1. The wonderful world of startups and Aalto Venture Garage as a seed accelator Aalto Venture Garage Ville Simola

2. My Agenda

3. Agenda What is a startup? What it takes to build a startup? Aalto Venture Garage as a co- working space and seed accelator

4. Definitions

5. Definition #1 “A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets. “ - Wikipedia

6. Definition #2 “A startup is NOT every new business venture (actually, it is but this is not the way we use the term anymore). It is a new tech venture, internet related mostly, that has the potential of rapid growth through servicing new market segments and/or offering new product/services” - Quote taken from Quora.com

7. Definition #3 ”A startup is the organization used to search for a scalable business model” – Steve Blank

8. Some comparisons

9. Comparison #1 (Steve Blank) Small businesses Business model found Profitable business Existing team Not all the businesses of internet age are ”scalable startups” Scalable startup Designed to grow big Huge uncertainty Typically needs risk capital These companies are the real startups

10. Comparison #2 (Steve Blank) Traditional accounting Balance sheet Cash flow statement Income statement Startup metrics Customer acquisition costs Customer lifetime value Monthly burn rate

11. Comparison #3 (Steve Blank) Business plan Static-document ”No business plan survises the first customer contact” Focus on planning not execution Business model Can be iterated quickly Shows how company creates, delivers and captures value Focus on execution and how to make money

12. The idea

13. Idea #1 Importance is usually overemphasized

14. Idea #2 Will pivot during the journey

15. Idea #3 Is something that should not be hidden

16. The team

17. Team #1 Is the most important asset

18. Team #2 Should combine a different skillset

19. Team #3 Needs to have high and passionate vision

20. To be successful?

21. Success #1 Technology is nice but it’s all about the value

22. Success #2 Planning is good but execution wins the war

23. Success #3 Great companies are not born they are built

24. Success #4 Grow or die!

25. Recommended readings

26. Aalto Venture Garage http://www.vimeo.com/16458062

27. Background

28. The start The Garage started with grassroot initiatives by a group of students and entrepeneurs at Aalto University

29. Why? We saw the need for change in the entrepeneurship ecosystem in Finland. This was the fall of 2009. The garage was empty.

30. Numbers 2.000 M€ <3 M€ Public Investment on R&D 2010 Licensing Revenue for Research Institutions ~ 83M€ Seed, Startup, Early Growth VC #53/54 Companies seeking for growth (GEM 2009) Private Investment (GEM2009) #51/54 Sub-contractors Resource intensive Fast-growth companies (≈20) Lähteet: GEM 2009 Global Report, Deloitte Technology Fast 50 & Fast 500 EMEA (2009, 2010), FVCA (2010), PwC MoneyTree, NVCA (2010), IVA (2010), Tilastokeskus (2010), Center for Venture Research (2009), Tekes (2009, 2010) 30

31. Activities

32. Co-working

33. Grass root initiatives Pitching events Open Mics Talkoot workshops/ Startup weekends

34. Grass root initiatives Inspiring speakers Tuli-talks w/ research based start-ups Hackatrons

35. Enternship 10-week Entrepreneurial internship 1)is aimed for students interested in startups and high growth companies 2)no restrictions when it comes to school or nationality 3)Applications taken in from 4th of March

36. Startup programs

37. Summer of Startups 10-week start-up program targeted for students Teams are provided: 1) Coaching, mentoring & keynotes from the best serial entrepreneurs, VCs, PR professionals etc. 2) 24/7 working space 3) Pre-seed funding for the selected team

38. Startup Sauna More mature start-up program targeted for advanced companies from the Baltic region running 2 times a year Teams are provided: 1) Garage coach network 2) 24/7 working space 3) Office space and trip to Silicon Valley for the three best ones

39. Some case startups

40. Key success factors

41. Key factors #1 Culture of venturing from grass roots: Aaltoes etc. meaning that we have best students and researchers interested to a) start b) work on startups

42. Key factors #2 Ideas and teams coming not only from Aalto or rest of Finland but from whole Baltics and Nordics: only way to get good enough people and ideas

43. Key factors #3 experienced serial entrepreneurs with international success and failures as coaches to work with the selected startups from very beginning: our coaches

44. Key factors #4 Exposure for the best startups to real markets, competitors, investors and specially to culture of doing business: 3- 4 months in the valley, in future Israel and china

45. SISU (FIN) “Special strength and stubborn determination to continue and overcome in the moment of adversity. It's a combination of stamina, courage, and obstinacy held in reserve for hard times.” Key success factor?

47. My contacts

48. Ville Simola ville@aaltovg.com +358 44 070 0520 aaltovg.com aaltoes.com facebook.com/aaltovg facebook.com/aaltoes