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[MALTA: OPEN DAY] STARTING or STUCK? Is your path to market working? | Thursday, September 24 | 8:30 [Zoom]
MALTA is a practical 12-week Business Development Readiness Pre-Accelerator Program for pre-seed and bootstrapped technical founders and research-driven teams that need a clearer, more effective path to market.
It is also relevant if you are preparing to apply to BALI, ESA BIC, NATO DIANA, EUDIS, or any other accelerator and want to build stronger business development foundations first.
Applications for MALTA 2026 are now open
MALTA starts on 1 OCTOBER 2026, and applications are already open.
If you are interested in joining the program, do not wait for the Open Day to apply. Places are limited, so we recommend applying as soon as possible.
You can still join the Open Day afterward to meet the team, learn more about the program, and ask any remaining questions.
You have promising technology or product. But is your path to the market working?
Perhaps you are building a startup for the first time and do not know where to begin with business development.
Or perhaps you have already tried. You have attended events, contacted potential customers, tested different messages, or generated a few early opportunities, but nothing has yet become focused, consistent, or repeatable.
MALTA is designed for both.
Join the Entrepreneurial Office at Technology Park Ljubljana for an open conversation about what founders can do when they are either starting or stuck, and discover MALTA: Motivation, Activation, Launch, Traction and Acceleration.
MALTA is a practical 12-week Business Development Readiness Program for pre-seed or bootstrapped technical founders and research-driven teams.
Together with two guests from the TPLJ entrepreneurial community, we will explore what business development looks like in practice and answer your questions about building a clearer path to customers, partners, and traction.
The event is free and takes place online via Zoom.
Who is this event for?
MALTA addresses two groups of founders:
1. First-time founders
You have promising technology, research, or a product, but little or no experience in business development.
Join us if:
you do not know where to begin with business development,
you need to identify your ideal customers,
you need to understand your competitive landscape,
you want to clarify your positioning and explain the value of your solution,
you are unsure how to approach potential customers, partners or investors,
you want to build strong go-to-market foundations from the start.
2. Founders who have tried but got stuck
You have already launched, tested the market, conducted outreach, attended events, or approached potential customers, but haven't yet found a focused, repeatable approach.
Join us if:
your outreach and sales activities produce inconsistent results,
your customer conversations do not progress,
you have had early wins but cannot repeat them,
your market activities feel scattered or reactive,
your positioning is unclear or your target market is too broad,
you are still dependent on someone else to “bring you the leads,”
you feel stuck in the messy middle between product development and market traction.
If this sounds familiar, MALTA can help you examine what is not working and build a clearer path forward.
The event is designed primarily for technical founders, early-stage teams, and research-driven startups.
It is also relevant if you are preparing to apply to BALI, ESA BIC, NATO DIANA, or EUDIS and want to build stronger business development foundations first.
What will you learn?
During the MALTA Open Day, we will explore:
where business development starts when you have strong technology,
how to diagnose why your existing market activities are not producing results,
how to identify the customers, partners, and market actors worth approaching,
why competitive landscape and positioning work must come before more outreach,
how customer discovery turns assumptions into evidence,
how to test your positioning through real market conversations,
why technical founders need a Go-to-Network, not simply another list of leads,
how to move from random activities towards a more systematic market approach,
what founders commonly underestimate when moving from product development to market traction,
how MALTA builds the foundations required for BALI and other accelerator programs.
Who will join us?
Guests from the TPLJ entrepreneurial community
David Rakar
Director of Business Development, Waboost
Luka Zupančič
Co-Founder & CEO, Plan Z
David and Luka have both been involved with the Technology Park Ljubljana entrepreneurial community and bring practical experience in entrepreneurship and business development.
They will share their perspective on the challenges early-stage teams face when they move beyond product development and begin building their positioning, network, and first business opportunities.
Technology Park Ljubljana Entrepreneurial Office
The team behind MALTA will introduce the program's purpose, structure, and practical approach, and answer your questions about participation.
What is MALTA?
MALTA stands for Motivation, Activation, Launch, Traction, and Acceleration.
It is a practical 12-week Business Development Readiness Program for pre-seed and bootstrapped technical founders and research-driven teams that need a clearer, more effective path to market.
Some participants are building their market approach for the first time.
Others already have a product, market experience, or early opportunities, but have become stuck, lost focus, or failed to turn individual successes into a repeatable process.
Through three hands-on sprints, participants develop the clarity, communication skills, relationships, and practical business development habits needed to move forward.
By the end of MALTA, participants will have:
clearer, market-tested positioning,
a stronger understanding of their customers and competitive landscape,
experience conducting real customer and market conversations,
a focused Dream 20–40 network of relevant contacts,
a practical 2-pager and clearer pitch,
tested approaches to outreach and relationship building,
the foundations of a more systematic and repeatable market-development motion.
MALTA bridges the gap between developing promising technology and being ready for more advanced business and accelerator programs such as BALI, ESA BIC, NATO DIANA and EUDIS.
Business development through practice
Each week, participants receive a practical framework and immediately put it to work through real activities: customer interviews, positioning tests, outreach messages, introductions, live conversations and pitch practice.
MALTA is not a traditional course where participants only learn about business development. It is a structured environment in which they practice it, receive feedback, and improve through real contact with the market.
Build your Go-to-Network
Founders do not need another generic list of leads. They need to understand who matters to their progress and how to build the right relationships.
Participants identify the customers, partners, investors, experts, and ecosystem connections that can help them understand and access the market.
They build a focused Dream 20–40 list, learn how to ask for introductions, and develop a systematic approach to starting and continuing valuable conversations.
Bonus expert Q&A sessions
In addition to the core program, participants will have access to bonus Q&A sessions with selected experts.
These sessions will cover topics that early-stage founders often need to understand before entering more advanced accelerator programs or investor conversations, including:
funding options, equity, vesting, and relevant Slovenian legislation,
dual-use and defense opportunities,
military and public-sector buying processes,
and access to relevant organizations and support ecosystems.
For teams working on dual-use or defense-related solutions, Technology Park Ljubljana brings direct experience and connections within the Slovenian defense ecosystem, including MORS and NATO DIANA.
The bonus sessions are designed to give founders practical orientation and direct access to experts when these questions become relevant.
A 12-week core sprint with ongoing support
The core MALTA program runs for 12 weeks, starting with technical onboarding on 1 October 2026.
Following the holiday break, the program continues with the second Final Founder Roast and concludes with MALTA Graduation on 14 January 2027.
Participants also receive weekly Office Hours throughout the program, giving them regular opportunities to ask questions, review their work and move forward.
The program is effectively free. Participants pay only a small refundable deposit, which is returned in full after they successfully complete the program.
MALTA graduates also receive a 50% discount on the entry deposit for the BALI accelerator.
MALTA is not a pitch-deck workshop, an investment-readiness program, or a branding course.
It is a structured environment for practice in which founders move from assumptions and theory to real conversations with the market.
Because before founders are ready for an accelerator, they need to be ready for the market.
MALTA 2026 Program Schedule
All main sessions are online on Thursdays from 8:30 - 10 CEST/CET.
Introduction
1 .10. 2026 – Technical Onboarding
Sprint 1: Market Clarity & Validation
6.10. 2026 – Your Professional Identity
8.10. 2026 – Competitive Landscape & Positioning
15.10. 2026 – Customer Discovery & Language-Market Fit
22.10. 2026 – 2-Pager V1 & Clarity Testing
29.10. 2026 – Validation Review & Positioning Roast
Sprint 2: Network & Relationship Building
5.11. 2026 – Go-To-Network & Dream 20–40
12.11. 2026 – Conversations in the Online World
19.11. 2026 – Market Actors, Partners & Potential Clients
26.11. 2026 – Live Outreach Lab & Pitch Practice
Sprint 3: GTM in Practice
3.12. 2026 – Market Access & Events for Discovery
10.12. 2026 – Event Booster, Follow-up & Pipeline Lite
17.12. 2026 – Final Founder Roast, Group 1
Holiday break
18.12. 2026 – 6.1. 2027 – Holiday Break
7.1. 2027 – Final Founder Roast, Group 2
Program completion
14.1. 2027 – MALTA Graduation & Next Steps
Office Hours
Every Tuesday, 8:30–9:30 – Office Hours
Every Thursday, 10:00–10:30 – Office Hours following the main workshop
Bonus expert Q&A sessions
Additional expert Q&A sessions on funding, founder essentials, dual-use, and defense market access will be announced during the program.
Apply to MALTA
Applications for the 2026 cohort are already open.
If you are ready to turn your technology into real market action, submit your application today. You do not need to wait for the Open Day to apply. Applications close on 29 September.
More information and a personal consultation
Find detailed information about the program, curriculum, and delivery format on the Technology Park Ljubljana website.
If you would like to check whether MALTA is the right fit for your team before applying, book a free 30-minute consultation.
→ [BOOK A FREE 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION]
Join our LinkedIn event
→https://www.linkedin.com/events/malta-openday-12-weekbusinessde7501274168651444224/