September business tour: Eligma continues to raise interest of Silicon Valley’s finest
Eligma’s startup journey has been an intense one since its founding in November last year, and is definitely one of the business and personal achievements that I have been most proud of. This particular tour in Silicon Valley, which I have just completed, was extra inspiring because Eligma’s smart commerce solutions struck a chord with so many amazing minds.
Based on international strategic visions, Eligma has always relied on creative and strategic input from this part of the world. We have shaped Eligma with a global focus, and now, our hard work is starting to show very concrete results. Elipay, our solution for paying at online and offline shops with cryptocurrencies, is now present at more than 150 locations all over Slovenia and will soon integrate all credit and debit cards. Eligma is also creating an Inventory System with AI price prediction and automated sales listings for unwanted items, with blockchain (smart contract) solutions as an option to protect both the buyer and the seller.
In a period of two short weeks, I presented the Elipay system and the Inventory concept at more than 60 different meetings with new and old advisors, business friends as well as potential partners or investors.
Meet new Eligma advisors
I am very honored to be able to welcome these eminent names as Eligma advisors although this short introduction can hardly do justice to the wealth of the experience that they are known for!
As a global authority on SaaS and startup models, sales guru Anton Marinovich started his career at Google and now works as advisor at ACELR8 and as VP Sales at HoloBuilder. He provides invaluable advice on shaping Eligma’s sales strategy at an international level.
Real-estate strategist Josh Burroughs, Senior Development Director at Swenson, has a wealth of experience both in leadership and commerce, and offered great insight into the most popular US payment options. I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to the investors Manly Danh, CEO and founder of the places.me real-estate startup, and especially to Martin Menne, President of the MCM Diversified real-estate management company and co-owner of the San Pedro Square Market, who, although not Eligma’s advisors, they could not have been more generous with their interest in and feedback.
Richard Pivnicka, entrepreneur, investor and Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic, is one of the central Valley authorities on forging commerce and trade relations between the US and Europe. A practical result is CzechTech, a network connecting Czech and Silicon Valley businesses. Richard and his wife Barbara Pivnicka, Honorary Consul General of Slovakia, are both members of the Band of Angels investment group, and are dedicated to taking ideas off the ground in the international arena. Another passionate entrepreneur committed to building intercontinental startup bridges is our partner Andrej Kiska Jr., partner at Credo Ventures, focusing on Central Europe, whom I would like to thank for another amazing brainstorming on Eligma’s opportunities.
As Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Credit Karma, Michael Goodbody is part of one of the most successful personal finance startups in the world. With his diverse fintech experience forged at companies like TransferWise, Michael is able to provide unique guidelines for Eligma’s development path.
Bing Gordon, recipient of the 2011 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Lifetime Achievement Award has worked as video game executive and tech VC. He served at the Amazon Board of Directors for well over a decade, and has been Director of Zynga and partner at Kleiner Perkins for the last ten years. His unique treasure trove of information, experience and diversity will help Eligma shape next-generation strategies.
A strong foundation: the advisor core
Eligma and its products would not be the same without those advisors who have been with us from very early on, and a lot of them come from the Valley. Their input continues to remind us why the world is ready for Eligma precisely at this point in time! This time, we had some amazing Elipay discussions with Jeff Arrilaga, Executive Managing Director at Newmark Knight Frank and member of the Association of Silicon Valley Brokers Hall of Fame, and Hermann Eul, PhD, angel investor with top-notch executive experience, e.g. as former Corporate Vice President of Intel Corp, USA.
Eligma’s Inventory concept sparked with ideas at meetings with advisor Herman Gyr, PhD and his wife Lisa Gyr, PhD, founding partners of the Enterprise Development Group (EDG) with digitalization as their passion, as well as with Sunny Saini, Commodity Manager at Google, and Garry Dillabough, Managing Partner at Navitas Capital and The Westly Group as well as an authority with 10 years of experience at eBay.
Most credits for all these connections and success of the tour as a whole go to Ana Lukner Roljic, Eligma advisor and its most important international ambassador. Ana’s tireless networking and engagement has also introduced Eligma to now good friend Tony Perkins, founder of Cryptonite Ventures, which ultimately resulted in a fantastic presentation of Eligma at 2018 Cryptonite World Tour 2018, which will be subject to a special Medium report.
These intense but rewarding two weeks at the most creative entrepreneurial hub worldwide have made me realize that Eligma’s efforts and solutions like Elipay and Inventory are definitely headed in the right direction. I would once again like to thank Ana and all the advisors for their time, interest and the ample feedback that they were able to provide. Thank you for believing in Eligma and actively contributing to its development into a force that can truly change the world of commerce for the better.
Sincerely,
Dejan Roljič, Eligma CEO
