Startup Story: Bilance X Tehnopol Startup Incubator

It’s time to get to know yet another startup that is part of Tehnopol Startup Incubator’s new batch – Bilance. Bilance is developing a mobile application that makes it easy to take control of your money, optimize your spending and grow your financial worth. 

Let’s get to know Bilance a little better! Here’s what Bilance’s CEO and cofounder Mihkel Vetemaa told us.  

How did you come up with the idea to found a startup? 

I have been keeping an eye on and analysing my expenses in an Excel spreadsheet. This has always been a quite uncomfortable, manual and inconvenient process to me. I haven’t found suitable apps and then I got an idea that maybe I should make one myself.  

What have been the biggest challenges/failures and the biggest wins so far? 

The biggest challenge has been getting started. To find teammates, define the idea on paper and develop an initial prototype. The biggest win has been creating a reliable and capable first version of the application.  

Why did you join Tehnopol Startup Incubator? 

Tehnopol happened to be in the right place at the right time. We felt like we needed a strong mentor and legal advice, and Tehnopol offers us both.  

Where do you see your startup in 1 year’s time? And in 5 year’s time? 

In one year’s time we would like to be in the phones of all tech savvy Estonians and in five year’s time we hope to improve the financial behaviour of Europeans and help people make better choices. 

Who will be the next Estonian unicorn? 

Hard to say, it’s always quite difficult to predict them.  

What kind of books/podcasts/magazines (or top names in your field) do you follow and would recommend to other founders? 

Book: The Lean Startup 
Podcast: Masters of Scale 
Online newspaper: TechCrunch 

If you’d get a chance to meet with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs, what would you ask them? 

I would ask which of their interviews/performances/pieces of writing I should check out.  

Startup Story series introduces the up-and-coming startups that are part of Tehnopol Startup Incubator’s growth programme and whose journey is worth keeping an eye on. Startup Stories can be found here.