Day XXVII
April the 19th
The day we’ve all been working for is finally here.
The shadows are on the peek of their power.
The last floor of the tower of destiny is one heartbeat away.
The final boss is lying in wait, anxiously building up the grandest event of the retreat.
The teams are ready.
The stage is set.
Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the end.
As always, within a calm that precedes a storm, the skies were painted gray, as if to mourn the end of some of the most amazing six weeks of our lives. It wasn’t cold though, just ominously dark.
The morning was given for the teams to get familiar with the stage, to do the sound check, and to practice one last time, now with the setup they were gonna use and in the site they were gonna be in. If they already felt ready the day before, everything was pointed towards an amazing presentation now, as every single one of our entrepreneurs was getting on stage and showing what they had been working on.
But it was quick, though. Over practicing can start to raise doubts and everyone was more than confident they would be able to beat the last challenge of the retreat. As such, one-by-one they all left for lunch.
And then it came. It was T -0 hours. Everyone anxiously started to arrive. The doors were open. We had arrived at the end of all things.
Our own Ricardo Gonçalves – Community Manager @ Startup Madeirra & Project Coordinator of Gaming Startup Retreat took upon himself the role of the host, got on stage to welcome everyone in, and presented the first speaker of the afternoon. Miguel Campos – Founder & CEO at WOWSystems – was given the stage and the opportunity to talk a little about his experience as an entrepreneur himself. Besides that, he introduced the audience to the eGames Lab consortium – a unique egames development cluster with the mission to the boost the gaming & creative ecossystem in Portugal.
But in a flash, his presentation was over and it was time for our startups to get on stage.
From this point on, everything happened as if in a dream.
Everyone was given 7 minutes to show what they were made of, and there, right in the heart of darkness, they shined as bright as the sun. They had one chance to stand on top of the world, and vanquish the hardest challenge the retreat had for them, and they expertly subdued the obstacles to climb to the pinnacle of the tower and declare themselves as the first Startups to successfully overcome the Gaming Retreat’s Demo Day.
After them, we still had the pleasure to João Ribeiro – Head of Gaming at Eterlast – explaining the best ways to develop innovative concepts, Pedro Macedo Camaco – Composer – blessing us with some of the most amazing soundtracks in the gaming industry, and Gorete Lopes – CEO at Digital Valley Portugal – presenting their vision on how to develop an ecosystem. Truly a great way to add value to an already amazing event.
To end the ceremonies, we were still able to hear Carlos Soares Lopes – CEO at Startup Madeira – with an inspiring take on how to make the most out of opportunities. And that was exactly what these past 6 weeks were all about: a chance to make the most out of every opportunity.
Here, at the end of all things, we can happily look behind and be proud of ourselves. We achieved every single objective that we set as a goal; we made friends; we tried new things; we learned new languages; we grew.
Our horizons are endless as the Earth no longer has frontiers.
After the event, we still had a networking session with all the teams, partners and the people that attended the Demo Day Event. A great opportunity to connect with each other.
