I Attended The Nordic Startup Conference 2022

Hello guys,

Last Tuesday I attended The Nordic Startups Conference 2022, a webinar with a bunch of speakers with different backgrounds in startups, scaleups and venture capital. It was indeed an interesting event, and I would therefore like to share some key takeaways from the event, below. Please feel free to discuss and share your thoughts.

• Startups are really on a rise in Finland. There are a lot of angel investors and venture capital looking for scalable tech-driven startups in the Finnish region in particular.
• When evaluating potential investments and startup fundings, it often boils down to market, team and traction. I will evaluate further:
  • Market size is an important aspect and consists of the total adressable market, other players (competition and synergies) and if there is an opportunity to grow and win market shares.
  • The team is an important factor when making an investment decision. This is because entrepreneurship and execution come down to the people, and their competencies and ability to accomplish things. People aren’t an organization’s most important asset, but the right people are.
  • Traction is the first thing that are taken into consideration when evaluating a business from an investor’s perspective. A solid business idea should not “need” capital, since they have found a product-market fit. In that case, the business is scalable, profitable and has recurring revenues.
• Traction triumphs product. A great product is great, but without a demand, it won’t be for much use. Therefore, a startup founder must put demand first, and product second, and start building product after finding product-market fit.
• As well as business in general, a startup need to articulate a clear and concise mission, that clarifies its value proposition and answer the question “how is the product useful for people, and is it a game changer?”

I enjoyed attending the conference, and I hope that you can find great value in the points listed above. Take care!