Women in Tech: how to land your first clients

After its previous successful editions, Women in Tech is back! Split Tech City and Tehnološki park Split invite you to an evening on 3 November at 6 pm at Tehnološki park Split, dedicated to startups in the “you’re on your own” phase.

No budget, no investors, no customers yet? It’s the stage where a startup has outgrown the idea, but isn’t ready for accelerators and investors yet, and has to find its first clients on its own. That’s exactly what we’ll talk about with speakers who have been down that road or are walking it right now.

Don’t let the word “startup” fool you: the experiences our speakers will share aren’t reserved for the tech world. They apply, at least to some extent, to any growing business story.

Women in Tech brings together women from tech and entrepreneurship to share experiences, connect and inspire one another, and, as always, everyone interested in the topic is welcome.

Previous editions covered everything from drones and business growth and breaking boundaries to build a career to women’s leadership, and this time the focus is on landing your first clients.

What does the evening look like?

Each speaker will give a 10-minute introduction, followed by a panel discussion on how to land your first clients when you don’t yet have a name or a budget. What worked for them, what didn’t, and where did they find their first customers? The panel will be moderated by Lucija Curavić Lončarić from Split Tech City. Bring your questions too: the final part of the evening is reserved for the audience to ask the speakers anything they want.

Andrea Čeprnja (Coffer)

Andrea spent almost ten years in frontend development, with an increasing focus on the product as a whole. After several years working on a cryptocurrency trading platform, she decided to launch her own product. Coffer is a simple, beautiful and secure way to gift cryptocurrency through gift boxes.

Emanuela Milina (LemonsLemons)

Emanuela is allergic to brands trying to act like people and people trying to act like brands. It’s also why LemonsLemons exists. She spent years in video production, running campaigns for brands, and getting anyone to notice the work was always harder than doing it. Without a big budget, your options were social media and texting everyone you know.

Then she watched events from the other side. Every conference sells the same one giant sponsor slot to a bank or a telecom, and nothing else. No smaller entry point, nothing before or after. Her fix borrowed from Airbnb: you don’t need a hotel to have something worth renting out. A community, a newsletter, an event, that’s inventory too. In a pitch deck, this is called “unlocking untapped inventory.” In real life, it’s called selling the space that was just sitting there.

Ana Grgantov

Ana works at the intersection of people, business and technology. After beginning her career in education, she moved into Budapest’s startup scene, progressing from junior sales representative to Solution Consultant. She currently works as an Account Manager and mentors women founders. Her perspective goes beyond sales to how organizations operate, evolve and support their people, with a growing focus on operating models, organizational design, employee experience and people-led change.

Coffer and LemonsLemons both went through the Innovate Startup Academy and are part of the Tehnološki park Split Incubator, and they are also members of the Split Tech City community.