StartUs Presents: WorkUp Incubator

Why did you decide to build startup incubator?

WorkUp (HR) was primarily built as a backup system for the GoGreen project (HR). I don’t know how much the public knows about it, but GoGreen is a cluster system created to connect companies with related business activities in the agricultural sector and all businesses which can directly or indirectly assist in the development of agriculture in Croatia. The basic idea behind GoGreen in the first phase is to revive the production of primary raw materials. So, expand planting to cover the remaining 35% of fallow land in Croatia, and in the same step, to improve production technology with optimization as the goal.

We believe that the future of Croatian manufacture lies in an improved quality and that Croatian agriculturalists should put less emphasis and effort in competing based on quantity, considering the fact that we are a small country. Our general course is more in the direction of ecological and biodynamical farming, although we support and encourage everything that is of Croatian production. This is why we decided to found a business incubator, two floors above the first marketplace which is opening soon, to enable all young entrepreneurs entering the business waters for the first time, to find clients within out system as well as offer our manufacturers quality business solutions and products which will make things easier for them and improve their production and distribution.

What does the WorkUp incubator offer young startups?

It was our great wish to set up the WorkUp incubator as a single, complete system. While both co-working and project incubation is a well known topic in Croatia, I must say I haven’t really come across a complete solution which really helps beginners in business. Namely, office space is not the only problem for young business people, we’re all aware that there is a whole list of problems which have to be solved before your project will function successfully. Since our wish was for these smaller systems to be free from the complexities of a regular Croatian company where noone knows everything and exactly what needs to be done, we wanted to create a support system with everything set up to the last tiny detail, so they could focus exclusively on developing their project.

Because of this aspect, in addition to the standard co-working offer of virtual and collaborative office space, rent per day etc, we also offer almost all the business tools available, from ERP systems, POS programs, CRMs, cloud storage platforms, email, internet hosting, e-Commerce platforms, VoIP telecommunications, as well as various programs for the creation of travel orders, invoicing, and so on, with additional support in the form of accounting services, tax counseling, as well as seminars and education on the topics of sales, business communication, even business language courses. So our offer really is whole.

I also have to add that all our applications are cloud-stored, which means that our clients can activate them through the incubator, but carry them over at a future point when they move to a new platform, and continue using them.

How can someone “move in” to your incubator?

It’s very simple, really – our contracts don’t bind our clients to any specific time period, but are signed for the period requested by the client. The idea is to minimize risk. We are always available for open discussion – we are well aware that there are risks involved and feel that it is in no one’s interest to jeopardize the existence of the project, so we are very flexible in that respect.

We’re also always on the lookout for new projects, as far as I am aware we are the only place where there is no deadline for the submission of new projects. You can apply with your project at any time, and if we recognize that it has potential benefits, we are willing to embrace it and welcome you with our incubation concept, where we will first offer you our development platform as an initial investment, help you develop your business plan and good quality presentations, and connect you with potential investors. More information will soon be available on our webpage.

What are the incubator’s plans for the future?

The idea is that we add a second location in the city centre to the existing one in New Zagreb (550 square metres in Resselova 4, just by the Avenue Mall shopping centre). Namely, we are negotiating about a large venue on Marulić Square, but this is planned for two years from now. Considering the wide scope of this sector, we plan to merge a city-based incubator with the one in New Zagreb and add several subcategories in order to make it even easier for our clients.

We are very interested in the topic of robotics and automation in the agriculture industry, so we are planning something like a collaborative workshop, as well as a mini-manufacture – a collaborative kitchen – for research and testing of new products. This would be geared towards technicians for the development of various edible spreads, beverages and similar. It will make it easier for creative minds in the field as they have big problems with obtaining expensive certified premises for this kind of research and development.

We also plan on developing a sector for women in business. This will not be a separate platform as some are, since we believe that men and women need each other, we are simply planning a platform within the existing system which will give women who decide to venture into business that bit of gentlemanly advantage.

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