2016 Imagine Cup Winners Chat with Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella

Jan 23, 2017

As part of the winning package of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2016 competition, Winners were to meet Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Team ENTy had this opportunity and here’s their chat with the chief.

2016 imagine cup

Team ENTy from Romania were crowned champions ? of the Microsoft 2016 Imagine Cup competition finals. Four teams from Africa made it to the finals with team Night’s Watch, from Tunisia coming in 2nd in the World Citizenship category, winning $10,000.

The 2016 Imagine Cup winners, winning $ 50,000 cash prize also got to receive a private mentoring session with CEO Satya Nadella.

“The call with Satya was amazing,” said Flavia. “After presenting and doing a live demo on stage at the Imagine Cup World Championships, we never thought we would feel that anxious and nervous again. But he talked with us like he had known us for years.”

 

Q: Team ENTy:  what would he do if he were a co-founder of ENTy?

A: Satya Nadella . I’ll make the hardware smaller, get the patents and the certifications for the product, and find good investors.

“He told us that we should keep fighting for our product, and that we should hurry up with the launch in the market because timing is crucial when you’re part of a startup,”

Since being crowned the Imagine Cup Champions in July, ENTy has been hard at work perfecting its product, with an intense focus on making it smaller and getting it into the hands of the health care professionals who will be its primary customers.

“We minimized our hardware to a device that’s about the size of a coin,” Flavia said. “Right now, we are testing it in hospitals in Romania, and we are getting the necessary medical certificates for the product’s use in Europe.”

 

Team ENTy has this advice for students who wish to give the competition a go.

“Never stop believing in what you’re trying to do, whether it’s a startup, a project, a song, anything!” students participating in Imagine Cup should focus their efforts on building “a successful product, not on winning something. Our aim was to make a product that will help doctors and patients, and that is exactly what we did.”

This year’s, 2017  Imagine Cup finals will be the 15th anniversary and has a cash price package of $ 100,000.

To participate in the competition, check with your institution for a Microsoft Students Partners group. The events will be hosted by the local Microsoft subsidiaries in eligible countries. There’ll be national finals and then all the finalist head out to Seattle for the big event where they’ll present their ideas.