steve blank in finland sept 2011

Steve Blank in HelsinkiSeptember 5th 2011 - September 9th 2011

Draft 6th Oct, 2011

www.steveblank.fi

Editor Kristo OvaskaPhotos Lauri LehtovuoriLayout Anna Kaila

www.steveblank.fi

twitter “ Steve Blank's @sgblank visit to Helsinki seems to create abt 10 times more noise than Dalai Lama's ...

“Finland in crossroads of something wonderful. It takes a single person to make the change.

Monday, 5th September 2011 I University

08:45-10:15 Faculty Talk, Otaniemi 11:40-12:00 Press Conference, Otaniemi 12:00-14:00 Faculty Workshop, Otaniemi 14:00-14:15 Talouselämä Interview, Otaniemi 17:00-19:00 Lecture for Students, Helsinki 19:00-19:10 Ajankohtainen Kakkonen Interview, Helsinki

Tuesday, 6th September 2011 I Angels and Startups

08:15-10:00 Angel Panel, Otaniemi 10:15-12:00 Startup Sauna Coaching Session, Otaniemi 12:00-12:15 Seura Interview, Otaniemi 18:00-22:00 President’s Circle Dinner, Otaniemi

Wednesday, 7th September 2011 I Venture Capital

08:45-10:15 VC Panel, Helsinki 11:40 Pickup from Hotel 12:00-14:00 Sitra Lunch, Helsinki

Program of the week

Monday, 5th September 2011 I University

08:45-10:15 Faculty Talk, Otaniemi 11:40-12:00 Press Conference, Otaniemi 12:00-14:00 Faculty Workshop, Otaniemi 14:00-14:15 Talouselämä Interview, Otaniemi 17:00-19:00 Lecture for Students, Helsinki 19:00-19:10 Ajankohtainen Kakkonen Interview, Helsinki

Tuesday, 6th September 2011 I Angels and Startups

08:15-10:00 Angel Panel, Otaniemi 10:15-12:00 Startup Sauna Coaching Session, Otaniemi 12:00-12:15 Seura Interview, Otaniemi 18:00-22:00 President’s Circle Dinner, Otaniemi

Wednesday, 7th September 2011 I Venture Capital

08:45-10:15 VC Panel, Helsinki 11:40 Pickup from Hotel 12:00-14:00 Sitra Lunch, Helsinki

Thursday, 8th September 2011 I Public funding

09:00-11:00 Public Funding Workshop, Helsinki 12:00-13:00 Lunch with Mr. Matti Alahuhta and Mrs. Tuula Teeri, Otaniemi 16:00-17:30 The Federation of Finnish Technology Industries Panel, Helsinki 17:30-18:30 Helsingin Sanomat, Kauppalehti, Prima, Bloomberg Interviews, Helsinki

Friday, 9th September 2011 I Entrepreneurs and Media

08:00-08:45 Breakfast with Mr. Jyri Häkämies, Helsinki 12:00-14:00 Leading Editors-in-Chief, Otaniemi 14:00-16:00 Startup Sauna Coaches Workshop, Otaniemi 17:15-19:30 Speech and BBQ, Otaniemi

8 stEvE bLank WEEk In HELsInkI

Faculty Talk I Learn Steve Blank’s Plan to Demolish the Status Quo in Entrepreneurial Education

Program 08:30 Doors open 08:50 Opening words, Mrs. Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University 09:00 Keynote, Mr. Steve Blank 09:50 Q&A 10:10 Closing words, Mrs. Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto UniversityLocation TU2-Hall, Otaniementie 17, EspooHost Mrs. Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto UniversityOrganizer Mr. JP Hernandezaudience 300 faculty members from Aalto University and other universities in Finland, Ministry of Education representatives

“EVERY official in TEKES, TEM etc in Finland should watch the Steve Blank talk now in progess. Seriously! #aaltoes @sgblank

UnIVErSITy


Institutions of higher education should open their doors for pre-school children to learn entrepreneurial attitudes, said Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University on Mon-day.

Mrs Teeri made the opening remarks on Stanford Uni-versity Professor Steve Blank’s visit on Monday morning Faculty Talk. After the lecture, where Mr Blank encour-aged Finland to push for a radical renewal of university level business education, Mrs Teeri said the change is on it’s way. ”Our aim at Aalto is to build a world-class growth-entrepreneurship curriculum.”

But Mrs Teeri thinks change needs to happen on all levels of society, and the traditionally risk-averse Finnish cul-ture needs to change, too. ”Risk taking is something we need to build in our society. Failure is something that can happen and you won’t die of it. Hopefully.”

In her fairly radical proposal, she envisions kindergarten kids entering the Aalto University ”Aalto Venture Pre-School”. Children would visit the university to learn about being an entrepreneur from real entrepreneurs just as they visit fire stations to learn about the work of fire-men.

”What do children know about different professions? They know about doctors, bus drivers and firemen. We need to raise entrepreneurs as equal models and heroes for children,” she said.

She says Finnish popular children’s culture lacks the posi-tive model of a business man, such as the entrepreneuring kid selling soft drinks familiar in American comic books.

Mrs Teeri dreams of an Aalto Venture Pre-School, where kids could learn about entrepreneurship through play, and Aalto student and real entrepreneurs would tell them what entrepreneurship means. ”We could have CEO of ST1 telling the kids how selling gasoline really is.”

Blog I Taneli Heikka

What Finland needs: ”Entrepreneurship for pre-school kids”

UnIVErSITy


Faculty Workshop I Building a World-class Technology Ventures Program

Program 12:00 Opening Words, Mr. Hannu Seristö 12:10 Introduction of Participants, 30 seconds each Lunch served 12:30 Speech: the Past and the Future of Entrepreneurship Education, Mr. Steve Blank 12:45 Workshop: Vision of Entrepreneurship Teaching 13:45 Conclusions, Mr. Hannu Seristö Location Aalto Venture Garage, Backstage, Betonimiehenkuja 3D, EspooHost Mr. Hannu Seristö, Vice President of Aalto UniversityOrganizer Mr. JP Hernandezaudience 30 selected faculty members across the Aalto University

““Incubators a Reaction to the lack of Practical University Entrepreneurship” @sgblank

“We’re Standing at the Beginning of the Entrepreneurial Revolution”@sgblank at @arcticstartup

UnIVErSITy


Lecture I Why Startups are not small versions of large companies

Program 17:15 Opening words, Mr. Juhana Nurmio, Mr. Juho Kokkola 17:30 Keynote, Mr. Steve Blank 18:30 Closing words, Mr. Juhana Nurmio 19:00 Afterparty, TavastiaLocation Aalto School of Economics, Main Hall, Runeberginkatu 14-16, HelsinkiHost Mr. Juhana Nurmio, Aalto Entrepreneurship SocietyOrganizer Mr. JP Hernandezaudience More than a thousand students from all over Finland

“ Waiting for doors to open for @sgblank’s #aaltoes startup keynote. Huge crowd here.

“ @sgblank ”There’s a Finnish Spring: Instead of students running in the streets burning things they’re ready to start companies” #aaltoes

UnIVErSITy


Think of this: you own a large corporation and something disrupts your business. It can be a change of the tastes of customers. It can be legislation or technologies, but it is out of your hands. New needs and new markets emerge. But your corporation is slow to turn. You have hired people who can execute a business plan. But they can’t innovate.

“Accountants usually don’t run startups”, says Steve Blank in his opening speech at Aalto University on Mon-day.

These kind of changes are happening faster and faster in the 21st century. More and more companies face the kind of disruptive change that Nokia or the Finnish forestry cluster have faced in the recent months and years.

That is why this is the century of startups. They are agile, they are fast.

That is why we need to demolish our entrepreneurial education system, Mr. Blank highlighted. Management science is for large corporations. Entrepreneurship in startups is more like art than anything that can be predict-ed. And actually, you can’t talk about startups in general.

according to Mr. blank, there are six types of startups:

1. Lifestyle startups: work to live your passion. Selling surfing boards during the day and surfing three months when you feel like it.

2. Small business startups: work to feed the family, no intention to grow.

3. Scalable startups: born to be big = Silicon Valley start-ups.

4. Subset of scalable startups: buyable startups. The aim is to sell the company to a larger company.

5. Disruptive innovation inside a large company.

6. Social entrepreneurship startups: solving social prob-lems.

”These require different skills. They can not be taught the same way”, Mr. Blank said.

First of all we shouldn’t teach only management science. ”We have somehow managed 300 years without MBAs. But startups are not smaller versions of large companies, even if our curriculums assume they are.”

Blog I riku Siivonen

What Finland needs: Forget the MBA’s and get out of the building!

UnIVErSITy

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”Nothing wrong in an MBA except when you try to apply it to a startup”, he added.

Mr. Blank said that traditional business schools have some other limitations, too. For example, many profes-sors consult large companies.

”And what’s missing in universities and incubators is a repeatable methodology for startup creation.”

In Mr Blank’s definition, a startup is ”a temporary or-ganization used to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.”

Mr. Blank has a dream: an e-school for entrepreneurs. The goal would be creating a methodology for startup creation. This school would have a hands-on emphasis. It’s curriculum could be taught remotely anywhere, in a university or an incubator. The curriculum would be about the search for a business model.

Aalto University and Stanford University have now teamed up to radically renew business education in the twenty-firstWill century. The curriculum will no doubt be built upon Mr. Blank’s credo on customer development.

“A startup’s first job: get out of the building. Listen to your customers. Iterate – without crisis.”


Angel Panel I Angels in the Finnish Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Program 8:30 Opening Words, Mr. Risto Siilasmaa and Mr. Hannu Seristö 8:40 Speech: How and Who, Mr. Steve Blank 9:00 Panel discussion: How to Get Angels to Invest, Networks and Policy 9:45 Conclusions, Mr. Petteri KoponenLocation Aalto Venture Garage, Backstage, Betonimiehenkuja 3D, EspooModerator Mr. Petteri Koponen, Lifeline Ventures FounderPanelists Mr. Risto Siilasmaa, F-Secure Founder and Chairman of the Board Mr. Timo Soininen, CEO of Sulake Corporations (Habbo Hotel) Mr. Hannu Seristö, Vice president of Aalto Unversity Mr. Ari Korhonen, Vice Chairman, Finnish Business Angel Network Mr. Steve BlankHosts Mr. Risto Siilasmaa, F-Secure Founder and Chairman of the Board Mr. Hannu Seristö, Vice President of Aalto UniversityOrganizer Mr. Claes Mikko Nieminenaudience 140 angels from the Finnish Business Angel Association (FiBan), Boardman and Finnvera

“ Risto Siilasmaa: ‘I don’t want to give a fortune to my kids. I’d rather spend it on start-ups’ #aaltoes

“ Timo Soininen: ‘Real loosers are not people who failed but those who never tried’ @headfuse #aaltoes

AngELS & STArTUPS


Risto siilasmaa of F-secure hopes the old money elite will get into angel investing

”If a bomb exploded in this room probably half of the Finnish angel investors were dead.”

While the joke of panel moderator Petteri Koponen may be true, the body count would still be significantly higher than it would have been a few years ago. Which is a great thing. There is a buzz in the Finnish startup community, and that buzz has raised the attention of wealthy inividu-als in Finland.

A full house of hundred angel investors gathered at Aalto Ventures Garage on early Tuesday morning. The aim of the event was to change the way startups are funded and created in Finland.

”There are many wealthy individuals who could enter the field”, said Ari Korhonen, Vice Chairman at Finnish Business Angel Network

”How’s your startup doing?”

He hoped for awareness of what angel investment is and creation of networks for stepping into the game.

Accoding to Finnish business daily Kauppalehti, particu-larly former Nokia employees are injecting new money in the angel investment market. However, Mr Korhonen says the total amount of big venture capital funds is smaller than five years ago.

The host of the panel, Risto Siilasmaa, who has been a vocal proponent of tax incentives for angels, didn’t bring up the issue this time. The government has turned the idea down.

Instead of going for the tax incentives, in his rather colourful style Mr Siilasmaa encouraged elderly wealthy citizens – who in Finland often carry the untranslatable, 19th century title ”vuorineuvos” – to really get into start-up funding so that it would be a norm to invest on them and talk about them for example during their hunting trips to South Africa. ”Before starting to kill innocent animals, they’d ask how’s your startup doing”.


Before shooting innocent animals, talk about startups

AngELS & STArTUPS

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Cheat sheet: Words that mean money!

networks rather than tax breaks

This, he believed, would encourage them to angel invest-ing that is still too rare among the suits of the Old Money.

Mr Korhonen from the Finnish Business Angel Network says legislative changes would be welcome, if not the first steps needed. Legislative measures would consist of eg. tax incentives and co-investment funds. In the latter, government and pensions funds would invest into startups alongside angels.

”There’s no reason why Finnish investors should not be treated equally to British, Portuguese or French inves-tors”, Mr Korhonen concluded.

Here’s our short vocabulary of for all you newcomers to the world of pouring your extra money in startups in hope of what Steve Blank calls ”obscene returns”:

Angel investor. Typically a wealthy individual. Invests, say, 20 000 euros into a startup. Ideally, gives not only money, but his time, knowledge and networks to the company.

Angel fund. A syndicated fund of several angels who manage their own funds. By syndication the amount of investment per individual can be as low as 5000 - 10 000 euros.

Venture capital fund. A fund where investments are pooled and managed professionally. Size of fund usually up to tens of millions.


The second day of Steve Blank’s visit to Finland started with a morning panel discussion on the current state of angel investment in Finland.

Topics related from current amount of angel investments and activity of Finnish angels, the motivation in investing into startups, to the uselessness of written business plans.

no business plan survives the first contact with the customer

The need for a written static business plan in an early stage startup searching for customer and business model and tackling for multiple unknown just is not there. Us-ing your valuable time to write business plan instead of getting out of the building to find your customers and traction is just counterproductive.

Instead business plans should embrace Customer Devel-opment methodology and Business Modeling However, you shouldn’t confuse business plan with business plan-ning.

Blog I BoostTurku

Angels Watching Over Us

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Change the Culture

Steve Blank emphasized that the Finnish angel investors and startup entrepreneurs should embrace the spirit of the Valley which means that any person is actually able to contact anyone for help and feedback with no require-ment of the helping side getting any compensation out of it.

This has created in the Valley a culture and loop of help-ing where the successful founders help the next genera-tion who will in time help the next generation. The cur-rent Finnish angels and successful founders should be the initiators of this loop of giving back in Finland.

smart Money

When talking about the role of the angel investors, one big thing is that the investors should think the actual financial stake only as part of the investment. Big part of the deal should also be giving advice and guidance to the team invested in.

This point should also be remembered by the startup founders when looking for investors. Do not go for

the “dumb money”, instead find investors who are willing to support you with their advice and networks.

The requirement of investing beyond the money is also the rationale why we should get and grow more local angels and VCs to Finland instead of going for the inves-tors abroad. Money can always be transferred but to get mentoring on a regular basis is that much harder if you are 1000 miles away.

a-team with a b class idea will usually triumph over b-team with a class idea

The discussion touched also the subject of investing in the idea versus investing in the team. The lessons from building startups in the Valley have clearly pointed out that actual ”quality” of the initial idea is not near as im-portant as the quality of the team.

When you are operating with uncertainty and constant change, the teams ability to search, learn and pivot is much more important than how good the original idea was.

So go on and start building your superstar team!


Workshop I Startup Sauna teams

Program 10:15 Welcome, Mr. Wili Miettinen 10:20 Demos and Feedback: 8 Startups, 3 minutes demo + 5 minutes Q&A 11:40 Concluding Feedback 11:45 LunchLocation Aalto Venture Garage, Backstage, Betonimiehenkuja 3D, EspooHost Mr. Wili Miettinen, Microtask Founder, Startup Sauna CoachOrganizer Mr. Ville Simola Mr. Antti Ylimutkaaudience Most promising startups from Startup Sauna accelerator. Campalyst, Ovelin, Futureful, Tribestudios, Tuubio, Dealmachine, Audiodraft and Blaast.

“ @sgblank coaching our most promising teams!

First time teams from all three batches in the same room! #aaltoes #Russia

“ ‘You know what we call a failed entrepreneur in the Silicon Valley? Experienced.’ @sgblank

“ @sgblank: I’m going to invest to two @startupsauna teams who pitched yesterday. There’s a revolution going on!

AngELS & STArTUPS


All the teams are slowly filling up the small room at De-sign Factory. The feeling is surprisingly cozy when you think that they’ll all be pitching to Steve Blank himself in a while.

The teams pitching today are: Campalyst, Ovelin, Future-ful, Tribestudios, Tuubio, Dealmachine, Audiodraft and Blaast.

Wili Miettinen, one of the active Aaltoes mentors, is opening the workshop and introducing Steve to every-body. He also introduces Steve to the programs, as he knows what these startups have been through so far.

Campalyst takes the floor first, only one of the team members is in Finland, others are out around the world, creating contacts and doing business. Campalyst has had a very impressing year so far and they’re still pushing on and on top of that they’ve been following Steve’s advice, talking with customers! Great! Steve’s however worried about the pricing model of the company and their prod-uct. Something for Campalyst to think about.

Ovelin’s pitching as second and before starting their pitch Steves already saying that he loves the idea and that’s it. Surely amazing for the team to hear this. Ovelin has been making progress too by creating harder levels for professional musicians. Steve’s forecasting that in three years Ovelin won’t be doing Wild Chords but the product has evolved to something else.

Next up is Futureful, presenting Steve and the rest of us their progress in the last months. Private alpha coming up in a few weeks! Steve’s getting a private demo from the founders. Looks like it’s working and according to Steve this might be one of the companies that gets bought in an instant after demoing it to the right people.

tribestudios is taking the stage next and presenting one more former winner product of the Startup Sauna. The first story, Velvet Sundown is coming out soon! But remember that the platform, Stagecraft is the most important part, it enables continuity. Steve’s asking some important questions and Elina’s answering them well.

Blog I rudi Skogman

Steve meets Startup Sauna and Summer of Startups

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tuubio is the fourth one up on the stage. They also have a personal demo to show Steve on a phone. Personaliz-ing a radio broadcast for him. Seems to be working well. Great process on the product from the team. Steve’s also giving Tuubio some important points to work on and think about.

Dealmachine takes the floor as the fifth team. Making CRM a game for the salesforce. Actually Timo ended up telling how it has been going and where their journey has taken them. He’s showing off a new possible prod-uct and asking if dm should be integrated as the coaches have been saying for months. Steves offering important contacts and information, absolutely amazing!

Teemu Yli-Hollo is presenting audioDraft and playing the Nokia Tune, which Steve doesn’t instantly recognize. The question he’s asking is, what does your brand sound like? What tune would instantly say Steve Blank? Au-dioDraft has over 50 customers at the moment, and their creating the new Nokia Tune! That’s crazy amazing!

blaast is the last but surely not the least! Joonas is assur-ing everybody that he’s not high on crack even though he might appear crazy. Great laugh from everybody, maybe the cameras shouldn’t be taping this… Blaast is doing the amazing work of bringing smartphone apps to the afford-able devices. Steve’s worried about how to get the phone carriers to join Blaast. Steve loves the idea anyway! Amazing!

Steve loves everyone in this group and is absolutely amazed. It’s great to hear! He’s still giving some last pointers for all the teams to read Alexander Osterwalders book and do a business model canvas and show it to every possible investor to show the progress. And when speaking about investors, the companies basically has two choices, to move to the U.S. or not to raise U.S. VC money. The floor now opens up for questions and discus-sions between the teams and Steve. Amazing atmosphere! Keep on rocking!


Dinner I President’s Circle

Program 18:00 Doors Open 18:20 Opening Words, Mrs. Tuula Teeri, Mr. Mikko Kuusi 18:30 Starters 19:05 Speech: Finnish “Startup Scene” Today, Mr. Risto Siilasmaa 19:20 Main course 19:50 Speech, Mr. Will Cardwell 19:55 Keynote: Why should and how could university and corporations help to increase the number and quality of startups, Mr. Steve Blank 20:25 Q&A and Discussion, Moderator Mr. Will Cardwell 20:55 Dessert 21:30 Coffee 22:00 ClosingLocation Otaniemi, EspooHost Mrs. Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto UniversityOrganizer Ms. Jessica Sinikoskiaudience 80 people, biggest private and corporate donors of Aalto University. Top managers of corporations, influential owners of Finnish corporations.

“ @sgblank “Why found companies in Finland? Because old ones die.” Steve talking about building a 21st economy. #aaltoes

AngELS & STArTUPS


On Tuesday evening, Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto Uni-versity hosted Steve Blank, Aalto supporters and stake-holders as well as Aalto startups to discuss the univer-sity’s role in entrepreneurship and innovation in the time of economic hardship.

In essence, we are faced with a few significant challenges

• We’re undergoing a structural transition from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge-based, cre-ative economy

• Simultaneously, the population is decreasing with fewer young people entering the job market

In practical terms, this will require a new way of think-ing about educating the new generations to stand on their own feet and problem-solve. Rethinking is needed across research, education and innovation to offer the tools and skills to tackle the future.

With a vision to become a hub for startups and technolo-gy, Tuula acknowledges that a strong grassroots culture is already in place but what is now needed is a world-class venturing program for ambitious students and researchers at Aalto to take on the challenge our society faces.

“Those who are waiting for the recession to end, so someone can again hand them work, could have a long wait”

“We are not going back to the good old days without fix-ing our schools as well as our banks”

- Thomas Friedman

Blog I Charlotta Liukas

In the time of destruction, create somethingTuula Teeri’s thoughts on entrepreneurship and innovation in a university context

AngELS & STArTUPS


VC Panel I Finnish Venture Capitalists Association

Program 08:30 Doors open, breakfast 09:00 Opening words, Mr. Artturi Tarjanne 09:15 Speech: VC ́s are gamblers, Mr. Steve Blank 09:30 Panel discussion: What could be done to get the VC ecosystem to flourish in Finland 10:15 ConclusionsModerator Mr. Will Cardwell, Head of Aalto Center for EntrepreneurshipPanelists Mr. Vesa Wallden, Senior Partner, Capman Mr. Mikael Jungner, Member of Parliament, Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party Mr. Timo Ritakallio, Deputy CEO & Chief Investment Officer of Ilmarinen Mr. Lasse Männistö, Member of Parliament Mr. Steve BlankLocation Restaurant Bank, Unioninkatu 20 00100 Helsinki.Host Mr. Artturi Tarjanne, Chairman of the Board, FVCA, partner at Nexit Ventures Mr. Will Cardwell, Head of Aalto Center for EntrepreneurshipOrganizer Ms. Krista Rantasaariaudience 150 leading VCs, institutional investors etc.

“ “those students know more than you” Steve to VC’s ... #aaltoes

“ @sgblank to VCs: You better get on this revolution quick - I WILL invest in these startups before you!

“ Jungner of SDP promises to fight for tax cuts for business angels bit.ly/qaJk2h #aaltoes @sgblank

“ #SteveBlank - From words to concrete: “VC’s should also be startup mentors and spread their experience!” @sgblank

Key aims for the discussion: Sitras plan to syndicate angel funding by doubling the investment. How to build a network of startup professionals for funded startups. Introduction to Sitra and the themes of the next talk.

VEnTUrE CAPITAL


This could be the credo of many an economist and policy maker in Finland. Government funds are needed to estab-lish industry. Capital is scarce, and the little we have we can’t afford to give to the risky business of startups.

Perhaps we believe this nonsense, because it’s dug in our subconscious. The line is from the second – though rarely sung – verse of Finland’s national anthem.

Steve Blank is here to turn this belief upside down.

”Finns are good enough and smart enough. The govern-ment must just get out of the way”, he said when asked should foreign investments be persuaded into the country to build a startup cluster here.

No, he said. It’s the job of Finnish people and blue and white money. The problem is that the people who hold the keys to money and decisions invest in a very conser-vative way.

“Who was the gentleman who sat beside me in the panel this morning (debuty CEO Timo Ritakallio of pensions

fund Ilmarinen). He has more money than god. He just ain’t givin’ you any of it!”, Mr Blank blasted in his speech at Sitra portfolio day on Wednesday.

think of changing society!

The worth of Ilmarinen’s investments in 2010 was 29 billion euros.

Mr Ritakallio probably got the smacking of his life at Finnish Venture Capital Association Panel on Wednesday morning.

“Some part of your brain ought to be thinking how to change society!” said Mr Blank at Mr Ritakallio’s face after the panel where both gentlemen took part.

Mr Blank said he met with Aalto Startup Sauna compa-nies on Tuesday and concluded all of them were ready to pitch in the Valley. In lightly disguised criticism on Finn-ish investors he said that he personally would invest in two of them before the Finnish VC’s realize the potential of the companies.


Sorry, Finns, your national anthem got it wrongOur land is poor, so it remains

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the most conservative investor

Mr Blank encouraged Mr Ritakallio to take a leading role in supporting the startup ecosystem in Finland. Accord-ing to Mr Blank, such a move could be done and still give the population weary of their pension money the message that “we’re still the most conservative investor in the business”.

“Just the fact that you will do it will change the thinking in this room”, Mr Blank referred to an auditorium full of VC’s.

Mr Ritakallio did not turn down the idea of increasing the weight of high risk – high return investments in the Ilmarinen portfolio. “It’s quite possible”, he said. “What we need now is belief in the future and growth.”

He advocated asymmetric funds, where public and private money would be pooled in to finance startups. He referred to the way Finnish university financing was supported recently: private donations triggered a two-fold sum to the chosen university from the taxpayer.

Social Democrat party secretary, MP Mikael Jungner promises that tax incentives for business angels are not a lost cause. He says he’s personally committed to finding a solution for resurrecting the initiative that crashed during PM Matti Vanhanen’s Government in 2009.

“The reasons for not finding solution were in my opin-ion practical rather than political. I believe they can be solved”, Jungner said at Finnish Venture Capital Associa-tion Panel on Wednesday.

Jungner vowed that he and fellow panelist, MP Lasse Männistö of the Coalition party share the idea and are pushing it forward.

Jungner believes the future of Finland is worth building upon startups. They are agile operations best suitable for searching profitable business opportunities that bring jobs. And jobs and growth are what we need in the cur-rent economical gloom.

“Startups are a fast remedy. It is a change in mind set that can give returns worth of billions of euros in less than five years”, Jungner said.

Jungner of SDP promises to fight for tax cuts for business angels


Lunch I Sitra workshop

Program 12:05 Opening Words, Mr. Jari Pasanen 12:07 Speech: Main Learning’s from the week, Mr. Kristo Ovaska 12:10 Introduction, Mr. Juha Mikkola 12:20 Introduction, Mr. Jukka Ruuska 12:30 Discussion and briefing about the next talkLocation HTC Helsinki, Meeting Cabinet, Styyrbuuri C4, Pinta House, Tammasaarenkatu 1–5, HelsinkiHost Mr. Jari Pasanen, Vice President of Business Development, SitraParticipants Mr. Juha Mikkola, Mr. Jukka Ruuska, Mr. Pauli Marttila

Speech I Sitra’s Portofolio Companies Day 2011

Program 13:00 - 14:00Location HTC Helsinki, Kolumbus Auditorium, Pinta House, Tammasaarenkatu 1–5, HelsinkiHost Mr. Pauli Marttila, Director of Business Development and Strategic Investments, Sitraaudience 80 companies from Sitra’s portfolio

VEnTUrE CAPITAL


“Twenty-five of the 28 companies here will go out of business. Sorry. But the three will be filthy rich.”

In these bubbly times and sky-high validations of com-panies Mr. Blank encouraged the audience to believe in startups in Portfolio day organized by the Finnish Innova-tion Fund, Sitra. The day gathered people from compa-nies Sitra has invested in.

After a few days in Finland, having spoken to up to 2 000 people and worked closely with Aalto Entrepreneurship Society Mr. Blank thinks there is a “Helsinki spring” go-ing on, an entrepreunial revolution.

“Those 20-year-old students know exactly what is hap-pening in Silicon Valley. They are born global. The only thing missing is venture funds, angels and incubators that understand that.”

boost your ego!

The well-clad investors and businessmen and women in the auditorium of High Tech Center in Ruoholahti listened to Mr Blank act as an messenger of the new revo-lutionary culture bustling just a few miles away on Aalto Ventures Garage.

Blog I riku Siivonen & Taneli Heikka

You ought to believe that God has given you a vision

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”Startups who are done by 20-year-olds who are too dumb to know that it can’t be done”, Mr. Blank advised.

“Startup is a calling. You ought to believe that God has given you a vision. And in the right kind of entrepre-neurial ecosystem we should have equally insane people risking their money as investors.”

Mr. Blank reminded the Sitra audience to boost their egos. Because a big ego is not only what a startup found-er needs, but also a startup investor.

”If you don’t have a larger ego than the average Finn - which is not difficult – you don’t belong in the startup business. Startups are about people who are uncomfort-able about being second. These are crazy people on a mission from God.”

startups search for business models

Now, back to more profane facts. According to Mr Blank, startups are not smaller versions of large corporations - although a lot of people thought so for decades.

“A startup is temporary organisation designed to search for a scalable and repeatable business model. Startups need their own tools which are different than those of large companies.”

That means that for example the role of the board is dif-ferent. In a startup board’s role is to teach the CEO that his job is not a technical exercise but a search for a busi-ness model.

This requires the investor to actually understand the busi-ness of the startup and contribute his time and networks to the search of the business mode with personal risk involved. This is a very different modus operandi com-pared to the traditional public funding institutions’ way of working, where the government signs a check and and – well, that’s about it.

Blank stated that agile development is how startups should be build. The founders should “Get out of the building!” – one of Mr. Blanks catchphrases – and learn their business model straight from the customers.


Workshop I Public Funding in Finland

Program 09:05 Opening Words, Mr. Petri Peltonen 09:15 Keynote: Situation of Finland as Mr. Blank sees it, Shakeup! Mr. Steve Blank 09:45 Q&A and Discussion, Moderator Mr. Petri Peltonen 10:45 Conclusions, Mr. Petri PeltonenLocation Ministry of Employment and Economy, Negotiation room Aleksanterinkatu 4, HelsinkiHost Mr. Petri Peltonen, General Director of Ministry Employment and EconomyOrganizer Mr. Pertti Valtonen, Industrial Counsellor, Ministry of Employment and Economyaudience 30 managers of the main public funding organisations in Finland

“ @sgblank “People are coming from Nordics and Baltic area to Helsinki. Those are first signs of a cluster. Magic is going on.” #aaltoes

“ @sgblank 5 days in Finland: ”No one in any of my meetings has talked about Nokia. What you won’t talk about will kill you first.” #aaltoes

Lunch I Mr. Matti Alahuhta and Mrs. Tuula Teeri

Program 12:00-13:00 Location Kone Building, EspooHost Mr. Matti Alahuhta, CEO of Kone Mrs. Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University

PUBLIC FUnDIng


Panel I How to develop Finland into the leading startup hub of Europe?

Program 16:00 Doors Open, cocktails 16:10 Welcoming Words, Mr. Pekka Lundmark 16:20 Keynote: Where is the potential and what needs to change in Finland, Mr. Steve Blank 16:40 Panel Discussion 17:30 Conclusions, Mr. Pekka Lundmark 17:30 - 21:00 Buffet DinnerLocation Kansallissali, Aleksanterinkatu 44, Helsinki Moderator Mr. Pekka Lundmark, CEO of KonecranesPanelists Mr. Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle, Rovio (Angry Birds) Mr. Alexander Stubb, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Mr. Hannu Seristö, Vice President of Aalto University Mr. Mikko Kuusi, President of Aalto Entrepreneurship Society Mr. Steve BlankHost Mr. Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Konecranes, Chairman of the Board of The Federation of Finnish Technology IndustriesOrganizer Jukka Viitasaari, Director of Information Technology Industries, Federation of Finnish Technology Industriesaudience 120 people including industry leaders, key stakeholders and hosts of the week

“Mighty Eagle @pvesterbacka: Finland should compete with the Valley, Singapore and Israel as nr 1 startub hub #aaltoes

“@alexstubb wants to make finland a top 1 country and attractive to startups and talent!

PUBLIC FUnDIng


When Steve Blank’s visit to Helsinki started on Monday, for some, the idea of developing Finland into Europe’s startup hub may have seemed like a fantasy objective of a few dozen hyped nerds who had spent too much time staring at their laptops.

by the end of the week, we have Helsinki spring, and the stakes have been supported, raised and officially confirmed.

“Why would we want to be Europe’s startup hub? We already are. What is there in Europe when it comes to startups? Not much. Why would we want to be the second best?” said the Mighty Eagle, Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio in a panel where he sat alongside with Steve Blank, Minister of Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb, Miki Kuusi from Aalto Entrepreneurship Society and Hannu Seristö, Vice President of Aalto University. The panel was hosted by Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Konecranes.

So there we are now competing with Silicon Valley, Israel and Singapore. Minister Stubb, quick to sense that times they are a-changing, tweeted that he’s “newcomer to this scene. Want to learn more”, and declared that Finland now should aim as number 1 country to fly to, live in and run startups.

While Mr. Stubb gave the official confirmation to the raised targets, the real energy generator of the panel was Mr. Vesterbacka with his nonconformist views.

Or perhaps soon we can call him a conformist. He said a huge attitude change is on its way in the Finnish society, bigger in its significance than the radicalism of the 1960’s and 70’s:

“the change in attitude is tangible and amazing. It’s a culture change.”

At moments frustrated to the Finnish realism of his fellow panelists’, Mr. Vesterbacka cried out: “We can compete with anyone!”

The protagonist of this revolution is the individual who knows better than the government.

This is particularly true in financing early stage startups. Asked what would happen if the Finnish public innova-tion funding body TEKES was abolished, he replied: “Nothing bad would happen. We would save 600 million euros for 10 incubators. There would be no harm.”

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save the organic emergence of clusters from the institutions!

The fundamental problem with public funding of start-ups, according to Vesterbacka, is that the government can never know better than the entrepreneurs, where success-ful business models and clusters are born. For instance, the gaming industry in Finland was not spotted or started by TEKES officials.

“It was started in the Assembly events”, he said. As-sembly “computer festivals” were started in the 1992 by voluntary people to gather people from Finland’s demo scene.

Slashing the Finnish institutions that still haven’t gotten the revolution, he said the government’s effort to pour money to institutions like the SHOK’s , Strategic Centres of Science, Technology and Innovation were like try-ing to guide rarely floating shipwrecks on the high seas. Neither the guide nor the ship know where to go. It’s time to ask the entrepreneurs.

Of course, according to Mr. Vesterbacka, it matters what the government does or doesn’t do.

“By taxing we cannot increase the number of for example angel investors. But again it is about the general attitude: we should admit that the government doesn’t always know the best.”


Welcome immigrants with baskets of flowers, says steve

Immigration is a central element in making Finland the leading startup hub in Europe, says serial entrepreneur, professor Steve Blank.

”If I were you I’d be on the border with flower baskets to welcome entrepreneurs from Estonia, Russia and else-where in the Baltic area. Make entry for entrepreneurs to this country as easy as you can”, he said.

After three days in Finland Mr Blank is convinced that Helsinki has the right elements to “become the new Paris, Rome or Florence”. But he said politicians often miss the subtle difference between immigration in general and immigration for job creation. He opined that the US has done it’s post 9/11 entrepreneur immigration policy badly, but talent keeps pouring in because of the strong pull of the Silicon Valley.

“People are coming from the Nordics and the Baltic area to Helsinki. Those are the first signs of a cluster. Some-thing magical is going on”, Blank said.

High growth startup companies created 50 000 new jobs in Finland in the last four years.

Entrepreneurs are queueing to Finland

So who’s coming, then? Jevgeni Peltola, a Russia expert for Aalto Entrepreneurship Society who works as a proj-ect manager at Pitney Bowes, said “everyone” in Russia wants to come to Finland to start a business.

“There are plenty of skilled teams from Russia, Bal-tics and Poland who would like to come to Finland and establish a company here. They are hard working and motivated and really give a benchmark that inspires the Finns too.”

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One of the reasons for the entrepreneurs leaving Russia is that it is fairly complicated to do an exit in Russia – to sell the company to global markets.

“There were 80 teams who wanted to come to Aaltoes programs but there were only two places. If we could somehow make it easier for foreigners to come here it would make a huge impact”, Jevgeni said.

aaltoes goes Russia

Aaltoes will have one-day-events in five Russian cities as part of the Startup Sauna Warm Up -program.

“We will have for example a pitching competition where the winner teams can get a trip to Silicon Valley”, Jevgeni concludes.

“@sgblank says thanks for the disruption #aaltoes


Breakfast I Mr. Jyri Häkämies

Program 8:00 - 08:45Location Ministry of Economy and Employment, Aleksanterinkatu 4, HelsinkiHost Mr. Jyri Häkämies, Minister of EconomyOrganizer Mr. Petri Peltonen

Workshop I Leading Editors-in-Chief

Program 12:00 - 14:00 Location Aalto Venture Garage, Backstage, Betonimiehenkuja 5, 02150 EspooHost Mr. Hannu Leinonen, Editor in Chief, KauppalehtiOrganizer Ms. Henrietta Kekäläinen Mr. Antti Vilpponen, Arctic Startupaudience 8 Editors-in-chief of leading Finnish Medias

“Fin press was last to write ab Birds. Tod Dagens Industry reported on #HelsinkiSpring. Even Swedish media gets it! #aaltoes

EnTrEPrEnEUrSHIPAnD MEDIA


Whenever a paper mill is shut down in an obscure vil-lage in Lapland, TV cameras rush to the scene, politi-cians establish a task force to “create jobs” to the area, and newspapers run spreads and op-eds to reflect on this unexpected disturbance in the Force.

When Finnish wind and solar power startup The Switch was sold to the US with 190 million euros, leading busi-ness magazine Talouselämä started to inquire weather the company should now pay it’s public TEKES funds back, since there might be a euro or two of taxpayers’ money in the owners’ wallets now.

“Anywhere else these guys would have been treated as heroes in the media. But here they are treated like enemies of the state”, serial entrepreneur Steve Blank scolded Finnish Editor-in-Chiefs at a working lunch at Aalto Venture Garage on Friday.

Present were the likes of host Hannu Leinonen of Kauppalehti, Tapani Ruokanen of Suomen Kuvalehti and Eljas Repo from Arvopaperi. The purpose of the luncheon was to discuss the significance of the grassroots startup phenomenon to Finnish society.

“Mårten is still pissed”

As a journalist I’m all for questioning the use of public money. But is there a pattern here we should be aware of? At least the young entrepreneurs at Aalto Garage who

work their butts off to create jobs in this country (and to become obscenely rich) feel their cause has not been understood in the media.

And it’s not only the young. Mr Blank said that co-creator of MySQL Mårten Mickos, who now lives in the Silicon Valley, is still bitter to the Finnish media for how the exit of his company worth 700 million euros in 2008 was treated.

“My personal job is to have Mårten Mickos come back to Finland. He’s still pissed. These guys have created jobs. They are the beacon of hope.”

A digital Helsinki Spring

Mr. Blank thinks that the return of the first generation startup champions as heroes and business angels to Fin-land would flourish the grassroots of the Helsinki startup Spring. This requires an attitude change in the Finnish media.

Why, then, does the Finnish media not get the Helsinki Spring? Steve Blank offered a very good starting point in offering an explanation: the media simply doesn’t know of it.

Mr Blank referred to Helsinki Spring as viral phenome-non like the Arab Spring. It spreads through social media without geographical borders. The youth immerses itself


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digitally into new information, ideology and perhaps most importantly, borderless markets and finances.

I’m not surprised that the media in Finland doesn’t real-ize this. Following social media is not part of Finnish journalists’ routines. Twitter, where Helsinki Spring was evident early on, is alien to most journalists in Finland.

Senior journos have even taken strong opinions against social media. As significant societal changes – the racist wing of the True Finns being an excellent example – in-creasingly rise through social media, this attitude is a real problem.

A true ideological revolution

The second reason Steve Blank offered for the resistance for the Helsinki Spring in the Old Guard of mainstream media is spot on, too.

We’re looking at a true ideological revolution, something that the angriest of birds, Mighty Eagle of Rovio Peter Vesterbacka called greater in significance than the previ-ous generational uprising in the 1960’ and 70’s. And the old instinctively resist what the young do, even if what they were doing was money.

“Your children are going to do stuff that you are going to hate”, Mr. Blank advised the Editors.“A good number of them are going to be capitalists.

They’re not going to go to concerts, do drugs or come to the summer home with you. They want to go to incuba-tors, start coding and run startups.”

What a frightening scenario!

And how were these tidings received by the Editor-in-Chiefs? Tapani Ruokanen from Suomen Kuvalehti, an inquisitive mind and author of several history books, put the phenomenon in perspective. He said that in Finland, the definition of success for his generation was to move from the countryside to cities for university education and get a steady job in a government agency. Now things are radically changing.

“Now everything is on your shoulders”, he said and looked at Ville Vesterinen, Mohamed El-Fatatry and Kristo Ovaska at the table.

He asked the young entrepreneurs to call him anytime and keep him updated.

Now that’s a good start. Perhaps we will also see report-ers of Suomen Kuvalehti getting their faces on Twitter and feet on the streets of Helsinki Spring?


Workshop I Startup Sauna Coaches

Program 14:00 Opening Words, Mr. Petteri Koponen 14:10 Introductions of Startup Sauna coaches, 1 minute each 14:30 Introduction: Coaching and Mentoring startups, Mr. Steve Blank 14:45 Discussion: how to coach and mentor Startup Sauna startups 15:45 Conclusions and Action points, Mr. Petteri KoponenLocation Aalto Venture Garage, Backstage, Betonimiehenkuja 5, 02150 EspooHost Mr. Petteri Koponen, Founder of Lifeline Ventures.Organizer Mr. Antti Ylimutkaaudience 25 Startup Sauna coaches, http://startupsauna.com

“ @sgblank: “Startups that are done by 20y-olds are done by people who r too dumb to know that it can’t be done



Speech I the Customer Development Model

Program 17:15 Opening words: Antti Ylimutka, Startup Sauna, 17:20 Introduction: How Customer Development has changed my life Mr. llkka Paananen and Mr. Jussi Laakkonen 17:30 Keynote: Successful strategies for products that win, Mr. Steve Blank 18:45 BBQ and Sauna 20:30 FireworksLocation Betonimiehenkuja 3d, Espoo Hosts Mr. Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Supercell, Mr. Jussi Laakkonen, Founder of Applifier Mr. Ville Simola, Aalto Venture Garage Mr. Antti Ylimutka, Startup SaunaOrganizer Mr. JP Hernandez Mr. Juho Hyytiäinen Ms. Henrietta Kekäläinenaudience 800 entrepreneurs around the Europe

“Oh my god, this is a true celebration of startups 800 ppl listening @sgblank #aaltoes

“Listening to @sgblank giving an epic talk. Times, they are a’changin’ #aaltoes

“@sgblank: Helsinki spring much like Arab one: you’re doing smth your parents wouldn’t approve and your government has no clue about #aaltoes



Watch Top Gun. And you understand how it feels to run a startup. I really loved this analogue by Steve Blank dur-ing his lecture today.

Think how the fighter pilot operates in the cockpit: OODA loop. OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act. This concept is basically a strategic level mind-set in military operations, and can easily be applied to un-derstand startup leadership. It is a rather complex system of decision making and imagine you have to do all those decision while flying mach 2.1, and you have only split seconds to react. That’s how it feels.

The quest for a business model

In a scalable startup (for more on different type of start-ups here), the founding team is in a search for a repeat-able and scalable business model. That is very different from actual execution in a company. The main difference with startups and corporations are that, in the latter one,

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the executive management already knows the business model because it has already been found. The startup phase should be temporary during the project’s transfor-mation into a company, and the sole purpose should be to understand the metrix needed to make reliable decisions.

Unlike in a corporation, the only accounting needed in a startup are a) burnrate and b) how much is left at the bank. Nothing else. Profitability or such do not matter un-til the startup team has verified the business model. When the model is verified, the company will actually deliver a valid value proposition for the their customer segments.

Do the customer development

Please, do not waste time on business plans. No business plan will ever stand the test of an initial customer encoun-ter. This is often the first fatal flaw. The second flaw is to think all the imaginable features should be in the product. Learn to go lean and have just minimal viable feature set

to test your assumptions. If your assumptions are correct, you should have no problems to add revenue to pay for the future development. If not, it is time to go back to the drawing board and tweak the model a bit.

Steve Blank thinks that many startups fail because they found no customers. Not because they could not deliver what the technical feature set failed. The startups just ended up building “a house where nobody wanted to live”. So like the fighter pilots in “Top Gun”, the startup founders have to move fast with limited resources. They have to do decision calls with limited amount of data. Essentially the thrills come through those decisions made blindly, with gut feelings. Just remember, your gut feeling will only emerge by talking to the customers and devel-oping from there.

Most importantly, remember to find and document “what have we learned about customers and what is our story”. That is what makes headlines.


Something exceptional is happening here in Finland. However I think that the foundation for that has existed a long time, only to wait its time to come. And it seems that the time is here and now. Let me explain.

I am a startup entrepreneur and I am considering my-self very lucky that I have had the opportunity to follow somewhat amazing chain of events happening in the startup scene of Finland. The young crew from the Aalto University, so-called Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, has worked hard for two and half years, and finally this week they publicly proved that their vision and the actions taken truly are a very powerful force.

I am not describing here in detail what has happened dur-ing the past weeks; actually you’ll get the picture of that easily by checking out their blog . This great team man-aged, together with the legendary Steve Blank himself, to initiate many important discussions and processes – and I do believe that they managed to make a difference.

We will certainly hear more about startups in the Finnish media and we now expect more from our decision-mak-ers too. Hopefully we will also see actions based on the ideas born during this week’s ‘revolution’.

The Helsinki Spring is here, as Steve so nicely put it. I am optimistic; the fruits of this week will be many. I am very proud of this young crew, Finnish Awesomeness at its best.

the Finnish Way of being

Serendipitously I happened to bump into another type of Finnish awesomeness. I listened to Senior VP of Design at Nokia Marko Ahtisaari’s presentation at the Copenha-gen Design Week.

The first 12 minutes (the rest of it is mostly about Nokia design and future development, interesting as well) of his speech ‘Patterns of Human Interaction’ had an effect on me. His humble way of speaking about how better design can help us to make each other feel that we are welcome, is just awesome. A beautiful perspective!

Another observation I made is his style of speaking, it is very Finnish (read: very non-American). He is not shouting and feverishly waving his hands – no, instead he applies the traditional Finnish style: he is calm, speaks very softly and is overall adorable and kind. And all that without being boring. It kind of reminds me of the

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way Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg speaks. Or Alex Osterwalder, or Aalto Entrepreneurship Society’s presi-dent Miki Kuusi. So I warmly recommend you to listen to Marko, at least the first 12 minutes.

small talk and Positive silence

These great people and the two events – AaltoES with Steve Blank & Marko Ahtisaari and his talk about more human design principles – made me think about what is “Finnishness”, and why I’ll find it awesome and full of possibilities for the entrepreneurship too.The Finnishness?, you may ask. Yes, we do have some national characteristics that can be more rare among other nationalities, we can be seen as very shy, but on the other hand our curiosity and creativity makes it easy for us to connect and share. To connect and share, and most impor-tantly to listen. On top of that we are very persistent and diligent; we don’t like to give in. Except in football.

We Finns can easily be silent in company with other people. It’s natural. Foreigners often find our silence odd, or fascinating. Professor of Communication Donal Carbaugh, from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, have written an excellent paper about this – Silence and

Quietude as a Finnish“Natural Way of Being” [pdf], with the following description:

“A Finnish communication code that structures some cul-tural scenes as occasions for positive silence, exhibiting a social model of personhood for which this is a valued, respected, and natural practice.”

I just love this expression, positive silence. Please con-sider positive silence as time for thinking, reflecting, and listening. The paper explains the Finnish way of com-munication with many good example stories; it can truly help in understanding us Finns…

Another great read is this short article of the Helsinki Times – No small talk please, we’re Finnish, in which freelance journalist Susan Fourtané describes her experi-ences:

“I particularly enjoyed the thoughtfulness and the mo-ments of silence in between, giving space for observing our own thoughts before speaking. Yes, you have heard it right. Finns don’t do small talk. They don’t think a moment of shared silence is awkward. On the contrary, it is part of the conversation. A direct question gets a direct


answer. There is no nonsense talk about nothing. There is no asking “How are you?” ten times until someone says something else, or stating the obvious. Finns are more interested in how you think, how you perceive Finland or what keeps you in this small and cold country, as they refer to beautiful and peaceful Finland.”

Less small talk and more positive silence, I believe that this enables better listening, and further better under-standing.

What “the Finnish way of being” has to do with the Finnish startup ecosystem success?

Let me explain. I have blogged a lot about my three favorite topics. And I truly believe that creativity, innova-tion, and better decision-making, in startups too, require at least some investments and understanding in these areas:

1. Systems Intelligence (theory by my friend Professor Esa Saarinen),2. Recognition of the value and importance of serendipity (the weak links and the edges, re: John Hagel),3. Recognition of the value and importance listening.These three capabilities require a certain attitude, an at-titude of respect, with a touch of trust.

Luckily many of these are a natural part of the startup DNA. We need to be open and cooperative; we need use both sides of our brains and become better listeners.

In his excellent presentation at the Aalto University Steve Blank touched on these topics in his own creative way. A startup entrepreneur is living on the edge with all senses open. An ability to observe, discover, pivot, adapt and finally to adopt is crucial. On top of his great experiences that Steve shared with us, I enjoyed his attitude, very re-freshing. And I especially loved Steve’s analog of startup entrepreneur as a fighter pilot! I feel like Maverick quite often.

“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friend-ship”

The AaltoES team is showing a great deal of creativity, persistence, and most importantly the ability to get things done with the help of the surrounding ecosystem. They managed to activate all of us, followers and fans, to par-ticipate. This is priceless and I do believe that “this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship” (couldn’t help myself quoting one of the most memorable exit lines in movie history, from Casablanca).

The Finnish Awesomeness is something very genuine. Let us be proud of it. I wish that we don’t have to start to act entirely differently in order to be able to make a differ-ence. We have all we need to become a vibrant startup hub in Europe, and in the World.

I wish that the Finnish awesomeness could be something that other people can learn from.


Even though this blog post will most likely be a feeble attempt in covering the importance and the effect of Steve Blank’s visit to Finland and the region last week - I’ll still have an attempt at it. Last week was packed full of action and discussion where Steve Blank talked not only with entrepreneurs but politicians, MPs and academia. He also upped entrepreneurship a few notches on the editorial importance for some of Finland’s newspapers as he talked to a group of editors-in-chief (including us) why entrepre-neurship is of vital importance to nations’ success.

Steve Blank was visiting Finland last week to promote the importance of a working entrepreneurial ecosystem to the region. I have a feeling his visit will go down in one of those turning points in history for this part of the world. Not only did he incite more flames into the “Finn-ish spring” as he referred to the entrepreneurial revolution taking place in Finland, but he did so in a manner that politicians, mainstream media and academics can under-stand.

During the week, he met with two ministers, two MPs, thousands of entrepreneurs & students, carried out 12 lectures, participated in four panels and gave about nine interviews. To make all this possible, the people at Aal-toES organized his trip and put all the important pieces in place. Kudos to them!

Steve Blank also visited Estonia and was quick to com-ment; “Met the Estonian startup scene for lunch. World-class guys, unique ecosystem.More Skypes coming from this group. Thx for making me smarter.”

Steve Blank week’s highlights can be read from the blog that focused on his visit and in no way will I try to cover all the above mentioned bits into this post. Actually, that isn’t as relevant as what he accomplished with his visit.

Steve Blank’s visit to the region sent shivers through-out society as media gave due attention to his message. Blank was also honest in teaching the media how they should report on startups and the scene in general. He

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gave an example with Mårten Mickos, the former CEO of MySQL, still being pissed off about how the Finnish media covered their $1 billion exit in 2008. As opposed to applauding these everyday heroes, media downplayed the sale as an unpatriotic act.

In addition to getting the media to understand the im-portance of entrepreneurship, Blank also preached to the politicians. Having participated in some of the events throughout the week, it’s incredibly difficult to under-stand how politicians have the situation under control. By situation I mean the creation of jobs into the economy.

He furthermore outlined that entrepreneurial activities from the government should be always temporary by na-ture and should aim at putting themselves out of business over time. These days many activities are still seen more as employment programs for government workers instead of truly helping the cause.

He commented on startups and the government, “having government officials choose the winners of tomorrow from the startup scene is like having a priest give you sex advice - it just doesn’t work”.

While startups and people in the region might feel that quality of companies isn’t good enough to take over the world, Blank saw otherwise. He said numerous times that while the ecosystem is still evolving and finding its shape - the quality of startups is equal to that of Silicon Valley.

Not only did he praise the quality, he put his money where his mouth is. Before the end of the week, he wrote cheques to two of the Startup Sauna companies that pitched him. To which startups and how much he invest-ed, he did not disclose.

Regardless of the disclosure, Steve Blank truly came, saw and conquered the region with his charisma. AaltoES did a truly great job in organizing the week and putting the pieces in place to start changing Finland and the region into one of the leading startup hubs of the world.

Steve Blank week may be over, but the effects of his visit are just beginning to show. The “Finnish spring” is truly on its way.


Steve Blank, a professor at Stanford University, and a re-tired serial entrepreneur, visited Finland in early Septem-ber. Thousands of people attended Blank’s talks, boosting the civic movement of growth entrepreneurship that has been gaining momentum in the decision-making process for a couple of years now.

Perhaps the comparison where Blank’s tent lecture evening (which concluded with fireworks) was described as the Woodstock of the entrepreneur generation was slightly overblown, but there was something significant in the air in addition to the big words and the smell of gun-powder. The concept of the Helsinki Spring emerged on Twitter – a sweeping change that, in the spirit of the Arab Spring, may make our young people become capitalists.

Blank’s visit had a revolutionary message related to the financing of enterprises. Civil servants who use taxpayer money for enterprise support will have to decide whether they support the Blank entrepreneur movement or wheth-er they are against it.

Blank considers the world from the perspective of growth enterprises. All of a sudden, they have become significant because old enterprises do not grow and provide jobs like they used to.

To address this issue, ecosystems – clusters of entrepre-neurship with the aim of rapid growth – have emerged in Silicon Valley and then in Israel and Singapore, among other areas. In them, capital, education, the job market and values encourage the rapid creation of startups.

In Finland, values, education and competence are taking the right turn with regard to growth entrepreneurship. The Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, which brought Blank to Finland, is an example of this. The establishment of the job market would require more diversity tolerance and an extensive increase in immigration. Most of the startups in Silicon Valley have been founded by immigrants.

However, the financing system is the worst bottleneck. Blank finds traces of socialism therein. In Finland, the government intends to control where growth is created and to make investment decisions without the personal risk of the investor. According to Blank, these are the ap-propriate principles of funding growth entrepreneurship:

1. The investment decision must always involve a personal risk and reward. This is the only way the investor will take a risk that is correctly proportioned to the operating sector of growth enterprises.

2. In addition to money, the investor must provide their competence, time and passion to the enterprise.

What kind of public funding system would be established for growth enterprises on the basis of Blank’s views? And, is such a system needed? Growth entrepreneurship is a very special form of entrepreneurship that questions many usual Finnish values and ideas of entrepreneurship and fairness. Why does something like that require public support?


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About 90% of startups fail. The successful one provides a nice profit to risk investors. The existence of this system is justified by entrepreneurship being the best way of finding new business models and creating new jobs. The task is so difficult that it needs a high-risk system that has been optimised to the maximum and that provides large rewards.

Will not a system like this create a new Facebook and Rovio without public funding? Yes, it probably would. But capitalism does have its flaws. And they are related to Finland.

Enterprises at the very early startup stage are not funded if the ecosystem of growth enterprises is underdeveloped, which is the case for Finland. This is a stage where the ideas of enterprises are vague and difficult to identify. In Silicon Valley, such ideas may receive private funding. But there are only a few hundred angel investors in Fin-land, and there is not enough money for all. Finland does not have a funding practice where wealthy private people, joint funds of angels and professionally managed venture capital funds would invest in startups.

This means that the practice needs to be established, and this is where the Finnish government can help. This does not mean that the government would create a new, permanent form of enterprise support. The ecosystems in Silicon Valley and Israel – the leading startup clusters in the world – were established so that the government sup-ported the venture capital funds of the startups for years and then exited.

Taxpayer money can be channelled into asymmetrical funds where private capital and public capital go hand in hand. Funding decisions are always market-based. This means that taxpayer money is always invested in a company where a private investor is also willing to invest their own money.

Another way of channelling the support could be to estab-lish a group of enterprise incubators. While Blank was visiting, Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio said that the EUR 600 million budget of Tekes would provide Finland with ten incubators, each having a budget of EUR 60 million. It is an interesting thought experiment to consider wheth-er this would result in more innovation than the way money is currently used. Except that it is not a thought experiment. This is the way Israel operates. Incubators can be privatised when they operate on their own.

What will the Finnish model be like? Blank pointed out many times that the approach used in Israel, which they found after 30 years of failure, is excellent but Finland cannot copy it. Finland must find its own way of making Helsinki the world’s leading startup cluster.

Blank said that after having met with a large number of politicians, business sector opinion leaders and execu-tive civil servants from the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, he had not met one person with a vision of what kind of funding system the Helsinki Startup Hub would have in ten years, and who would show the way there.


Top articles of the week

Helsingin sanomat 12.9.2011 Suomalaisten valtti on kylmä intohimo

tekniikka ja talous 9.9.2011 Yrittäjyyden henki nousee Suomessa

kauppalehti 6.9.2011 Yrittäjaguru Steve Blank

tietoviikko 5.9.2011 Kasvuyrittäjyysguru vierailee Aallossa -luvassa sivuaine huippuyliopiston kanssa

kauppalehti 5.9.2011 Startup-yrittäjä - varo epäonnistumisen kaavaa

talouselämä 5.9.2011 Kasvuyritysguru Steve Blank: “Suomen on irtauduttava neuvostokulttuurista”

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Metrics of the week

33 000 pageviews on steveblank.fi

9500 visitors on steveblank.fi 2840 people registered to events

thousands of tweets

62 influencers met(CEOs, entrepreneurs, politicians, government officers)

37 blogposts

12 lectures

9 interviews

4 panels

2 funded companies

2 ministers met

2 MPs met

1 tv-documentary

Top articles of the week

Helsingin sanomat 12.9.2011 Suomalaisten valtti on kylmä intohimo

tekniikka ja talous 9.9.2011 Yrittäjyyden henki nousee Suomessa

kauppalehti 6.9.2011 Yrittäjaguru Steve Blank

tietoviikko 5.9.2011 Kasvuyrittäjyysguru vierailee Aallossa -luvassa sivuaine huippuyliopiston kanssa

kauppalehti 5.9.2011 Startup-yrittäjä - varo epäonnistumisen kaavaa

talouselämä 5.9.2011 Kasvuyritysguru Steve Blank: “Suomen on irtauduttava neuvostokulttuurista”


Aalto UniversityEstablished in 2010, the Aalto University was created from the merger of three Finnish universities: The Helsinki School of Eco-nomics, Helsinki University of Technology and The University of Art and Design Helsinki. The new university's ambitious goal is to be one of the leading institutions in the world in terms of research and education in its own specialized disciplines. Website: http://www.aalto.fiKey persons: Tuula Teeri, President. Hannu Seristö, Vice President

Aalto Enterpreneurship SocietyFounded in late 2008, Aalto Entrepreneurship Society is an independent, privately funded student and post-graduate led commu-nity initiative. It encourages high-tech, high-growth, scalable entrepreneurship, providing a tight startup community in Northern Europe. Website: http://aaltoes.comKey persons: Mikko Kuusi, Chairman. Juhana Nurmio

Aalto Center for EntrepreneurshipAalto Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE) offers innovation, commercialization, and start-up services for Aalto University re-searchers, students and other stakeholders. In addition, ACE facilitates innovation and growth entrepreneurship by coordinating research and education of these areas across all Aalto schools. Website: http://www.ace.aalto.fiKey persons: Will Cardwell, Head

Arctic StartupFounded in 2007, Arctic Startup is the biggest technology website reviewing and reporting on technology startups and growth entrepreneurship from the Nordic and Baltic countries. Arctic Startup aims to encourage entrepreneurship and to help create a radically optimistic entrepreneurial culture in the Nordics and Baltics by writing about the startups. Arctic Startup continuously gathers tens of thousands of readers from over 130 countries, giving the region's startups an unrivaled media channel for global recognition. Website: http://www.arctistartup.comKey persons: Antti Vilpponen

Organizations

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Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto EK, The Confederation of Finnish IndustryEK's task is to create a better and more competitive operating environment for the business community in Finland. This requires strong action in both Finland and the European Union, because the rules concerning companies are being regulated increasingly at the European level. Website: http://www.ek.fi/ek/fi/index.phpKey persons: Timo Kekkonen

FiBAn - Finnish Business Angels networkFiBAN is a Finnish network of private investors that aims to inspire and increase the amount and quality of private investments made in early-stage companies. For investors, FiBAN offers training, events and co-operation with other Business Angels. FiBAN also makes it easy for entrepreneurs to submit their high-growth business summary for Angel-members to study. Website: http://www.fiban.orgKey persons: Ari Korhonen, Vice Chairman

FinnveraFinnvera is a specialised financing company owned by the State of Finland. It provides its clients with loans, guarantees, venture capital investments and export credit guarantees. Finnvera has official Export Credit Agency (ECA) status. Website: http://www.finnvera.fiKey persons: Hannu Jungman

FVCA - Suomen pääomasijoitusyhdistys ry, Finnish Venture Capital AssociationThe members of the association are entities acting in the Finnish private equity and venture capital markets. FVCA accepts as its associate members communities or private individuals who play a part in the development of the industry in Finland. The number of members at the moment is 40 full and 49 associate members. Website: http://www.fvca.fi/en/Key persons: Artturi Tarjanne, Chairman of the Board, Krista Rantasaari


KonecranesKonecranes is an industry-leading group of lifting businesses that offers a complete range of advanced lifting solutions to many different industries worldwide. Website: http://www.konecranes.comKey persons: Pekka Lundmark, CEO

Lifeline VenturesLifeline Ventures is a team of serial entrepeneurs that invest in sectors they know from previous experience. They often start working with a startup even before it has launched its first product, typically taking it from the inception to successful Series A investment and beyond. Website: http://www.lifelineventures.fiKey persons: Petteri Koponen, Founding Partner, Timo Ahopelto, Co-Founder

nexit VenturesNexit Ventures is a mobile venture capital firm focused on mobile & wireless innovation. Leveraging its extensive network in the global mobile marketplace, Nexit invests primarily in Nordic and US-based companies with products and services for a global market. Website: http://www.nexitventures.comKey persons: Artturi Tarjanne, General Partner

rovioRovio is an entertainment media company based in Finland, and the creator of the globally successful Angry Birds franchise. Rovio was founded in 2003 as a mobile game development studio, and the company has developed several award-winning titles for various mobile platforms. Website: http://www.rovio.comKey persons: Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle

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Sitra, Finnish Innovation FundSitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund has the duty to promote stable and balanced development in Finland, the growth of its economy and its international competitiveness and co-operation. It develops and implements operating models through experimentation, this refers to structural changes in society which encourage people, organisations and companies to choose sustainable solutions and operating methods. In addition, Sitra facilitates business operations that promote sustainable well-being. Website: http://www.sitra.fi/en/Key persons: Jari Pasanen, Vice President of Business Development

Startup SaunaThe Startup Sauna is an entrepreneurial program that seeks the most promising startups in the Baltic Rim and brings them together for an intense program at the Aalto Venture Garage in Helsinki, Finland. The Startup Sauna is designed to help pre-seed startups to become successful ventures with the coaching of the region’s best serial entrepreneurs and investors. Website: http://aaltovg.com/startupsauna/Key persons: Ville Simola, Kristo Ovaska, Antti Ylimutka

TekesTekes is the most important publicly funded expert organisation for financing research, development and innovation in Finland.Besides funding technological breakthroughs, Tekes emphasises the significance of service-related, design, business and social innovations. Every year, Tekes finances some 1,500 business research and development projects, and almost 600 public research projects targeted to create the greatest benefits for the economy and society in the long-term. Website: http://www.tekes.fiKey persons: Sami Heikkiniemi, Senior Adviser


Teknologiateollisuus, Federation of Finnish Technology IndustriesThe mission of the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries is to ensure that the Finnish technology industry has the precondi-tions for success in the global marketplace. Website: http://www.teknologiateollisuus.fi/Key persons: Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Konecranes, Jukka Viitasaari, Head of IT

TEM, Työ ja Elinkeinoministeriö, Ministry of Employment and the EconomyThe Ministry of Employment and the Economy (MEE) is responsible for the operating environment underpinning entrepreneur-ship and innovation activities, securing the functioning of the labour market and workers’ employability, as well as for regional development within the global economy. Website: http://www.tem.fi/Key persons: Jyri Häkämies, Minister of Employment and Economy.

Teollisuussijoitus, Finnish Industry InvestmentFinnish Industry Investment is a government-owned investment company. Their mission is to promote Finnish business, employ-ment and economic growth through venture capital and private equity investments.The Finnish Industry Investment invests in funds and directly in growth companies in all sectors.

Vigo AcceleratorsVigo is a new type of acceleration programme designed to complement the internationally acclaimed Finnish innovation ecosys-tem. The programme bridges the gap between early stage technology firms and international venture funding.


Hosts

tuula teeri I President, aalto UniversityAalto University’s President Professor, Ph.D. Tuula Teeri, was previously Vice President at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. She completed her doctoral thesis at VTT, and received her doctorate from the University of Helsinki in 1987. Tuula Teeri is a visionary and inspirational leader of academic communities, a scientist of merit and a staunch supporter of basic research. She is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Technology Academy of Finland and the Swedish Academy of Technology in Finland. She is also cofounder of SweTree Technologies.Professor Teeri was appointed as Aalto University’s first president for a term of five years beginning on thr 1st of April 2009.

Hannu seristö I vice President, aalto UniversityThe Vice President of Knowledge Networks, Hannu Seristö (b. 1962), has a doctorate from the Hel-sinki School of Economics, where he has also worked as Professor of International Business. He has also held positions related to international business in Polar Electro Oy, Suunto Oy and Finnair, and has worked as a consultant at McKinsey.

Will Cardwell I Head, aalto Center for EntrepreneurshipWill Cardwell is the Head of Aalto Center for Entrepreneurship. Previously, he ran Finland’s largest Technology Incubator, with over 200 customers large and small around Finland as well as St Pe-tersburg and Estonia. He has 15 years of experience in the Finnish high-tech environment, as CEO of a startup (Valimo Wireless, sold to Gemalto in 2010) venture capitalist (Eqvitec Partners, Conor Venture Partners), investment banker (Robertson Stephens), and researcher and lecturer (Aalto School of Economics, and Aalto University of Technology). Twitter @finn_will

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Risto siilasmaa I Founder, F-secureRisto Siilasmaa is the Chairman, founder and former CEO of F-Secure Corporation (formerly Data Fellows), an anti-virus and computer security software company based in Helsinki, Finland. He is also the biggest shareholder of F-Secure, owning around 40% of the company. More recently Siilas-maa has become known as a business angel, investing in several technology startups and serving in their board of directors. Most recently, on May 8, 2008, Siilasmaa became member of the Board of Directors of Nokia Corporation.

Pekka Lundmark I President and CEO, konecranes Federation of Finnish technology Industries, Chairman of the boardConfederation of Finnish Industries, vice Chairman of the boardMr. Lundmark is the Chairman of the Board, CEO, President and Member of the Executive Board of Konecranes Inc. He has also held several executive positions with Nokia Corporation. He has been the Chairman and Director of Marimekko Oyj since April 2008. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of The Federation of Finnish Technology Industries. Mr. Lundmark is a graduate of Helsinki University of Technology Department of Technical Physics with an MSc. in Engineering.

Petteri koponen I Founder, Lifeline venturesPetteri has founded five companies, including Jaiku (sold to Google) and First Hop (sold to Airwide Solutions). He has been a startup CEO, CTO, VP of Services and Director, in addition to working two years for Google in the US and UK. Twitter @hoopeekoo


Mikko kuusi I Chairman of the board, aalto Entrepreneurship societyMikko is the Chairman of Board of Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, originally from Aalto School of Economics. Twitter @mikkokuusi

Jussi Laakkonen I Founder, CEO, applifierserial EntrepreneurCEO and founder of Applifier, cross-promotion network for social games and apps reaching tens of millions of MAU. Business development director at Bugbear Entertainment, an independent game developer. Co-founder of ASSEMBLY Organizing, the arranger of the 5000+ participants four day computer festival held in Helsinki. Over five years of experience in data security software industry in R&D, product marketing and process re-engineering at F-Secure Corporation. Twitter @jussil

Hannu Leinonen I Editor in Chief of kauppalehtiKauppalehti is the leading busniess oriented newspaper in Finland.

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Matti Alahuhta, CEO of Kone

Mr. Matti Alahuhta, D. Sc. (Tech.), D.Sc. (Tech.) h.c. has been the

Chief Executive Officer of Kane Oyj since December 18, 2006. Mr.

Alahuhta has been the President of Kone Oyj (Alternate name is Kone

Corporation) since January 1, 2005 and serves as its Member of

Executive Board. Mr. Alahuhta served as the Chief Strategy Officer of

Nokia Oyj and Nokia Corp.from September 2003 to November 2004

and served as its Executive Vice President. He serves as Chairman of

Aalto University Foundation.

Jyri Häkämies, Minister of Economy

Jyri Häkämies is the current Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs and a

representative of the National Coalition Party, and the minister

responsible for supervision of government enterprises. He is also a

member of the government's finance committee, a board member at

YLE, the governmental supervisory board, Kotka city council and the

Kymenlaakso regional board, where he is the chairman.

Jari Pasanen - Sitra, VP of Business Development

Jari Pasanen is VP of BD at Sitra. Prior to his current role, he was at

Nokia, responsible for driving the innovation process for the Office of

the Chief Technology Officer, based on consumer and business

needs and overseeing Nokia’s research strategy and portfolio.

Petri Peltonen - Director General of the Innovation Department,

Ministry of Employment and the Economy

Director General Petri Peltonen is Head of the Technology Department

at the Ministry of Trade and Industry since 2007. In this capacity he is

responsible for Finland’s national technology and innovation policy and

its’ implementation. Within his duties, Petri Peltonen takes part in

several national, EU and international R&D&I policy for a such as the

Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland, board of Tekes ,

(the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), EU

Competitiveness Council and CREST.

Timo Ritakallio - Vice President, Ilmarinen, one of the biggest pension

funds of Europe.

Timo Ritakallio is Ilmarinens Deputy CEO in charge of Investments.

Ritakallio is currently Deputy CEO of Pohjola Bank (formerly OKO Bank

plc) and Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of PohjolaGroup with

Wili Miettinen I CEO, MicrotaskCoach, startup saunaVille Miettinen is a Co-founder of Microtask Oy. Mr. Miettinen co-founded Hybrid Graphics Ltd. and served as its Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Miettinen designed and was the lead programmer on several of Hybrid’s main products. Later, he concentrated on technology roadmaps and industry-wide standardization of mobile graphics technologies such as OpenGL ES, OpenVG, OpenKODE and vari-ous JSRs (184,239,297). Twitter @wili

Ilkka Paananen I CEO, supercellCoach, startup saunaIlkka is a games industry entrepreneur with 10+ years of experience in growing organizations from the founding team to a size of few hundreds. Most recently, Ilkka was a President at Digital Choco-late, running its Studios in Helsinki, Barcelona and Silicon Valley. In his free time, Ilkka enjoys time with his family and tries to find time for sports, music and books. Twitter @ipaananen

Matti alahuhta I CEO, koneMr. Matti Alahuhta, D. Sc. (Tech.), D.Sc. (Tech.) h.c. has been the Chief Executive Officer of Kone Oyj since December 18, 2006. Mr. Alahuhta has been the President of Kone Oyj (Alternate name is Kone Corporation) since January 1, 2005 and serves as its Member of Executive Board. Mr. Alahuhta served as the Chief Strategy Officer of Nokia Oyj and Nokia Corp from September 2003 to Novem-ber 2004 and served as its Executive Vice President. He serves as Chairman of Aalto University Foundation.


































funds of Europe.




































funds of Europe.




Jyri Häkämies I Minister of EconomyJyri Häkämies is the current Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs and a representative of the Na-tional Coalition Party, and the Minister responsible for supervision of government enterprises. He is also a Member of the Government’s finance committee, a Board Member at YLE, the governmental supervisory board, Kotka city council and the Kymenlaakso regional board, where he is the Chair-man.

Jari Pasanen I vP of business Development, sitraJari Pasanen is VP of BD at Sitra. Prior to his current role, he was at Nokia, responsible for driving the innovation process for the Office of the Chief Technology Officer, based on consumer and busi-ness needs and overseeing Nokia’s research strategy and portfolio.

Petri Peltonen I Director General of the Innovation Department, Ministry of Employment and the EconomyDirector General Petri Peltonen is Head of the Technology Department at the Ministry of Trade and Industry since 2007. In this capacity he is responsible for Finland’s national technology and innova-tion policy and its implementation. Within his duties, Petri Peltonen takes part in several national, EU and international R&D&I policy a such as the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland, board of Tekes, (the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation), EU Competitiveness Council and CREST.

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funds of Europe.




responsibility for the Group’s banking and investment Services

http://www.ilmarinen.fi/Production/fi/ilmarinen/06_mediapalvelu/02_uutiset_tiedotteet/2_uutiset_2

008/2008_04_01_2.jsp

Mikael Jungner - Member of Parliament, former CEO of the National

Broadcasting company YLE

Mr. Jungner is the current party secretary of the Social Democratic Party

of Finland (one of the major political parties and currently in government),

a member of the Finnish parliament and a forme CEO of the Finnish

national broadcaster YLE. Jungner was the director of information society

relations at Microsoft Corporation 2002-2004. He was formerly the

Parliamentary secretary and aide of former Prime Minister Paavo

Lipponen.

http://twitter.com/MikaelJungner

Timo Soininen - Chairman, Sulake, a social entertainment company.

Timo Soininen has been Chief Executive Officer of Sulake Corporation Oy

since August 2001. Mr. Soininen has over ten years' experience and a

proven track record from senior posts in consumer and B2B marketing

functions for international brand companies (StepStone Ltd., United Biscuits

Ltd./Fazer Biscuits Ltd., SCA Mölnlycke). Prior to Sulake, he served a

online recruitment company, StepStone, as Marketing Director for Finland

and Sweden. Mr. Soininen holds a M.Sc. (Econ.) degree in Marketing from

Helsinki School of Economics.

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/1800-interview-timo-soininen-ceo-of-sulake

Alex Stubb - Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finland.

Alexander Stubb is a politician and Minister for Foreign

Affairs from 4 April 2008 to 22 June 2011. From 2004 to

2008 he was a Member of the European Parliament with the

European People's Party (EPP) and a professor at the

College of Europe

http://twitter.com/alexstubb http://www.alexstubb.com

Artturi Tarjanne - General Partner, Nexit Ventures.

Mr. Artturi Tarjanne is a General Partner at Nexit Ventures OyMr. Tarjanne

has 20 years of entrepreneurial Infocom industry experience and is well

known and referenced in Finland for his track record as one of the

pioneering successful software entrepreneurs and organizers of industry

timo Ritakallio I vice President, Ilmarinen (one of the biggest pension funds in Europe)Timo Ritakallio is Ilmarinen’s Deputy CEO in charge of Investments. Ritakallio is currently the Deputy CEO of Pohjola Bank (formerly OKO Bank plc) and Vice Chairman of the Executive Com-mittee of PohjolaGroup with responsibility for the Group’s banking and investment Services.

Mikael Jungner I Member of Parliament, secretary of social Democratic PartyFormer CEO of the national broadcasting company YLEMr. Jungner is the current party secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Finland (one of the major political parties and currently in government), a member of the Finnish parliament and a former CEO of the Finnish national broadcaster YLE. Jungner was the director of information society relations at Microsoft Corporation 2002-2004. He was formerly the Parliamentary secretary and aide of former Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen. Twitter @MikaelJungner

timo soininen I Chairman, sulake (a social entertainment company)Timo Soininen has been Chief Executive Officer of Sulake Corporation Oy since August 2001. Mr. Soininen has over ten years’ experience and a proven track record from senior posts in consumer and B2B marketing functions for international brand companies (StepStone Ltd., United Biscuits Ltd./Fazer Biscuits Ltd., SCA Mölnlycke). Prior to Sulake, he served a online recruitment company, Step-Stone, as Marketing Director for Finland and Sweden. Mr. Soininen holds a M.Sc. (Econ.) degree in Marketing from Helsinki School of Economics.


responsibility for the Group’s banking and investment Services

http://www.ilmarinen.fi/Production/fi/ilmarinen/06_mediapalvelu/02_uutiset_tiedotteet/2_uutiset_2

008/2008_04_01_2.jsp

Mikael Jungner - Member of Parliament, former CEO of the National

Broadcasting company YLE

Mr. Jungner is the current party secretary of the Social Democratic Party

of Finland (one of the major political parties and currently in government),

a member of the Finnish parliament and a forme CEO of the Finnish

national broadcaster YLE. Jungner was the director of information society

relations at Microsoft Corporation 2002-2004. He was formerly the

Parliamentary secretary and aide of former Prime Minister Paavo

Lipponen.

http://twitter.com/MikaelJungner

Timo Soininen - Chairman, Sulake, a social entertainment company.

Timo Soininen has been Chief Executive Officer of Sulake Corporation Oy

since August 2001. Mr. Soininen has over ten years' experience and a

proven track record from senior posts in consumer and B2B marketing

functions for international brand companies (StepStone Ltd., United Biscuits

Ltd./Fazer Biscuits Ltd., SCA Mölnlycke). Prior to Sulake, he served a

online recruitment company, StepStone, as Marketing Director for Finland

and Sweden. Mr. Soininen holds a M.Sc. (Econ.) degree in Marketing from

Helsinki School of Economics.

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/1800-interview-timo-soininen-ceo-of-sulake

Alex Stubb - Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finland.

Alexander Stubb is a politician and Minister for Foreign

Affairs from 4 April 2008 to 22 June 2011. From 2004 to

2008 he was a Member of the European Parliament with the

European People's Party (EPP) and a professor at the

College of Europe

http://twitter.com/alexstubb http://www.alexstubb.com

Artturi Tarjanne - General Partner, Nexit Ventures.

Mr. Artturi Tarjanne is a General Partner at Nexit Ventures OyMr. Tarjanne

has 20 years of entrepreneurial Infocom industry experience and is well

known and referenced in Finland for his track record as one of the

pioneering successful software entrepreneurs and organizers of industry

alexander stubb I Minister for European affairs and Foreign trade, FinlandAlexander Stubb is a politician and Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade. From 2004 to 2008 he was a Member of the European Parliament with the European People’s Party (EPP) and a professor at the College of Europe. From 2008 to 2011 Minister for Foreign Affairs for Finland. Twit-ter @alexstubb

artturi tarjanne I General Partner, nexit venturesMr. Artturi Tarjanne is a General Partner at Nexit Ventures OyMr. Tarjanne has 20 years of entrepre-neurial Infocom industry experience and is well known and referenced in Finland for his track record as one of the pioneering successful software entrepreneurs and organizers of industry interests at large. He also serves at the Board of Directors at Rightware and the Finnish Venture Capital Associa-tion. Twitter @ajturi

Peter vesterbacka I Mighty Eagle, RovioCoach, startup saunaPeter Vesterbacka is the Mighty Eagle of Rovio Mobile, the creator of the wildly successful Angry Birds franchise and over 50 other games. Peter manages the company’s marketing and business strategy, including expanding Angry Birds into a broader entertainment franchise. Prior to Rovio, Peter worked for HP in several communications-industry-related roles. While at HP, Peter founded the HP Mobile E-Services Bazaar, a global innovation and corporate partnership program that Booz Allen Hamilton declared an industry benchmark. Peter is also Co-founder and the original initiator of MobileMonday. Twitter @pvesterbacka

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interests at large. He also serves at the Board of Directors at Rightware and the Finnish Venture

Capital Association. http://twitter.com/ajturi

Peter Vesterbacka - Mighty Eagle, Rovio. Coach, Aalto Venture Garage.

Peter Vesterbacka is the Mighty Eagle of Rovio Mobile,

the creator of the wildly successful Angry Birds franchise

and over 50 other games. Peter manages the company’s

marketing and business strategy, including expanding

Angry Birds into a broader entertainment franchise. Prior

to Rovio, Peter worked for HP in several

communications-industry-related roles. While at HP,

Peter founded the HP Mobile E-Services Bazaar, a global

innovation and corporate partnership program that Booz Allen Hamilton declared an industry

benchmark. Peter is also Co-founder and the original initiator of MobileMonday.

http://twitter.com/pvesterbacka

Vesa Walldén - Chairman of the Board, Accanto Systems & Senior

Partner, Capman

Mr. Vesa Walldén has been a Senior Partner of CapMan Oyj since October

2006 and serves as its Deputy Head of Technology. Mr. Walldén is a Senior

Partner of Swedestart Tech KB. He is an Information Technology

Professional and has 20 years of experience in the high-technology industry

in the areas of mobile telecommunications, computer systems, networking,

Internet, and software.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vesa-walld%C3%A9n/0/34/386

Lasse Männistö, Member of Parliament

Lasse is a member of the Finnish Parliament and a member of Helsinki City

Council from the National Coalition Party. He got involved in the student

politics through the Student union of Helsinki School of Economics (Aalto

University School of Economics ever since 2010).

Ari Korhonen, Finnish Business Angels Network

Ari is an angel investor and a co-founder of FiBan, Finnish Business Angels

Network.

vesa Walldén I Chairman of the board, accanto systems & senior Partner, CapmanMr. Vesa Walldén has been a Senior Partner of CapMan Oyj since October 2006 and serves as its Deputy Head of Technology. Mr. Walldén is a Senior Partner of Swedestart Tech KB. He is an Infor-mation Technology Professional and has 20 years of experience in the high-technology industry in the areas of mobile telecommunications, computer systems, networking, Internet, and software.

Pauli Marttila I Director, business Development and strategic Investments, sitra

ari korhonen I vice Chairman, Finnish business angel associationAri invests in innovative and fast growing companies globally. Apart from financing, he also provides his knowhow and experience to the benefit of the companies.


ville simola I Captain, Co-Founder, startup saunaVille runs the show at Startup Sauna. Previously he was one of the core people at Aalto Entrepreneur-ship Society and founded Summer of Startups Program. Twitter @smolaholic

Lasse Männistö I Member of ParliamentLasse is a member of the Finnish Parliament and a member of Helsinki City Council from the Na-tional Coalition Party. He got involved in the student politics through the Student union of Helsinki School of Economics (Aalto University School of Economics ever since 2010).

antti Ylimutka I aalto Entrepreneurship societyAntti is a new team member at Startup Sauna and Member of the Board of Aalto Entrepreneurship Society. Twitter @andynosebone


Team

kristo Ovaska I [email protected] natalie Gaudet I [email protected] Liukas I [email protected] kekäläinen I [email protected] Pablo Hernandez I [email protected]

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Thanks to

Karri Saarinen, Thuong Nguyen, Charlotta Liukas, Lari Haataja, Lauri Lehtovuori, Nur Sah Ketene, Juho Hyytiäinen, Mikko Kuusi, Smart Ikhu, Tuomas Sahramaa, Victoria Martinez, Nils Paajanen, Antti Ylimutka, Erik Pöntiskoski, Ilona Pitkänen, Heini Vesander, Jevgeni Peltola, Anni Rautio, Juhana Nurmio, Juho Kokkola, Krista Kauppinen, Lauri Hynynen, Natalie Gaudet, Ville Simola, Noora Jokinen, Pauli Kopu, Reeti Saarinen, Riku Siivonen, Taneli Heikka, Timo Herttua, Tomasz Mucha, Tuuti Piippo, Oskari Vinko, Varun Singh, Harri Toivonen, Lauri Peltonen, Anna Bessonova, Oona Hilkamo, Rudi Skogman, Goncalo Neves, Dmitry Klimov, Erika Noponen, Jukka Jokelainen, Zaira Mammadova

www.steveblank.fi

“ This week will go down to history as a milestone for Finland. @sgblank - - - thanks for making it happen!

Steve, Alison

Thank you

steve blank in finland sept 2011

Education

Transcript of steve blank in finland sept 2011