Erasmus Mundus students compete in San Diego
The Erasmus Mundus students Monica Golumbeanu and Arthur Gervais have been nominated to the semifinal in the prestigious Venture Challenge held at San Diego State University 15-17 March. The competing teams will present a business plan to a panel consisting of experienced entrepreneurs and investors.
Congratulations on being nominated to the Venture Challenge in San Diego! How did you get involved in this competition?
- We found out about the Venture Challenge competition from one of Arthur's professors at KTH and we decided to participate. There have been two selection phases before qualifying to the semifinal in San Diego.
What are you studying?
- I, Monica, am currently in the first year of the Erasmus Mundus programme euSYSBIO in Computational Biology and Arthur is in the second year of the Erasmus Mundus programme NordSecMob in Security and Mobile Computing. In addition to me and Arthur there is a third member of the team, Pavel Efros. Pavel is currently doing a double degree at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany and the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon, France.
Where do you come from?
- Monica comes from Romania, Arthur comes from Germany and Pavel comes from the Republic of Moldova. Before, we have all studied Computer Science at the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) in Lyon, France.
Can you briefly describe your business idea?
- Our business Hatforce is a mediation platform between clients and IT-Security testers, with subsequent IT-Security consulting, targeted on the correction of problems and enhancement of IT-Systems security. Our website ( www.hatforce.com) allows clients to use the worldwide “ethical hacker” community in order to detect security flaws. An ethical hacker is a competent and motivated IT-Security expert who uses his knowledge for a good cause.
What are your expectations for the event in San Diego? How do you prepare?
- We expect to receive valuable feedback for our business idea as well as to make our idea known as much as possible, to meet potential clients and especially investors. In order to do so, we are in the process of preparing our business plan presentation and we will also attend some seminars at the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship.
Plans for the future regarding your business idea?
- We are continuously trying to improve our business, especially using the feedback from our clients. Consequently, we are constantly introducing new ideas and improvements in order to keep our customers satisfied.
Thank you and good luck!
