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Your company must have been established no earlier than August 2016. A business project must go through the stage of discussing and testing the idea: a prototype has already been created or the first sale has taken place. The project must be relevant to the Russian market.

3. What criteria should an ideal application meet?

We evaluate applications on a case-by-case basis, but we would really like your videos and presentations to be minimum requirements:

• Please read and fill out all fields in the application form carefully. This will help us quickly check whether your application meets the project requirements.
• Be careful when choosing a faculty and do not forget to indicate which of the 4 you are applying to.
• Please indicate email founder. We receive about 200 applications annually; it is impossible to contact each of you by phone. For this we would need a special call center.
• Provide a link to the video on Youtube. Your video should tell about the essence of the project, its state at the time of application, the team and the project leader. Ideally, this should be a video where they talk about the project real people who are doing your project.
• The number of slides in a presentation should not exceed 6-7. If your presentation has more than 7 slides, we will not consider it, unfortunately(.

4. What happens to my application after I have completed the form?

As soon as you click the "send" button, your application goes to a Forbes editorial staff member. At the first stage, we check whether your application meets the stated criteria. If not, we contact you and ask you to supplement it, if possible. If the application does not meet the criteria at all, we will notify you about this. Then, alas, we cannot accept it.

5. How are applications selected after the application period officially closes in February?

After we close the collection of applications, they are evaluated by Forbes journalists. We evaluate all applications from the point of view of the viability of the business idea, the charisma of the project leader, the prospects of the business project, and simply common sense. We give each project a score from 0 to 5, and then scale them up and rank the projects according to the largest number points. The 50 projects with the highest scores advance to the quarter finals. We then send a list of these 50 projects to our mentors and ask them to evaluate the applications using the same criteria. Based on the results of the jury's voting, we select 5 projects in each of the 4 declared categories. These projects become semi-finalists and will study at the Billionaire School until the end of June 2018.

6. What will I get from participating in the Billionaire School project?

Firstly, you will receive a publication on the site, even if you do not qualify for the semi-finals. We publish on the website all applications that meet our criteria. If you are among the 20 semifinalist teams, then you will have the opportunity to talk about your project on the website, receive a video about your project filmed by the Forbes team, regularly receive advice from a personal mentor for 6 months, and also participate in events of the School and expand the network of acquaintances in the business environment.

7. Can I choose a mentor?

Unfortunately no. Mentors are distributed by the Forbes team, taking into account the opinions of the mentors themselves.

8. How often will I be able to communicate with my mentor?

You agree with him individually on the scheme of work with a mentor. We introduce teams to mentors at the first meeting, which will take place in February.

10. Can I communicate with other people's mentors?

Yes, sure. For this purpose, we specially organize events in the speed dating format, where we invite all the project mentors. At each of these events, you will have 10 minutes to ask questions to each of the mentors.

Increased. If in January we had 20 mini-laundries, then by the end of April their number was close to thirty. Laundries opened in Sterlitamak, Elektrostal, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Having expanded our geography, we decided to establish a feedback service via SMS messages: we connected a mobile number to which anyone can write an anonymous SMS message with wishes or criticism. We see all incoming messages in personal account and we can answer them. As practice has shown, clients more often use this service rather than a technical support telephone number. Out-of-town clients who stay in hostels asked to connect to free instant messengers WhatsApp and Viber so as not to spend money on long-distance calls.

Rescue powder

Feedback via SMS and instant messengers gave us an idea of ​​how we could further expand our range of services. After analyzing reviews and suggestions, we realized that in every third message customers asked if they could buy washing powder from us. Then we decided to start selling the powder through administrators in hostels, but this turned out to be not very effective. Distracted by issuing and packaging the powder, administrators forgot to deposit money into the cash register and record the sale in the accounting book. Then we decided to automate this process - I found developers who made for us a wall-mounted machine for selling portioned powder. This allowed us to eliminate the human factor from the sales cycle, and not only made it easier to account for the powder, but also solved the problem of packaging. Now we pack centrally detergent and put it into the vending machines. This saves us at least 30% of the money spent.

After a few months, we realized that by solving one problem, we killed two birds with one stone. Often clients refused to do laundry because the hostel had run out of powder, there was no one to ask, and it was too late or too far to go buy. Now, for 15-20 rubles, guests can buy a portion of the powder without leaving the washing machine and wash their clothes.

When sales of the powder began to be profitable, we thought about offering professional concentrated household chemicals. This helped not only increase revenue from one mini-laundry, but also increase the number of washes and their quality. We are even thinking of creating a device through which you can buy not only washing powder, but also disposable slippers, toothpaste, hygiene items and other little things you need on the road.

Automatic dryer

In addition to feedback via SMS and instant messengers, we decided to survey hostel administrators and the guests themselves. It turned out that people sometimes refuse to wash things if there is no time to dry them. “If you could dry it in a couple of hours, then yes,” the guests said. Then in one of the hostels we installed a drying machine, placing it directly on top of the washing machine, because the laundry room was located in a small room of a couple of square meters. We launched the drying service for free, while the cost of washing remained the same - 100 rubles. After just 1.5 months, the revenue of this point increased by 38%. This indicator allows you to return the money spent on purchasing equipment within a few months. We have already equipped four of the twenty mini-laundries located in hostels with drying machines. We are negotiating installation with the remaining points in order to be in time for the summer tourist season in St. Petersburg. Additional options helped us increase revenue from one point by 40%.

About the benefits of notifications

Another innovation affected points in student dormitories. When I stopped by to rent a cash register, I noticed that the students, coming with their things, were languishing at the washing machines, waiting for their neighbors to take their already washed clothes from the machine. There was a hitch that could last more than an hour. It created inconvenience for customers, and we lost money due to equipment downtime. SMS notifications about the end of washing helped solve this problem. Before starting the machine, a message about this service appears on the payment terminal and the client can enter his phone number.

In development and procurement additional equipment we invested a little more than 100,000 rubles. But I am confident that these investments will pay off and bring not only additional revenue, but benefits to customers. This solution will allow us to collect our customer base and analyze washing activity and frequency. It turns out that first of all you really need to hear your customers, and not just listen.

Read more about the project

Announced All-Russian competition for aspiring businessmen “School of a Young Billionaire”. Deadline September 30, 2014.

Organizer: Forbes magazine.

Entrepreneurs who registered their company no earlier than August 20, 2013 can submit an application for the competition. At the same time, management experience own business should not exceed 5 years: companies previously created by the applicant alone or with partners must be founded no earlier than August 20, 2009.

A business project must go through the stage of discussing and testing the idea: a prototype has already been created or the first sale has taken place. There are no restrictions on the scope of activity. The project must be relevant to the Russian market.

Authors of 10 projects will receive the right to study. This year, the jury will select semi-finalists separately in two groups: Internet startups and projects whose business base lies outside the Internet. Five projects of each type will be included in the semifinalists.

Each of the jury members will become a consultant for one of the projects for several months and will help him with advice, and will also conduct one public master class with his ward. At such a meeting, every aspiring entrepreneur will be able to talk about the development of their project, problems and achievements.

The following confirmed their participation in the project:

1. Kamil Kurmakaev (co-founder of Wikimart)
2. David Yakobashvili (founder of Wimm-Bill-Dann)
3. Raisa Demina (member of the board of directors of Velcom)
4. Alexander Sukharevsky (McKinsey partner)
5. Evgeniy Demin (founder of the Splat company)
6. Yuri Mitin (head of the Skolkovo startup academy)
7. Albrecht Bokhov (Kirov plant)
8. Andrey Romanenko (founder of Qiwi.ru, managing partner of Run Capital)
9. Matthias Eklof (President of Yell.ru)
10. Elena Masolova (founder of Groupon Russia)

The Forbes Startup Competition is now accepting applications.

Forbes begins collecting applications for the “Young Billionaire School” competition. This project is a continuation of the startup competition that we held in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Ten semi-finalists will be able to tell the whole country about their business and receive advice on its development from experienced entrepreneurs and top managers.

Conditions of participation

Entrepreneurs who registered their company no earlier than August 20, 2013 can submit an application for the competition. At the same time, experience in managing your own business should not exceed 5 years: companies previously created by the applicant individually or with partners must be founded no earlier than August 20, 2009.

A business project must go through the stage of discussing and testing the idea: a prototype has already been created or the first sale has taken place. There are no restrictions on the scope of activity. The project must be relevant to the Russian market.

How to apply

To apply, you must complete the following four steps:

1. Shoot and post a video on YouTube telling about the team and the project - in any form, up to 3 minutes. In Russian.

2. Upload a presentation of your project to Slideshare - up to 7 slides. In the presentation, be sure to indicate who is the leader of your project, what problem the project solves, who your consumer is, who your competitors are, and also what are the main problems facing the project that you would like to solve during the competition. In Russian.

3. Write an essay about how the project differs from its competitors and why it can win the startup competition. Volume - no more than 2000 characters.

Based on the results of the work, curators will determine the best projects, taking into account the dynamics of their development during training and achievements. The results will be announced in June 2015.

Mentors

The following confirmed their participation in the project:

1. Kamil Kurmakaev (co-founder of Wikimart)

2. David Yakobashvili (founder of Wimm-Bill-Dann)

3. Raisa Demina (member of the board of directors of Velcom)

4. Alexander Sukharevsky (McKinsey partner)

5. Evgeny Demin (founder of the Splat company)

6. Yuri Mitin (head of the Skolkovo startup academy)

7. Albert Bokhov (Kirov plant)

8. Andrey Romanenko (founder of Qiwi.ru, managing partner of Run Capital)

9. Matthias Eklof (President of Yell.ru)

10. Elena Mosolova (founder of Groupon Russia)

Forbes begins collecting applications for the “Young Billionaire School” competition. This project is a continuation of the startup competition that we held in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Ten semi-finalists will be able to tell the whole country about their business and receive advice on its development from experienced entrepreneurs and top managers.

Conditions of participation

Entrepreneurs who registered their company no earlier than August 20, 2013 can submit an application for the competition. At the same time, experience in managing your own business should not exceed 5 years: companies previously created by the applicant individually or with partners must be founded no earlier than August 20, 2009.
A business project must go through the stage of discussing and testing the idea: a prototype has already been created or the first sale has taken place. There are no restrictions on the scope of activity. The project must be relevant to the Russian market.

How to apply

To apply, you must complete the following four steps:

1. Shoot and post a video on YouTube telling about the team and the project - in any form, up to 3 minutes. In Russian.
2. Upload a presentation of your project to Slideshare - 7 slides. In the presentation, be sure to indicate who the leader of your project is, what problem the project solves, who your consumer is, who your competitors are, and also what main problems facing the project you would like to resolve during the competition. In Russian.
3. Write an essay about how the project differs from its competitors and why it can win the startup competition. Volume - no more than 2000 characters.
4. Send an application to the address [email protected] in the following form:

• Project name
• City
• Project launch date
• The essence of the project in one sentence
• Project leader
• Previous experience of a project leader in business (project name, launch date)
• Link to video posted on YouTube
• Link to presentation posted on Slideshare

Deadlines and regulations

Applications are accepted from the date of publication of this announcement until 23:59 on September 30, 2014. Authors of 10 projects will receive the right to study. This year, the jury will select semi-finalists separately in two groups: Internet startups and projects whose business base lies outside the Internet. Five projects of each type will be included in the semifinalists.

Each of the jury members will become a consultant for one of the projects for several months and will help him with advice, and will also conduct one public master class with his ward. At such a meeting, every aspiring entrepreneur will be able to talk about the development of their project, problems and achievements. Videos from the master classes will be published on the Forbes.ru website. Semi-finalists will also talk about the development of their projects on the startup competition blog.

Based on the results of the work, curators will determine the best projects, taking into account the dynamics of their development during training and achievements. The results will be announced in June 2015.

Mentors

The following confirmed their participation in the project:

• 1. Kamil Kurmakaev (co-founder of Wikimart)
• 2. David Yakobashvili (founder of Wimm-Bill-Dann)
• 3. Raisa Demina (member of the board of directors of Velcom)
• 4. Alexander Sukharevsky (McKinsey partner)
• 5. Evgeny Demin (founder of the Splat company)
• 6. Yuri Mitin (head of the Skolkovo startup academy)
• 7. Albrecht Bokhov (Kirov plant)
• 8. Andrey Romanenko (founder of Qiwi.ru, managing partner of Run Capital)
• 9. Matthias Eklof (President of Yell.ru)
• 10. Elena Masolova (founder of Groupon Russia)