BeXpowered - Collabwriting takes part in the 2021 Xathon

Have you ever been so excited to start working on something, that you just jumped into it headfirst?

That’s how we felt about starting out with Collabwriting. An idea that came out of a personal struggle to manage a remote marketing team was starting to come to life as an actual product. When the opportunity to pitch it for the first time came up, we jumped at the chance.

Applying for the Henkel Xathon seemed like a long shot, though. The worst-case scenario was getting some feedback on how we could improve further and it felt like an amazing opportunity to broaden our network, so we decided to go for it anyway. And as luck would have it, their team recognized Collabwrting’s potential even though at the time it was no more than an idea.

Taking place in Berlin, from November 12th to 14th, 2021, the Xathon brought together female talents from across Europe. It’s a 2,5-day ideation hackathon that provides 100 early-stage female founders with access to leading entrepreneurs, inspirational role models, and sector experts. For the early stages of Collabwritng’s development, this was the perfect opportunity to hear feedback and gain valuable perspectives from more experienced mentors, as well as the attendees themselves.

The event had everything from inspirational talks by digital leaders and entrepreneurs, to hands-on work on our business model/startup with dedicated mentors. We ran through different sprints ranging from user understanding, prototyping, validation to storytelling and pitch preparation.

Aside from gaining valuable feedback and guidance, this was an amazing way to experience what the startup community looks like in other ecosystems. The energy shared within the group motivated us to work harder, make new connections and gave us a boost to take Collabwriting to a new level.