Start, Fail, Build, Exit: Innovate and Grow with Drupal

The Drupal 8 adoption growth wave is just around the corner and Drupal will become a more attractive technological solution for startups and corporates than ever!

But what we’ve learned from the past is that business model innovation beats technological innovation.

"Consider Airbnb. What makes them so successful is not a technical advantage, but a business model advantage that provides them near-zero marginal cost. The same is true in Open Source software. While it is true that Open Source often produces technically superior software, its real power may be its business model innovation: co-creation." Dries Buytaert

Looking back to 2007 where I’ve started with Drupal, technology was not the main reason for adopting Drupal in our awarded startup, but rather the promising community, the growing eco-system and the way Drupal itself innovates as a startup. In this session, we will explore what startups and companies in any stage can learn from Drupal and how startups can benefit from the community and last but not least why Drupal 8 is the right technological solution.

I’ve built and exit the largest insurance comparison platform in Austria and 2 other companies using Drupal as a key technology. I’ve experienced big wins and big fails. Along the way I’ve managed investments, mergers & acquisitions as well as complex technical decisions. Furthermore, I've helped to set the basis for the probably leading global Drupal agency after Acquia.

In the last few years, I had the chance to be a Drupal advocate in other communities. As community lead for Lean Startup Circle, Lean Startup Machine and active contributor to the European startup ecosystem within formats like Startup Weekend, Startup Grind, Pioneers Festival, Startup Week, Open Source Camp, and many more I've shared my experience and values from the Drupal community and now finally I've got the chance to launch a new partnership venture within a large digital group, where Drupal is again my key focus. 

Key Takeaways

How to start, innovate and grow as a company based on examples and real cases:  

• Building a leading Insurance comparison platform
• Growing a small Drupal shop to a global Drupal agency 
• Mentoring hundreds of Startups

Lessons learned from both, failure and success: 

• Technological versus Business Innovation - it's important to understand the difference and when to pull which card
• Why Drupal 8 is a great solution for startups and corporates?
• When is Drupal not a good fit?

Next Steps, Initiatives and how you can grow by co-creating:

• Mentoring
• Drupal Startup & Innovation Camp
• Drupal Accelerator 

The Presenter

Ivo Radulovski is a Technology & Management Consultant, Strategic Innovation Designer, Entrepreneur, Lecturer, and Mentor. As Startup Evangelist and Managing Partner at Segments Accelerator, he supports many businesses in Central and Eastern Europe and he advises startups and intrapreneurs on a regular basis through Segments’ Acceleration program, Blue Whale Ventures' pre-accelerator program and events like Pioneers Festival, Lean Startup Machine, Open Source Camp and Startup Weekend. Ivo is also Lead Organizer at Lean Startup Machine Europe and organizes Lean Startup Circle Vienna. 

As Managing Partner at Trio Group, Ivo leads enterprise IT projects for some of the world's best companies. He was also responsible for several major IT & Drupal conferences and events in Europe attended by top executives from more than 30 countries. As an entrepreneur, he founded Segments Digital; Propeople Austria, Belgium, and Germany (now FFW Agency); Austria’s leading insurance comparison platform Versichern24; Eversport and more. 

Ivo has been featured as a speaker at the Global Webit Congress, Drupalcon, Startup Grind and other major conferences in various cities worldwide, including Berlin, Chicago, Copenhagen, Istanbul, London, Milan, Munich, Prague, and Vienna. His speeches cover topics from Entrepreneurship, Business Development, and Digital Strategies, to Innovation in Government. His current focus is on “Innovation, IT Strategy and Organizational Changes”. 

Your Feedback

Please provide your feedback and comments on how to make this session a greater success, to help more startups thriving by adopting  Drupal. Did you launch a startup based on Drupal? What was your experience? What were your benefits using Drupal. Share your experience.