Every story starts somewhere...

The story of Hashiona began somewhere around February and March 2020. I remember that time quite clearly as I was still on the fence about whether to venture into creating a company or pass. Funnily, I was debating between starting a fem-tech startup with the aim of helping people and a food truck, somewhere in the suburbs of Cambridge, UK. Now the choice seems obvious but back then.. it was not. I was burnt out. COVID-19 was not a thing, nobody talked about the recession, and there was no war in Ukraine. Simply, the world was different.

I had just finished a NCAAS course for future gastronomy business owners in England when my partner at that time simply came up to me, shut down my laptop, looked deep into my eyes, and said: Eva, you won’t be running a food truck. Just make this app already, will you?!” Up until today, I am really grateful to him for saying that. He gave me the very necessary push and ensured I would have someone to support me along the way.

I spend the two following weeks planning. I had talked already with a future co-founder and CTO and knew he was willing to start this business with me. But I also knew that in order for me to make the next step I needed to make some kind of commitment, something that would not be too easy to back out from. This commitment came in a form of ReaktorX . I read about the recruitment for a new edition, I had known ?? Borys Musielak and Diana Koziarska for years back then already and knew what value they represented. The accelerator ran online so the fact that I was living in England was not an issue. More, I asked myself: how can it help me? I had participated in business accelerators prior to that, I had even co-created some or had been a mentor. I was weighing the pros and cons - how could the participation help me in the development of Hashina if I had already been familiar with the majority of the topics covered during the accelerator’s workshops? Was it worth my time? Eventually, I decided to join and haven’t regretted it for a second.

A couple of reasons why:

1. ReaktorX helped me build my routine. I was working from home and got a reason to wake up in the morning at a set time and sit at my desk. My co-founder and I had some internal deadlines but by participating in the accelerator we were bounded by more strict deadlines. Additionally, there was an element of not wanting to come across as ‘flaky’ in the eyes of others.
2. I met my first business mentor in ReaktorX - Uldis Leiterts ???? . Uldis is a serial entrepreneur with a history of successes but also failures - thanks to that we quickly hit it off. The knowledge, pieces of advice, and motivation that he shared with me have been bearing fruit up until today. One of the best tips that Uldis gave me ( which I want to keep to myself) influenced one of the best decisions I have ever made.
3. ReaktorX was like a good PR as well. As a participant in the accelerator, it was easy for me to announce in the industry what I was creating and why. After that, and some of help, the topic was quickly picked up by the media and within a couple of weeks, Hashiona was all over the national news. And thanks to that…
4. … thanks to the extensive media coverage, we were able to attract interested investors and fundraise quickly. Up until today, we have raised over $780k in the forms of investments and grams.
5. Media presence translated to organic traffic across which introduced Hashiona to potential patients. Back then our product was very far from ideal and was constantly breaking down - fairly speaking, it was just a totally different product compared to what it is now. Nevertheless, over 30k users could test it which provided us with tons of invaluable feedback.
6. Last but not least-? I met so many wonderful people through ReaktorX - both participants and mentors. I am particularly happy to have connected with Paulina Wardega and Dorota Rymaszewska who are my personal role models and strong women I can learn from every day.

This story began in Reaktr X almost 3 years ago.The rest is a history. If you are thinking about building your own startup and you live in the CEE region - today’s your lucky day. Apply to the ‘Eurovision for startups’:

https://app.vestbee.com/org/0c20da17446d46c8b5393d5504c854aa

Additionally - the coming edition is the first tone without workshops - just a curriculum tailored to your very own needs.