The Growth Program
for Bulgaria’s most promising companies
What is Dare to Scale
Every year, the program partners, together with the Endeavor network, interview the shortlisted candidates and select a cohort of 6-12 aspiring companies to join Dare to Scale.
Eligibility criteria for candidate companies:
HEADQUARTERS IS LOCATED IN BULGARIA
MAX 150 FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES
2022 ANNUAL SALES OF MIN €100 K
GROUP WORKSHOPS
The program features group workshops dedicated on key business topics. The meetings are led by high-profile executives from various fields and industries – IT, VCs, financial institutions, retailers. The sessions provide the founders with useful resources and takeaways to help them further grow their ventures.
INTRO’S & MENTORSHIPS
Dare to Scale provides the participants with introductions to top level executives, successful founders, and local VCs. Each company is assigned an individual mentor – a senior PwC Bulgaria consultant. On top of that, the founders meet regularly with Endeavor Bulgaria’s mentors. The consultants and mentors work with the entrepreneurs throughout the program and advise them on topics related to their specific business challenges.
NETWORKING EVENTS
The entrepreneurs are invited to attend all networking events as part of Dare to Scale. During the final Demo Day event, they are given the opportunity to pitch their businesses in front of a significant audience of prominent jury members, VCs, Endeavor mentors and some of the most successful Bulgarian entrepreneurs.
Latest 2022 Cohort
Timeline
-
Applications – Open call
April 10, 2023 -
Application closes
April 30, 2023 -
Interviews
May 2023 -
Notification to selected participants and alternates
June 2023 -
Program Run
September – December 2023
Mentors & Workshop Leaders
Dare to Scale Alumni
What our Alumni are saying
Ruslan Leteyski
Founder, Checkout X
Dare to Scale helped us zoom-out of the day-to-day challenges, think strategically, define our ultimate objectives and start taking long-term bets towards them. The program also had a huge network effect for our company within the Bulgarian scale-up community! And most importantly, even during the COVID times, thanks to Dare to Scale, I managed to make some awesome new friends!
Olya Antonova & Boris Georgiev
Founders, Trastena Wines
Dare to Scale proved to be an excellent opportunity also for non-software scale-ups, which is a rare gem to find in the sea of accelerators and programs. I believe the mentors and presenters at the workshops at Endeavor are the best you can find in our market and we highly value everything we learned. I believe Dare to Scale will change our business tremendously.
Boyan Ivanov
CEO & Co-founder, StorPool Storage
The great strength of Dare to Scale is that it has mentors who are business practitioners. These are entrepreneurs from the local community who have build successful companies and are business operators, not lecturers.
Oggy Popov
Founder, Prospecto
The Dare to Scale program is an excellent opportunity for early stage founders to learn from experienced entrepreneurs who have walked the path before. Besides various workshops that cover many of the aspects of running a company, you also get appointed a personal mentor, who will be supporting you during 1:1 sessions! Above all, it’s really up to you to take most of the program, the access to many successful entrepreneurs and peers.
Svetoslav Dimov
CEO, DEV.bg
Dare to Scale was very useful in a number of ways: 1) We made a number of improvements to our business, based on practical advice from mentors and speakers. 2) I upgraded my knowledge in each of the business areas we covered. This would serve me in the years to come. 3) Dare to Scale gives you access to a vast network of top experts and achievers in all business areas. Everyone was open to invest some of their time, talking to us.
Blagovesta Pugyova
Co-Founder, Childish
“On top of everything learned, the program provides you a friendly 360 degrees view of yourself and your company and this gives a strong kick for your next endeavors and growth.”
Awards & Recognitions
Vestbee's Accelerator of the Month – January 2023
Best Accelerator Program at the CESA Awards 2020
Golden Heart Award 2019 at the Category Sustainable Development of the Bulgarian Business Environment
