steve blank in finland sept 2011

Draft 6th Oct, 2011

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

www.steveblank.fi

Editor Kristo Ovaska
Photos Lauri Lehtovuori
Layout 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.

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

UnIVErSITy

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 University
Location TU2-Hall, Otaniementie 17, Espoo
Host Mrs. Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University
Organizer Mr. JP Hernandez
audience 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

8 stEvE bLank WEEk In HELsInkI

UnIVErSITy

Blog I Taneli Heikka

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

Institutions of higher education should open their doors In her fairly radical proposal, she envisions kindergarten
for pre-school children to learn entrepreneurial attitudes, kids entering the Aalto University ”Aalto Venture Pre-
said Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University on Mon- School”. Children would visit the university to learn
day. about being an entrepreneur from real entrepreneurs just
as they visit fire stations to learn about the work of fire-
Mrs Teeri made the opening remarks on Stanford Uni- men.
versity Professor Steve Blank’s visit on Monday morning
Faculty Talk. After the lecture, where Mr Blank encour- ”What do children know about different professions?
aged Finland to push for a radical renewal of university They know about doctors, bus drivers and firemen. We
level business education, Mrs Teeri said the change is need to raise entrepreneurs as equal models and heroes
on it’s way. ”Our aim at Aalto is to build a world-class for children,” she said.
growth-entrepreneurship curriculum.”
She says Finnish popular children’s culture lacks the posi-
But Mrs Teeri thinks change needs to happen on all levels tive model of a business man, such as the entrepreneuring
of society, and the traditionally risk-averse Finnish cul- kid selling soft drinks familiar in American comic books.
ture needs to change, too. ”Risk taking is something we
need to build in our society. Failure is something that can Mrs Teeri dreams of an Aalto Venture Pre-School, where
happen and you won’t die of it. Hopefully.” 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.”


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, Espoo
Host Mr. Hannu Seristö, Vice President of Aalto University
audience 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, Tavastia
Location Aalto School of Economics, Main Hall, Runeberginkatu 14-16, Helsinki
Host Mr. Juhana Nurmio, Aalto Entrepreneurship Society
audience 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: streets burning things they’re ready to start companies” #aaltoes
Instead of students running in the


UnIVErSITy

Blog I riku Siivonen

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

Think of this: you own a large corporation and something according to Mr. blank, there are six types
disrupts your business. It can be a change of the tastes of of startups:
customers. It can be legislation or technologies, but it is
out of your hands. New needs and new markets emerge. 1. Lifestyle startups: work to live your passion. Selling
But your corporation is slow to turn. You have hired surfing boards during the day and surfing three months
people who can execute a business plan. But they can’t when you feel like it.
innovate.
2. Small business startups: work to feed the family, no
“Accountants usually don’t run startups”, says Steve intention to grow.
Blank in his opening speech at Aalto University on Mon-
day. 3. Scalable startups: born to be big = Silicon Valley start-
ups.
These kind of changes are happening faster and faster in
the 21st century. More and more companies face the kind 4. Subset of scalable startups: buyable startups. The aim
of disruptive change that Nokia or the Finnish forestry is to sell the company to a larger company.
cluster have faced in the recent months and years.
5. Disruptive innovation inside a large company.
That is why this is the century of startups. They are agile,
they are fast. 6. Social entrepreneurship startups: solving social prob-
lems.
That is why we need to demolish our entrepreneurial
education system, Mr. Blank highlighted. Management ”These require different skills. They can not be taught the
science is for large corporations. Entrepreneurship in same way”, Mr. Blank said.
startups is more like art than anything that can be predict-
ed. And actually, you can’t talk about startups in general. 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.”


”Nothing wrong in an MBA except when you try to apply Mr. Blank has a dream: an e-school for entrepreneurs.
it to a startup”, he added. The goal would be creating a methodology for startup
creation. This school would have a hands-on emphasis.
Mr. Blank said that traditional business schools have It’s curriculum could be taught remotely anywhere, in
some other limitations, too. For example, many profes- a university or an incubator. The curriculum would be
sors consult large companies. about the search for a business model.

”And what’s missing in universities and incubators is a Aalto University and Stanford University have now
repeatable methodology for startup creation.” teamed up to radically renew business education in the
twenty-firstWill century. The curriculum will no doubt be
In Mr Blank’s definition, a startup is ”a temporary or- built upon Mr. Blank’s credo on customer development.
ganization used to search for a repeatable and scalable
business model.” “A startup’s first job: get out of the building. Listen to
your customers. Iterate – without crisis.”

19

AngELS & STArTUPS

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 Koponen
Moderator Mr. Petteri Koponen, Lifeline Ventures Founder
Panelists 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 Blank
Hosts Mr. Risto Siilasmaa, F-Secure Founder and Chairman of the Board
Mr. Hannu Seristö, Vice President of Aalto University
Organizer Mr. Claes Mikko Nieminen
audience 140 angels from the Finnish Business Angel Association (FiBan), Boardman and Finnvera

“ Risto Siilasmaa: ‘I don’tI’d rathergive a fortune to my kids.
want to
spend it on start-ups’ #aaltoes

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


AngELS & STArTUPS


Before shooting innocent animals, talk about startups

Risto siilasmaa of F-secure hopes the old money ”How’s your startup doing?”
elite will get into angel investing
He hoped for awareness of what angel investment is and
”If a bomb exploded in this room probably half of the creation of networks for stepping into the game.
Finnish angel investors were dead.”
Accoding to Finnish business daily Kauppalehti, particu-
While the joke of panel moderator Petteri Koponen may larly former Nokia employees are injecting new money
be true, the body count would still be significantly higher in the angel investment market. However, Mr Korhonen
than it would have been a few years ago. Which is a great says the total amount of big venture capital funds is
thing. There is a buzz in the Finnish startup community, smaller than five years ago.
and that buzz has raised the attention of wealthy inividu-
als in Finland. The host of the panel, Risto Siilasmaa, who has been a
vocal proponent of tax incentives for angels, didn’t bring
A full house of hundred angel investors gathered at Aalto up the issue this time. The government has turned the
Ventures Garage on early Tuesday morning. The aim of idea down.
the event was to change the way startups are funded and
created in Finland. Instead of going for the tax incentives, in his rather
colourful style Mr Siilasmaa encouraged elderly wealthy
”There are many wealthy individuals who could enter citizens – who in Finland often carry the untranslatable,
the field”, said Ari Korhonen, Vice Chairman at Finnish 19th century title ”vuorineuvos” – to really get into start-
Business Angel Network 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”.


Cheat sheet: Words that mean money!

networks rather than tax breaks
Here’s our short vocabulary of for all you newcomers to
This, he believed, would encourage them to angel invest- the world of pouring your extra money in startups in hope
ing that is still too rare among the suits of the Old Money. of what Steve Blank calls ”obscene returns”:

Mr Korhonen from the Finnish Business Angel Network Angel investor. Typically a wealthy individual. Invests,
says legislative changes would be welcome, if not the say, 20 000 euros into a startup. Ideally, gives not only
first steps needed. Legislative measures would consist of money, but his time, knowledge and networks to the
eg. tax incentives and co-investment funds. In the latter, company.
government and pensions funds would invest into startups
alongside angels. Angel fund. A syndicated fund of several angels who
manage their own funds. By syndication the amount of
”There’s no reason why Finnish investors should not be investment per individual can be as low as 5000 - 10 000
treated equally to British, Portuguese or French inves- euros.
tors”, Mr Korhonen concluded.
Venture capital fund. A fund where investments are
pooled and managed professionally. Size of fund usually
up to tens of millions.

25

AngELS & STArTUPS

Blog I BoostTurku

Angels Watching Over Us

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.


Change the Culture the “dumb money”, instead find investors who are willing
to support you with their advice and networks.
Steve Blank emphasized that the Finnish angel investors
and startup entrepreneurs should embrace the spirit of The requirement of investing beyond the money is also
the Valley which means that any person is actually able the rationale why we should get and grow more local
to contact anyone for help and feedback with no require- angels and VCs to Finland instead of going for the inves-
ment of the helping side getting any compensation out of tors abroad. Money can always be transferred but to get
it. mentoring on a regular basis is that much harder if you
are 1000 miles away.
This has created in the Valley a culture and loop of help-
ing where the successful founders help the next genera- a-team with a b class idea will usually
tion who will in time help the next generation. The cur- triumph over b-team with a class idea
rent Finnish angels and successful founders should be the
initiators of this loop of giving back in Finland. The discussion touched also the subject of investing in
the idea versus investing in the team. The lessons from
smart Money building startups in the Valley have clearly pointed out
that actual ”quality” of the initial idea is not near as im-
When talking about the role of the angel investors, one portant as the quality of the team.
big thing is that the investors should think the actual
financial stake only as part of the investment. Big part of When you are operating with uncertainty and constant
the deal should also be giving advice and guidance to the change, the teams ability to search, learn and pivot is
team invested in. much more important than how good the original idea
was.
This point should also be remembered by the startup
founders when looking for investors. Do not go for So go on and start building your superstar team!

27

AngELS & STArTUPS

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 Lunch
Host Mr. Wili Miettinen, Microtask Founder, Startup Sauna Coach
Organizer Mr. Ville Simola
Mr. Antti Ylimutka
audience 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

Blog I rudi Skogman

Steve meets Startup Sauna and Summer of Startups

All the teams are slowly filling up the small room at De- Ovelin’s pitching as second and before starting their
sign Factory. The feeling is surprisingly cozy when you pitch Steves already saying that he loves the idea and
think that they’ll all be pitching to Steve Blank himself in that’s it. Surely amazing for the team to hear this. Ovelin
a while. has been making progress too by creating harder levels
for professional musicians. Steve’s forecasting that in
The teams pitching today are: Campalyst, Ovelin, Future- three years Ovelin won’t be doing Wild Chords but the
ful, Tribestudios, Tuubio, Dealmachine, Audiodraft and product has evolved to something else.
Blaast.
Next up is Futureful, presenting Steve and the rest of us
Wili Miettinen, one of the active Aaltoes mentors, is their progress in the last months. Private alpha coming up
opening the workshop and introducing Steve to every- in a few weeks! Steve’s getting a private demo from the
body. He also introduces Steve to the programs, as he founders. Looks like it’s working and according to Steve
knows what these startups have been through so far. this might be one of the companies that gets bought in an
instant after demoing it to the right people.
Campalyst takes the floor first, only one of the team
members is in Finland, others are out around the world, tribestudios is taking the stage next and presenting
creating contacts and doing business. Campalyst has had one more former winner product of the Startup Sauna.
a very impressing year so far and they’re still pushing on The first story, Velvet Sundown is coming out soon!
and on top of that they’ve been following Steve’s advice, But remember that the platform, Stagecraft is the most
talking with customers! Great! Steve’s however worried important part, it enables continuity. Steve’s asking some
about the pricing model of the company and their prod- important questions and Elina’s answering them well.
uct. Something for Campalyst to think about.


tuubio is the fourth one up on the stage. They also have blaast is the last but surely not the least! Joonas is assur-
a personal demo to show Steve on a phone. Personaliz- ing everybody that he’s not high on crack even though he
ing a radio broadcast for him. Seems to be working well. might appear crazy. Great laugh from everybody, maybe
Great process on the product from the team. Steve’s also the cameras shouldn’t be taping this… Blaast is doing the
giving Tuubio some important points to work on and amazing work of bringing smartphone apps to the afford-
think about. able devices. Steve’s worried about how to get the phone
carriers to join Blaast. Steve loves the idea anyway!
Dealmachine takes the floor as the fifth team. Making Amazing!
CRM a game for the salesforce. Actually Timo ended
up telling how it has been going and where their journey Steve loves everyone in this group and is absolutely
has taken them. He’s showing off a new possible prod- amazed. It’s great to hear! He’s still giving some last
uct and asking if dm should be integrated as the coaches pointers for all the teams to read Alexander Osterwalders
have been saying for months. Steves offering important book and do a business model canvas and show it to
contacts and information, absolutely amazing! every possible investor to show the progress. And when
speaking about investors, the companies basically has
Teemu Yli-Hollo is presenting audioDraft and playing two choices, to move to the U.S. or not to raise U.S. VC
the Nokia Tune, which Steve doesn’t instantly recognize. money. The floor now opens up for questions and discus-
The question he’s asking is, what does your brand sound sions between the teams and Steve. Amazing atmosphere!
like? What tune would instantly say Steve Blank? Au- Keep on rocking!
dioDraft has over 50 customers at the moment, and their
creating the new Nokia Tune! That’s crazy amazing!

33

AngELS & STArTUPS

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 Closing
Location Otaniemi, Espoo
Host Mrs. Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto University
Organizer Ms. Jessica Sinikoski
audience 80 people, biggest private and corporate donors of Aalto University.
Top managers of corporations, influential owners of Finnish corporations.

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


AngELS & STArTUPS

Blog I Charlotta Liukas

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

On Tuesday evening, Tuula Teeri, President of Aalto Uni- “Those who are waiting for the recession to end, so
versity hosted Steve Blank, Aalto supporters and stake- someone can again hand them work, could have a long
holders as well as Aalto startups to discuss the univer- wait”
sity’s role in entrepreneurship and innovation in the time
of economic hardship. “We are not going back to the good old days without fix-
ing our schools as well as our banks”
In essence, we are faced with a few significant challenges
- Thomas Friedman
• 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.


VEnTUrE CAPITAL

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 Conclusions
Moderator Mr. Will Cardwell, Head of Aalto Center for Entrepreneurship
Panelists 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 Blank
Location 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 Entrepreneurship
Organizer Ms. Krista Rantasaari
audience 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


VEnTUrE CAPITAL


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

This could be the credo of many an economist and policy fund Ilmarinen). He has more money than god. He just
maker in Finland. Government funds are needed to estab- ain’t givin’ you any of it!”, Mr Blank blasted in his
lish industry. Capital is scarce, and the little we have we speech at Sitra portfolio day on Wednesday.
can’t afford to give to the risky business of startups.
think of changing society!
Perhaps we believe this nonsense, because it’s dug in our
subconscious. The line is from the second – though rarely The worth of Ilmarinen’s investments in 2010 was 29
sung – verse of Finland’s national anthem. billion euros.

Steve Blank is here to turn this belief upside down. Mr Ritakallio probably got the smacking of his life at
Finnish Venture Capital Association Panel on Wednesday
”Finns are good enough and smart enough. The govern- morning.
ment must just get out of the way”, he said when asked
should foreign investments be persuaded into the country “Some part of your brain ought to be thinking how to
to build a startup cluster here. change society!” said Mr Blank at Mr Ritakallio’s face
after the panel where both gentlemen took part.
No, he said. It’s the job of Finnish people and blue and
white money. The problem is that the people who hold Mr Blank said he met with Aalto Startup Sauna compa-
the keys to money and decisions invest in a very conser- nies on Tuesday and concluded all of them were ready to
vative way. pitch in the Valley. In lightly disguised criticism on Finn-
ish investors he said that he personally would invest in
“Who was the gentleman who sat beside me in the panel two of them before the Finnish VC’s realize the potential
this morning (debuty CEO Timo Ritakallio of pensions of the companies.


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

the most conservative investor Social Democrat party secretary, MP Mikael Jungner
promises that tax incentives for business angels are not a
Mr Blank encouraged Mr Ritakallio to take a leading role lost cause. He says he’s personally committed to finding a
in supporting the startup ecosystem in Finland. Accord- solution for resurrecting the initiative that crashed during
ing to Mr Blank, such a move could be done and still give PM Matti Vanhanen’s Government in 2009.
the population weary of their pension money the message
that “we’re still the most conservative investor in the “The reasons for not finding solution were in my opin-
business”. ion practical rather than political. I believe they can be
solved”, Jungner said at Finnish Venture Capital Associa-
“Just the fact that you will do it will change the thinking tion Panel on Wednesday.
in this room”, Mr Blank referred to an auditorium full of
VC’s. Jungner vowed that he and fellow panelist, MP Lasse
Männistö of the Coalition party share the idea and are
Mr Ritakallio did not turn down the idea of increasing pushing it forward.
the weight of high risk – high return investments in the
Ilmarinen portfolio. “It’s quite possible”, he said. “What Jungner believes the future of Finland is worth building
we need now is belief in the future and growth.” upon startups. They are agile operations best suitable
for searching profitable business opportunities that bring
He advocated asymmetric funds, where public and jobs. And jobs and growth are what we need in the cur-
private money would be pooled in to finance startups. rent economical gloom.
He referred to the way Finnish university financing was
supported recently: private donations triggered a two-fold “Startups are a fast remedy. It is a change in mind set that
sum to the chosen university from the taxpayer. can give returns worth of billions of euros in less than
five years”, Jungner said.

41

VEnTUrE CAPITAL

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 talk
Location HTC Helsinki, Meeting Cabinet, Styyrbuuri C4, Pinta House, Tammasaarenkatu 1–5, Helsinki
Host Mr. Jari Pasanen, Vice President of Business Development, Sitra
Participants Mr. Juha Mikkola, Mr. Jukka Ruuska, Mr. Pauli Marttila

Speech I Sitra’s Portofolio Companies Day 2011

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


VEnTUrE CAPITAL

Blog I riku Siivonen & Taneli Heikka

You ought to believe that God has given you a vision

“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.


”Startups who are done by 20-year-olds who are too “A startup is temporary organisation designed to search
dumb to know that it can’t be done”, Mr. Blank advised. for a scalable and repeatable business model. Startups
need their own tools which are different than those of
“Startup is a calling. You ought to believe that God has large companies.”
given you a vision. And in the right kind of entrepre-
neurial ecosystem we should have equally insane people That means that for example the role of the board is dif-
risking their money as investors.” 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-
Mr. Blank reminded the Sitra audience to boost their ness model.
egos. Because a big ego is not only what a startup found-
er needs, but also a startup investor. This requires the investor to actually understand the busi-
ness of the startup and contribute his time and networks
”If you don’t have a larger ego than the average Finn - to the search of the business mode with personal risk
which is not difficult – you don’t belong in the startup involved. This is a very different modus operandi com-
business. Startups are about people who are uncomfort- pared to the traditional public funding institutions’ way of
able about being second. These are crazy people on a working, where the government signs a check and and –
mission from God.” well, that’s about it.

startups search for business models Blank stated that agile development is how startups
should be build. The founders should “Get out of the
Now, back to more profane facts. According to Mr Blank, building!” – one of Mr. Blanks catchphrases – and learn
startups are not smaller versions of large corporations - their business model straight from the customers.
although a lot of people thought so for decades.

45

PUBLIC FUnDIng

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 Peltonen
Location Ministry of Employment and Economy, Negotiation room Aleksanterinkatu 4, Helsinki
Host Mr. Petri Peltonen, General Director of Ministry Employment and Economy
Organizer Mr. Pertti Valtonen, Industrial Counsellor, Ministry of Employment and Economy
audience 30 managers of the main public funding organisations in Finland

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

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

Lunch I Mr. Matti Alahuhta and Mrs. Tuula Teeri

Program 12:00-13:00
Location Kone Building, Espoo
Host 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 Dinner
Location Kansallissali, Aleksanterinkatu 44, Helsinki
Moderator Mr. Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Konecranes
Panelists 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 Blank
Host Mr. Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Konecranes,
Chairman of the Board of The Federation of Finnish Technology Industries
Organizer Jukka Viitasaari, Director of Information Technology Industries,
Federation of Finnish Technology Industries
audience 120 people including industry leaders, key stakeholders and hosts of the week

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

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

PUBLIC FUnDIng

Blog I riku Siivonen & Taneli Heikka

The Mighty Eagle says Finland should now compete with the Valley, Singapore and Israel

When Steve Blank’s visit to Helsinki started on Monday, While Mr. Stubb gave the official confirmation to the
for some, the idea of developing Finland into Europe’s raised targets, the real energy generator of the panel was
startup hub may have seemed like a fantasy objective of Mr. Vesterbacka with his nonconformist views.
a few dozen hyped nerds who had spent too much time
staring at their laptops. Or perhaps soon we can call him a conformist. He said a
huge attitude change is on its way in the Finnish society,
by the end of the week, we have Helsinki spring, bigger in its significance than the radicalism of the 1960’s
and the stakes have been supported, raised and and 70’s:
officially confirmed.
“the change in attitude is tangible and amazing.
“Why would we want to be Europe’s startup hub? We It’s a culture change.”
already are. What is there in Europe when it comes
to startups? Not much. Why would we want to be the At moments frustrated to the Finnish realism of his fellow
second best?” said the Mighty Eagle, Peter Vesterbacka panelists’, Mr. Vesterbacka cried out: “We can compete
of Rovio in a panel where he sat alongside with Steve with anyone!”
Blank, Minister of Foreign Trade Alexander Stubb, Miki
Kuusi from Aalto Entrepreneurship Society and Hannu The protagonist of this revolution is the individual who
Seristö, Vice President of Aalto University. The panel was knows better than the government.
hosted by Pekka Lundmark, CEO of Konecranes.
This is particularly true in financing early stage startups.
So there we are now competing with Silicon Valley, Israel Asked what would happen if the Finnish public innova-
and Singapore. Minister Stubb, quick to sense that times tion funding body TEKES was abolished, he replied:
they are a-changing, tweeted that he’s “newcomer to this “Nothing bad would happen. We would save 600 million
scene. Want to learn more”, and declared that Finland euros for 10 incubators. There would be no harm.”
now should aim as number 1 country to fly to, live in and
run startups.


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.”

53

PUBLIC FUnDIng

Blog I Taneli Heikka & riku Siivonen

How to build a magical startup cluster?

Welcome immigrants with baskets of flowers, “People are coming from the Nordics and the Baltic area
says steve to Helsinki. Those are the first signs of a cluster. Some-
thing magical is going on”, Blank said.
Immigration is a central element in making Finland the
leading startup hub in Europe, says serial entrepreneur, High growth startup companies created 50 000 new jobs
professor Steve Blank. in Finland in the last four years.

”If I were you I’d be on the border with flower baskets to Entrepreneurs are queueing to Finland
welcome entrepreneurs from Estonia, Russia and else-
where in the Baltic area. Make entry for entrepreneurs to So who’s coming, then? Jevgeni Peltola, a Russia expert
this country as easy as you can”, he said. for Aalto Entrepreneurship Society who works as a proj-
ect manager at Pitney Bowes, said “everyone” in Russia
After three days in Finland Mr Blank is convinced that wants to come to Finland to start a business.
Helsinki has the right elements to “become the new Paris,
Rome or Florence”. But he said politicians often miss “There are plenty of skilled teams from Russia, Bal-
the subtle difference between immigration in general and tics and Poland who would like to come to Finland and
immigration for job creation. He opined that the US has establish a company here. They are hard working and
done it’s post 9/11 entrepreneur immigration policy badly, motivated and really give a benchmark that inspires the
but talent keeps pouring in because of the strong pull of Finns too.”
the Silicon Valley.


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
55

EnTrEPrEnEUrSHIP
AnD MEDIA

Breakfast I Mr. Jyri Häkämies

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

Workshop I Leading Editors-in-Chief

Program 12:00 - 14:00
Location Aalto Venture Garage, Backstage, Betonimiehenkuja 5, 02150 Espoo
Host Mr. Hannu Leinonen, Editor in Chief, Kauppalehti
Organizer Ms. Henrietta Kekäläinen
Mr. Antti Vilpponen, Arctic Startup
audience 8 Editors-in-chief of leading Finnish Medias

“Evenpress wasmedia gets it!ab Birds. Tod Dagens Industry reported on #HelsinkiSpring.
Fin last to write
Swedish #aaltoes


EnTrEPrEnEUrSHIP
AnD MEDIA


Steve: Finnish media treat beacons of hope as enemies of state

Whenever a paper mill is shut down in an obscure vil- work their butts off to create jobs in this country (and
lage in Lapland, TV cameras rush to the scene, politi- to become obscenely rich) feel their cause has not been
cians establish a task force to “create jobs” to the area, understood in the media.
and newspapers run spreads and op-eds to reflect on this
unexpected disturbance in the Force. And it’s not only the young. Mr Blank said that co-creator
of MySQL Mårten Mickos, who now lives in the Silicon
When Finnish wind and solar power startup The Switch Valley, is still bitter to the Finnish media for how the exit
was sold to the US with 190 million euros, leading busi- of his company worth 700 million euros in 2008 was
ness magazine Talouselämä started to inquire weather the treated.
company should now pay it’s public TEKES funds back,
since there might be a euro or two of taxpayers’ money in “My personal job is to have Mårten Mickos come back to
the owners’ wallets now. Finland. He’s still pissed. These guys have created jobs.
They are the beacon of hope.”
“Anywhere else these guys would have been treated
as heroes in the media. But here they are treated like A digital Helsinki Spring
enemies of the state”, serial entrepreneur Steve Blank
scolded Finnish Editor-in-Chiefs at a working lunch at Mr. Blank thinks that the return of the first generation
Aalto Venture Garage on Friday. startup champions as heroes and business angels to Fin-
land would flourish the grassroots of the Helsinki startup
Present were the likes of host Hannu Leinonen of Spring. This requires an attitude change in the Finnish
Kauppalehti, Tapani Ruokanen of Suomen Kuvalehti and media.
Eljas Repo from Arvopaperi. The purpose of the luncheon
was to discuss the significance of the grassroots startup Why, then, does the Finnish media not get the Helsinki
phenomenon to Finnish society. Spring? Steve Blank offered a very good starting point in
offering an explanation: the media simply doesn’t know
“Mårten is still pissed” of it.

As a journalist I’m all for questioning the use of public Mr Blank referred to Helsinki Spring as viral phenome-
money. But is there a pattern here we should be aware non like the Arab Spring. It spreads through social media
of? At least the young entrepreneurs at Aalto Garage who without geographical borders. The youth immerses itself


digitally into new information, ideology and perhaps They’re not going to go to concerts, do drugs or come to
most importantly, borderless markets and finances. the summer home with you. They want to go to incuba-
tors, start coding and run startups.”
I’m not surprised that the media in Finland doesn’t real-
ize this. Following social media is not part of Finnish What a frightening scenario!
journalists’ routines. Twitter, where Helsinki Spring was
evident early on, is alien to most journalists in Finland. And how were these tidings received by the Editor-in-
Chiefs? Tapani Ruokanen from Suomen Kuvalehti, an
Senior journos have even taken strong opinions against inquisitive mind and author of several history books, put
social media. As significant societal changes – the racist the phenomenon in perspective. He said that in Finland,
wing of the True Finns being an excellent example – in- the definition of success for his generation was to move
creasingly rise through social media, this attitude is a real from the countryside to cities for university education and
problem. get a steady job in a government agency. Now things are
radically changing.
A true ideological revolution
“Now everything is on your shoulders”, he said and
The second reason Steve Blank offered for the resistance looked at Ville Vesterinen, Mohamed El-Fatatry and
for the Helsinki Spring in the Old Guard of mainstream Kristo Ovaska at the table.
media is spot on, too.
He asked the young entrepreneurs to call him anytime
We’re looking at a true ideological revolution, something and keep him updated.
that the angriest of birds, Mighty Eagle of Rovio Peter
Vesterbacka called greater in significance than the previ- Now that’s a good start. Perhaps we will also see report-
ous generational uprising in the 1960’ and 70’s. And the ers of Suomen Kuvalehti getting their faces on Twitter
old instinctively resist what the young do, even if what and feet on the streets of Helsinki Spring?
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.

59

EnTrEPrEnEUrSHIP
AnD MEDIA

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 Koponen
Location Aalto Venture Garage, Backstage, Betonimiehenkuja 5, 02150 Espoo
Host Mr. Petteri Koponen, Founder of Lifeline Ventures.
Organizer Mr. Antti Ylimutka
audience 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


EnTrEPrEnEUrSHIP
AnD MEDIA

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 Fireworks
Location 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 Sauna
Mr. Juho Hyytiäinen
Ms. Henrietta Kekäläinen
audience 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


EnTrEPrEnEUrSHIP
AnD MEDIA

Blog I Teppo Hudson

Customer Development is everything thinks Steve Blank

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,


the executive management already knows the business to test your assumptions. If your assumptions are correct,
model because it has already been found. The startup you should have no problems to add revenue to pay for
phase should be temporary during the project’s transfor- the future development. If not, it is time to go back to the
mation into a company, and the sole purpose should be to drawing board and tweak the model a bit.
understand the metrix needed to make reliable decisions.
Steve Blank thinks that many startups fail because they
Unlike in a corporation, the only accounting needed in found no customers. Not because they could not deliver
a startup are a) burnrate and b) how much is left at the what the technical feature set failed. The startups just
bank. Nothing else. Profitability or such do not matter un- ended up building “a house where nobody wanted to
til the startup team has verified the business model. When live”. So like the fighter pilots in “Top Gun”, the startup
the model is verified, the company will actually deliver a founders have to move fast with limited resources. They
valid value proposition for the their customer segments. have to do decision calls with limited amount of data.
Essentially the thrills come through those decisions made
Do the customer development blindly, with gut feelings. Just remember, your gut feeling
will only emerge by talking to the customers and devel-
Please, do not waste time on business plans. No business oping from there.
plan will ever stand the test of an initial customer encoun-
ter. This is often the first fatal flaw. The second flaw is to Most importantly, remember to find and document “what
think all the imaginable features should be in the product. have we learned about customers and what is our story”.
Learn to go lean and have just minimal viable feature set That is what makes headlines.

65

Blog I riitta raesmaa

The Finnish Awesomeness and Entrepreneurship

Something exceptional is happening here in Finland. The Helsinki Spring is here, as Steve so nicely put it. I
However I think that the foundation for that has existed a am optimistic; the fruits of this week will be many. I am
long time, only to wait its time to come. And it seems that very proud of this young crew, Finnish Awesomeness at
the time is here and now. Let me explain. its best.

I am a startup entrepreneur and I am considering my- the Finnish Way of being
self very lucky that I have had the opportunity to follow
somewhat amazing chain of events happening in the Serendipitously I happened to bump into another type of
startup scene of Finland. The young crew from the Aalto Finnish awesomeness. I listened to Senior VP of Design
University, so-called Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, has at Nokia Marko Ahtisaari’s presentation at the Copenha-
worked hard for two and half years, and finally this week gen Design Week.
they publicly proved that their vision and the actions
taken truly are a very powerful force. The first 12 minutes (the rest of it is mostly about Nokia
design and future development, interesting as well) of his
I am not describing here in detail what has happened dur- speech ‘Patterns of Human Interaction’ had an effect on
ing the past weeks; actually you’ll get the picture of that me. His humble way of speaking about how better design
easily by checking out their blog . This great team man- can help us to make each other feel that we are welcome,
aged, together with the legendary Steve Blank himself, to is just awesome. A beautiful perspective!
initiate many important discussions and processes – and I
do believe that they managed to make a difference. Another observation I made is his style of speaking, it
is very Finnish (read: very non-American). He is not
We will certainly hear more about startups in the Finnish shouting and feverishly waving his hands – no, instead
media and we now expect more from our decision-mak- he applies the traditional Finnish style: he is calm, speaks
ers too. Hopefully we will also see actions based on the very softly and is overall adorable and kind. And all
ideas born during this week’s ‘revolution’. that without being boring. It kind of reminds me of the


way Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg speaks. Or Alex Quietude as a Finnish“Natural Way of Being” [pdf], with
Osterwalder, or Aalto Entrepreneurship Society’s presi- the following description:
dent Miki Kuusi. So I warmly recommend you to listen to
Marko, at least the first 12 minutes. “A Finnish communication code that structures some cul-
tural scenes as occasions for positive silence, exhibiting
small talk and Positive silence a social model of personhood for which this is a valued,
respected, and natural practice.”
These great people and the two events – AaltoES with
Steve Blank & Marko Ahtisaari and his talk about more I just love this expression, positive silence. Please con-
human design principles – made me think about what is sider positive silence as time for thinking, reflecting, and
“Finnishness”, and why I’ll find it awesome and full of listening. The paper explains the Finnish way of com-
possibilities for the entrepreneurship too. munication with many good example stories; it can truly
The Finnishness?, you may ask. Yes, we do have some help in understanding us Finns…
national characteristics that can be more rare among other
nationalities, we can be seen as very shy, but on the other Another great read is this short article of the Helsinki
hand our curiosity and creativity makes it easy for us to Times – No small talk please, we’re Finnish, in which
connect and share. To connect and share, and most impor- freelance journalist Susan Fourtané describes her experi-
tantly to listen. On top of that we are very persistent and ences:
diligent; we don’t like to give in. Except in football.
“I particularly enjoyed the thoughtfulness and the mo-
We Finns can easily be silent in company with other ments of silence in between, giving space for observing
people. It’s natural. Foreigners often find our silence our own thoughts before speaking. Yes, you have heard
odd, or fascinating. Professor of Communication Donal it right. Finns don’t do small talk. They don’t think a
Carbaugh, from University of Massachusetts at Amherst, moment of shared silence is awkward. On the contrary, it
have written an excellent paper about this – Silence and is part of the conversation. A direct question gets a direct

67

answer. There is no nonsense talk about nothing. There is In his excellent presentation at the Aalto University Steve
no asking “How are you?” ten times until someone says Blank touched on these topics in his own creative way. A
something else, or stating the obvious. Finns are more startup entrepreneur is living on the edge with all senses
interested in how you think, how you perceive Finland open. An ability to observe, discover, pivot, adapt and
or what keeps you in this small and cold country, as they finally to adopt is crucial. On top of his great experiences
refer to beautiful and peaceful Finland.” that Steve shared with us, I enjoyed his attitude, very re-
freshing. And I especially loved Steve’s analog of startup
Less small talk and more positive silence, I believe that entrepreneur as a fighter pilot! I feel like Maverick quite
this enables better listening, and further better under- often.
standing.
“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friend-
What “the Finnish way of being” has to do with the ship”
Finnish startup ecosystem success?
The AaltoES team is showing a great deal of creativity,
Let me explain. I have blogged a lot about my three persistence, and most importantly the ability to get things
favorite topics. And I truly believe that creativity, innova- done with the help of the surrounding ecosystem. They
tion, and better decision-making, in startups too, require managed to activate all of us, followers and fans, to par-
at least some investments and understanding in these ticipate. This is priceless and I do believe that “this is the
areas: beginning of a beautiful friendship” (couldn’t help myself
quoting one of the most memorable exit lines in movie
1. Systems Intelligence (theory by my friend Professor history, from Casablanca).
Esa Saarinen),
2. Recognition of the value and importance of serendipity The Finnish Awesomeness is something very genuine. Let
(the weak links and the edges, re: John Hagel), us be proud of it. I wish that we don’t have to start to act
3. Recognition of the value and importance listening. entirely differently in order to be able to make a differ-
These three capabilities require a certain attitude, an at- ence. We have all we need to become a vibrant startup
titude of respect, with a touch of trust. hub in Europe, and in the World.

Luckily many of these are a natural part of the startup I wish that the Finnish awesomeness could be
DNA. We need to be open and cooperative; we need use something that other people can learn from.
both sides of our brains and become better listeners.


Blog I Antti Vilpponen, Arctic Startup

When A Blog Post Won’t Do Justice

Even though this blog post will most likely be a feeble During the week, he met with two ministers, two MPs,
attempt in covering the importance and the effect of Steve thousands of entrepreneurs & students, carried out 12
Blank’s visit to Finland and the region last week - I’ll still lectures, participated in four panels and gave about nine
have an attempt at it. Last week was packed full of action interviews. To make all this possible, the people at Aal-
and discussion where Steve Blank talked not only with toES organized his trip and put all the important pieces in
entrepreneurs but politicians, MPs and academia. He also place. Kudos to them!
upped entrepreneurship a few notches on the editorial
importance for some of Finland’s newspapers as he talked Steve Blank also visited Estonia and was quick to com-
to a group of editors-in-chief (including us) why entrepre- ment; “Met the Estonian startup scene for lunch. World-
neurship is of vital importance to nations’ success. class guys, unique ecosystem.More Skypes coming from
this group. Thx for making me smarter.”
Steve Blank was visiting Finland last week to promote
the importance of a working entrepreneurial ecosystem Steve Blank week’s highlights can be read from the blog
to the region. I have a feeling his visit will go down in that focused on his visit and in no way will I try to cover
one of those turning points in history for this part of the all the above mentioned bits into this post. Actually, that
world. Not only did he incite more flames into the “Finn- isn’t as relevant as what he accomplished with his visit.
ish spring” as he referred to the entrepreneurial revolution
taking place in Finland, but he did so in a manner that Steve Blank’s visit to the region sent shivers through-
politicians, mainstream media and academics can under- out society as media gave due attention to his message.
stand. Blank was also honest in teaching the media how they
should report on startups and the scene in general. He


gave an example with Mårten Mickos, the former CEO While startups and people in the region might feel that
of MySQL, still being pissed off about how the Finnish quality of companies isn’t good enough to take over the
media covered their $1 billion exit in 2008. As opposed to world, Blank saw otherwise. He said numerous times that
applauding these everyday heroes, media downplayed the while the ecosystem is still evolving and finding its shape
sale as an unpatriotic act. - the quality of startups is equal to that of Silicon Valley.

In addition to getting the media to understand the im- Not only did he praise the quality, he put his money
portance of entrepreneurship, Blank also preached to the where his mouth is. Before the end of the week, he wrote
politicians. Having participated in some of the events cheques to two of the Startup Sauna companies that
throughout the week, it’s incredibly difficult to under- pitched him. To which startups and how much he invest-
stand how politicians have the situation under control. By ed, he did not disclose.
situation I mean the creation of jobs into the economy.
Regardless of the disclosure, Steve Blank truly came, saw
He furthermore outlined that entrepreneurial activities and conquered the region with his charisma. AaltoES did
from the government should be always temporary by na- a truly great job in organizing the week and putting the
ture and should aim at putting themselves out of business pieces in place to start changing Finland and the region
over time. These days many activities are still seen more into one of the leading startup hubs of the world.
as employment programs for government workers instead
of truly helping the cause. Steve Blank week may be over, but the effects of his visit
are just beginning to show. The “Finnish spring” is truly
He commented on startups and the government, “having on its way.
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”.

71


Helsinki Spring - a revolution of enterprise support

Steve Blank, a professor at Stanford University, and a re- In Finland, values, education and competence are taking
tired serial entrepreneur, visited Finland in early Septem- the right turn with regard to growth entrepreneurship. The
ber. Thousands of people attended Blank’s talks, boosting Aalto Entrepreneurship Society, which brought Blank to
the civic movement of growth entrepreneurship that has Finland, is an example of this. The establishment of the
been gaining momentum in the decision-making process job market would require more diversity tolerance and an
for a couple of years now. extensive increase in immigration. Most of the startups in
Silicon Valley have been founded by immigrants.
Perhaps the comparison where Blank’s tent lecture
evening (which concluded with fireworks) was described However, the financing system is the worst bottleneck.
as the Woodstock of the entrepreneur generation was Blank finds traces of socialism therein. In Finland, the
slightly overblown, but there was something significant in government intends to control where growth is created
the air in addition to the big words and the smell of gun- and to make investment decisions without the personal
powder. The concept of the Helsinki Spring emerged on risk of the investor. According to Blank, these are the ap-
Twitter – a sweeping change that, in the spirit of the Arab propriate principles of funding growth entrepreneurship:
Spring, may make our young people become capitalists.
1. The investment decision must always involve a
Blank’s visit had a revolutionary message related to the personal risk and reward. This is the only way the
financing of enterprises. Civil servants who use taxpayer investor will take a risk that is correctly proportioned
money for enterprise support will have to decide whether to the operating sector of growth enterprises.
they support the Blank entrepreneur movement or wheth- 2. In addition to money, the investor must provide their
er they are against it. competence, time and passion to the enterprise.

Blank considers the world from the perspective of growth What kind of public funding system would be established
enterprises. All of a sudden, they have become significant for growth enterprises on the basis of Blank’s views?
because old enterprises do not grow and provide jobs like And, is such a system needed? Growth entrepreneurship
they used to. is a very special form of entrepreneurship that questions
many usual Finnish values and ideas of entrepreneurship
To address this issue, ecosystems – clusters of entrepre- and fairness. Why does something like that require public
neurship with the aim of rapid growth – have emerged in support?
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.


About 90% of startups fail. The successful one provides a Taxpayer money can be channelled into asymmetrical
nice profit to risk investors. The existence of this system funds where private capital and public capital go hand
is justified by entrepreneurship being the best way of in hand. Funding decisions are always market-based.
finding new business models and creating new jobs. The This means that taxpayer money is always invested in a
task is so difficult that it needs a high-risk system that has company where a private investor is also willing to invest
been optimised to the maximum and that provides large their own money.
rewards.
Another way of channelling the support could be to estab-
Will not a system like this create a new Facebook and lish a group of enterprise incubators. While Blank was
Rovio without public funding? Yes, it probably would. visiting, Peter Vesterbacka of Rovio said that the EUR
But capitalism does have its flaws. And they are related to 600 million budget of Tekes would provide Finland with
Finland. ten incubators, each having a budget of EUR 60 million.
It is an interesting thought experiment to consider wheth-
Enterprises at the very early startup stage are not funded er this would result in more innovation than the way
if the ecosystem of growth enterprises is underdeveloped, money is currently used. Except that it is not a thought
which is the case for Finland. This is a stage where the experiment. This is the way Israel operates. Incubators
ideas of enterprises are vague and difficult to identify. In can be privatised when they operate on their own.
Silicon Valley, such ideas may receive private funding.
But there are only a few hundred angel investors in Fin- What will the Finnish model be like? Blank pointed out
land, and there is not enough money for all. Finland does many times that the approach used in Israel, which they
not have a funding practice where wealthy private people, found after 30 years of failure, is excellent but Finland
joint funds of angels and professionally managed venture cannot copy it. Finland must find its own way of making
capital funds would invest in startups. Helsinki the world’s leading startup cluster.

This means that the practice needs to be established, Blank said that after having met with a large number of
and this is where the Finnish government can help. This politicians, business sector opinion leaders and execu-
does not mean that the government would create a new, tive civil servants from the Ministry of Employment and
permanent form of enterprise support. The ecosystems in the Economy, he had not met one person with a vision
Silicon Valley and Israel – the leading startup clusters in of what kind of funding system the Helsinki Startup Hub
the world – were established so that the government sup- would have in ten years, and who would show the way
ported the venture capital funds of the startups for years there.
and then exited.

73

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”


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

75

Organizations

Aalto University
Established 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.fi
Key persons: Tuula Teeri, President. Hannu Seristö, Vice President

Aalto Enterpreneurship Society
Founded 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.com
Key persons: Mikko Kuusi, Chairman. Juhana Nurmio

Aalto Center for Entrepreneurship
Aalto 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.fi
Key persons: Will Cardwell, Head

Arctic Startup
Founded 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.com
Key persons: Antti Vilpponen


Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto EK, The Confederation of Finnish Industry
EK'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.php
Key persons: Timo Kekkonen

FiBAn - Finnish Business Angels network
FiBAN 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.org
Key persons: Ari Korhonen, Vice Chairman

Finnvera
Finnvera 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.fi
Key persons: Hannu Jungman

FVCA - Suomen pääomasijoitusyhdistys ry, Finnish Venture Capital Association
The 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

77

Konecranes
Konecranes 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.com
Key persons: Pekka Lundmark, CEO

Lifeline Ventures
Lifeline 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.fi
Key persons: Petteri Koponen, Founding Partner, Timo Ahopelto, Co-Founder

nexit Ventures
Nexit 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.com
Key persons: Artturi Tarjanne, General Partner

rovio
Rovio 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.com
Key persons: Peter Vesterbacka, Mighty Eagle


steve blank in finland sept 2011

steve blank in finland sept 2011

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

Destacado

Destacado (11)

Similar a steve blank in finland sept 2011

Similar a steve blank in finland sept 2011 (20)

Más de Stanford University

Más de Stanford University (20)

Último

Último (20)

steve blank in finland sept 2011