Last week nearly 1,200 companies came together at a converted Cable Factory in Helsinki for the biggest startup conference in Northern Europe. The limelight went to BetterDoctor, a US doctor database with user rankings, and Weekdone, an elegant staff management tool, who won the two day Showcase demo and pitching competitions respectively.
But Slush 2013 was about far more than any individual startup. This year it preached cohesive ideologies and highlighted four key sectors which look to be ripe pickings for the savvy startup over the next few years.
Ilkka Paananen, CEO of Finnish startup sensation Supercell, and poster boy of Slush 2013 echoed Kaljundi’s words. Having sold 51 percent of the Clash of Clans creator for €1.5 billion in October, just two years after founding, Paananen was also keen to stress one point in particular: ‘the power of small’.
“Small independent cells is where the company name comes from,” he explained. “We say ‘get big by thinking small’. We value the speed of small teams and keeping things simple. Our employees don’t need layers of processes and layers of management… [just] do what is best for your team and the customer.”
Ideology
While different markets will always require different approaches, talking to numerous startups at Slush 2013 we witnessed near-consensus in the way to become a successful entrepreneur. The three key points were: treat everything as a service, put the customer at the centre of every business decision and test early.
The last of these argues it is better to trial what you are doing and pivot or fail than to invest a fortune bringing a fully realised version of the wrong concept to market.
“You must get the prototype out there and see what customers are saying,” stresses Weekdone CEO Juri Kaljundi. “I’m a big fan of [Eric Ries’] The Lean Startup model. You have to talk to customers and listen, but then you also have to make sure you don’t try to implement too many ideas. Be focused, what you don’t implement is as important as what you do.”
