products for Live chat, marketing, feedback, and support, that quadrupled their revenue growth last year while employing over 250 professionals. Darragh will tell you how to grow your team into a functioning unit capable of attracting over 10k customers in 5 year span, including Yahoo, Shopify, Ancestry and others.

Why Diploma is not Enough to get First Job as a Programmer :: #biz

by Ivan Nemytchenko, Developer Advocate @ GitLab

GitLab Inc. is a company based on the GitLab open-source project. It’s an application to code, test, and deploy code together. It provides Git repository management with fine grained access controls, code reviews, issue tracking, activity feeds, wikis, and continuous integration. Ivan will share his experiences and opinions in a lecture immensely important for numerous students coming to Shift 2016.

Things Engineers Hate About Working with (Me) a Designer :: #design

by Jonathan Lieberman, Head of Design @ Operator

Jonathan Lieberman will be representing Operator, a new app launched by Uber's co-founder, that brings human touch to e-commerce. Get valuable insight on thought process of the team that accomplished to get praise from TechCrunch, Business Insider and Vogue as "the easiest way to shop".

Functional Programming in Practice, is it Worth it? :: #dev

by Andrew Rollins, Founder @ Localytics

Localytics was conceived in 2009 in Boston, Massachusetts with one simple goal in mind: to help their customers build stronger relationships with their mobile and web app users through analytics and marketing platform. It's a win-win for brands and end-users alike. App publishers create better app experiences, leading to passionate users that ultimately drive engagement, loyalty and revenue.

Lessons Creating an Open Source Project: From 0 to 500.000 Users :: #dev

by Dan Cuellar, Head of Test Engineering @ Shazaam

Shazam is a mobile app that recognizes music and TV around you. It is the best way to discover, explore and share what you love. Shazaam tags 15 billion songs yearly and connects millions of people worldwide. Dan will go in depth about the first phase of such huge projects, and the common traps in planning and mistakes people make when forging a business strategy.

Bridging the Gap Between Arduino and Professional Firmware Devs :: #dev

by Mat McGowan,Senior Embedded Engineer @ Particle

Mat McGowan will be speaking on behalf of Particle (formerly known as Spark), prototype-to-production platform for developing an #IoT (Internet of Things) products.

The Return of the Platform - The cure for Javascript fatigue :: #dev

by Uri Goldshtein, Core Developer @ Meteor

Meteor is an open source platform for building JavaScript apps for web, mobile and desktop, a go-to solution for the likes of IKEA, Mazda and Qualcomm, and a platform used to make awesome CodeFights. He will talk about Platform and JS, but also about inner workings of Angular-Meteor.

Why Building a Community is the Biggest Competitive Advantage you can Have :: #dev

by Kenan Salihbegovic, Head of Community @ Toptal

Toptal is exclusive network of top freelance software developers and designers in the world, trusted by the likes of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Airbnb and Pfizer. Kenan will share his expertise on a subject interesting to a wide spectrum of attendees, so make sure you don’t miss out.

#PARTIES

Both Conference nights, starting from 21:00 CEST, will include amazing socials @ Avalon Club Split. Bring your friends too, it's ‪‎open‬ nights and EVERYONE is invited! ‪#‎workhard‬ ‪#‎playharder‬

IT Revolution in SE-Europe

In the past decade, things have undoubtedly changed due to creation of programming in cloud, and boom in mobile tech. At present time, Shift is therefore attended by people who not only create new trends, but also represent them, and in turn Split becomes the IT center of South Eastern Europe for a few days, where you can hear unique, insightful but also helpful stories by passionate developers, which are integral part of this revolutionary community.

June 2nd& 3rd, 2016, Codeanywhere’s Shift Conference will once more serve as a catalyst for growth and development of the local IT eco-system, a must-see event, as it has been for thousands of participants in the past 4 years. It’s not just for attendees who want to expand their horizons or developers eager to share their knowledge, but a place for investors to scout innovative programmers and help them build their company from ground-up, on a solid foundation.

SHIFTing the focus

This year we’ve partially SHIFTed the focus of the Conference to developers’ theme, thus greater emphasis is put on creating solutions that make the world go forward. With that in mind, part of the program of the Conference will be reserved for a code-sprint in which programmers will have 24 hours to distinguish themselves, and hopefully win Shift Hackathon (May 31st & June 1st) worth over $150.000 in prizes. Perhaps even more valuable than the money, is the fact that all Hackathon finalists will have the opportunity to present their ideas in front of big investment funds, and with investors help - turn their idea into a sustainable business.

Just like every year, Shift enables you to find out how the great do it and how they came to be great. Docker, Amazon, Shazaam, Uber, Automattic, Trello, GitLab, Intercom, Cloud66, Localytics, AutoDesk, Five and Toptal are only a fraction of companies whose representatives will be in Split, June 2nd and 3rd. Where will you be?

Our vision

Do not wait for media reports from the Conference, being part of this community is something that you can’t read or learn, and time is passing by, so BE here and be part of group of people that changes and creates a better future. A community that inspires and unstoppably goes forward...

Ultimately, what I want to accomplish is that everyone coming to Shift Conference, goes home with the feeling that he or she couldn’t have invested their time better. I want you to make that next step, and I am convinced it will be a good one.

Don’t think too much and book your place now.

We are providing you some basic insight to create a great startup pitch deck and we summarized advices given from respected world entrepreneurs about pitching. You must remember that your pitch is everything, so you need to get it right!

TELL THE STORY/A BRIEF TAGLINE

It is best to start with an attention grabbing, an anecdote, or a question for the audience. This will help you to grab everyone's attention and establish your confidence.

Tagline should give insight into your company and should be easy to remember. Don't forget to include your contact information - it must be easy for a person to track you down.

ELEVATOR PITCH

You should be able to deliver a short summary of your project within the time it takes for an elevator ride, so we are basically talking in about 30 seconds.

Explain what the project/product/service actually is. What does it do? How does it work in very simple terms. Also you can mention the most interesting facts about your business.                                       

TEAM

Investors are investing in your team, not only in your idea. It's important that you present people who are going to make the concept successful. You must include your background, and how it relates to your company. Highlight any of your team's successful exits.

If your team doesn't have much or any experience in this sector, don't shy away from this topic. Focus on the pertinent points and look for other strengths, sometimes teams with diverse backgrounds and a fresh perspective are the best .

PROBLEM

You need to be able to explain the problem your concept is going to solve. Explain what product/services does and why it matters.

You need to prove why investors should care about solving it with your product or service, why is the problem worth solving?

SOLUTIONS

Make them understand why your product solves the problem far better than anything else. Don't get too technical without actually showing how the product is solving the problem.

It's important to remember that you must make sure that it's not too long and not to get lost in the features and complexities, because you will lose the investors. Keep it visual and to the point.

MARKETING

You'll want to show the market size for your product. It's important to explain how you'll raise awareness for your product  in a marketplace that is increasingly cluttered with all sorts of new stuff every day.

This can include profiles of target customers, but be prepared to answer questions about the cost of acquiring these customers. What techniques and tactics will you use, or how will you go about taking advantage of existing or new platforms to reach your intended audience, how will you measure progress...

But be careful and don’t get carried away with the numbers here. Not knowing this kind of information is a red flag to investors.

PROJECTIONS

It's very  difficult to create financial projections for a startup. Show what you’re projecting in revenue over the next few years. You need to backup your numbers by sharing your assumptions.

If you have no traction to base any future projections on, base it on industry standards and researched and intelligent hypotheses, or maybe you can present milestones  that you've already reached.

COMPETITION

You are not the only one in the universe. If you think you are, you are on the wrong track.

Be realistic and don’t knock the competition. Investors don’t want to hear how you criticize others, they want to hear why your product is the best, how are you solving the problem differently, why are you so different from others, what unique approach/vision/ideals do you have. Maybe something like comparison chart will help you.

BUSINESS MODEL

This is one of the most important points for investors. They  want  to get their money back, so it's important to tell them what is your plan on generating revenue.  How will you make money? You need to be very specific about your products and pricing. Stay focused on one revenue stream, the most profitable one.

It would be nice if you are able to discuss the lifetime value of your customers and how you will keep them engaged.

YOUR FUNDING NEEDS

What do you need to be able to realize your project’s potential? What do you need that you don’t currently have and why? Define exactly what you are looking for and explain in detail how the funds will be distributed.  Be precise and don’t be ambiguous with the capital you’re seeking.

If you have already raised money, it's best to talk about how much, who invested and what you did with it. If you have not raised money yet, say to investors what you have accomplished with minimal funding.

If you have personally funded your startup, let them know that. Investors like to see entrepreneurs who have invested their own money into their projects. If you’re pitching to raise capital, list how much you're looking to raise and how you intend to use the funds.

CONCLUSION

The above topics are critical when you are pitching. You MUST be ready for questions. It's very helpful to learn a bit about your audience and anticipate their own passion points. Highlight any large barriers to entry in your field. Investors are always thinking about the exit, so have a strategy in place and be able to talk about it.

 „Good luck with all of your future investor showdowns!“

 Photo credits: barryovereem, acsmeetings.org, totalmortgage.com, taxistartup.com, searchengineland.com, gsa.buffalostate.edu, altitudeacquisitions.co.uk

As a competitor

If you have mad skills in IT and programming, collect your crew (up to five people) and apply for Hackathon. Shift Hackathon is a competition that occurs before the Conference and gathers young developers whose mission is to create a new, open themed app. But, there is a trick – you are limited in time. Caffeine will be your best friend for this 24 hour long code sprint. 

The best and the most resourceful will win really cool prizes ($150.000 is cool, right?) and get to present their ideas to all 1200+ Codeanywhere’s Shift Conference participants. Judges too, though. Those guys would be the ones representing the most prestigious developers' companies in the world (we mentioned some at the start of this post!). 

As an attendee

You will have a unique opportunity to meet some of the world’s greatest investors and experts, some even coming from Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and London, all gathered in the beautiful city of Split and more than willing to transfer their knowledge and experience. Networking is key here, with proper mind-set you can accomplish a lot - just by holding a conversation.

National and international experts will teach developers and all other interested in programming all the tricks needed to attract investment and Hackers will afterwards come on the stage and pitch their ideas and solutions.

Win-win

If you’re looking for even more, we did mention city of Split a few times. Located on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, it’s home to a UNESCO World Heritage site, is surrounded by several stunning islands, it neighbors city of Trogir (another UNESCO WHS), but also ancient cities of Salona and Epetion (or Epetium, if you prefer Romans to old Greeks). Sea is crystal clear, and the climate is heavenly (over 2700 sunny hours yearly, most in all of Europe).

But more on that in our next blog. For now, you know what to do.

(P.S. Thank you for your support! Here, have an image of one of our islands!)

Photo credits: yachtland, handluggageonly