The story of the winners of the get in the ring competition. Episode I: The Dog Animation Skeptic

"We signed up for Get in the Ring Romania because we wanted to receive feedback, promote ourselves and get to know other startups"

Bucharest can become the Eastern European center of the creative industries - demonstrated the first edition of the Creative East festival. Under the slogan "Ideas that happen", Creative Est meant a week dedicated to creativity with 25 Romanian and international speakers, 70 local businesses and 3000 supporters of creativity.

Banca Transilvania, as a partner of Creative Est, offered to the winners of the Get in the Ring Romania competition, an event organized by GEA Strategy & Consulting, prizes worth 4,000 euros and free of charge for one year at a series of BT services and consultancy for start-ups. 

At the competition 8 creative startups have met on the Get in The Ring stage. Congratulations to all the start-ups registered in the competition and we are glad to find out the story of the 2 winners. Today, the first episode.

The story of Skeptic Dog Animation, winner of the 1st prize, worth 3,000 euros

Animation studio, Skeptic Dog Animation helps other startups and companies to tell their story in an interesting and fun way, through the animations they create.

She tells us about their business, Andra Berila, co-managing partner:

"I have known Bogdan Crivoi, my business partner, for 5 years. He was drawing all kinds of funny characters, I was in film college and I wanted to make an animated film. We ended up working together on that film, and then we got other curly ideas, so we did other projects. It wasn't until two and a half years ago that we had the fact that we could make money from what we do. A friend had an online platform and asked us to make him an animated film, he gave us both trust and money. Until then I had only made films for college, but it was a challenge that I accepted. I made the film, it came out well, but I wasn't thinking about business at all. 

Meanwhile, I was a student at the Alternative University (AU), and I heard about the Business Incubator there. It got me thinking. But we did not stay still, we decided together with Bogdan to enter the Incubator with our animations, under the name of Skeptic Dog Animation. We started working on a business plan and then the Bulgarians kept growing. The feedback I received was positive and I gained confidence.

We signed up for Get in the Ring Romania because we wanted to receive feedback, promote ourselves and get to know other startups, and the format of the competition is unique and interesting, so ... why not?

It was a challenge to prepare in two days, but gea strategy & consulting were very helpful, they quickly answered all our questions, helped us with tips & tricks. We did not arrive at the rehearsals organized the day before the competition, but we received help through phone discussions and emails.

The jury was very open and attentive to each of the contestants, I liked their questions, which were meant to help us. This made me see better the strengths and weaknesses of our business.

And before, and after the actual competition, I had the opportunity to meet the other contestants. We were all curious to find out about each other, we supported each other, even if we all wanted to win. In the end we exchanged business cards and it is very possible that collaborations will appear in the future. Which I really enjoy! All the participating startups do cool things and deserve to develop further.

We are glad that, besides the money, we will also receive consultancy. The award is in itself a challenge to learn new things and become better. We will invest the money received in technical equipment, which will help us make animations more efficiently and of a much better quality."