article thumbnail

Nokia as “He Who Must Not Be Named” and the Helsinki Spring

Steve Blank

I was invited to Finland as part of Stanford’s Engineering Technology Venture Program partnership with Aalto University. Unique to Finland with its strong cultural emphasis on equality and the redistribution of wealth is a business press that doesn’t understand startups and is overtly hostile to their success.

Finland 324
article thumbnail

Challenges and Opportunities for Europe’s Metaverse Market

ReadWriteStart

Instead, the technology has been limited to niche operators and start-ups, such as Finland’s Varjo, which makes high-end headphones, and Estonia’s Ready Player Me, a cross-game avatar platform. Even though Finland offers free and high-quality education, it cannot compete with Silicon Valley regarding salaries.

Finland 187
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

3 leaders shaking up Finland’s tech scene

The Next Web

In 2009, Finland was the second largest investor in early stage European startups based on GDP. Finland’s startup… This story continues at The Next Web. Most of these startups are in the tech or gaming industries. But there are also startups that focus on physical products and business software, too.

Finland 136
article thumbnail

Details of Upfront Ventures New $400 Million Fund

Both Sides of the Table

Upfront VI is our latest core fund and is $400 million to invest in early stage entrepreneurs. LPs (the people who invest in VC firms) have clearly voted in favor of LA with the creation of 15+ new early-stage venture firms and the continued growth is size and team of the great larger firms that are well established.

article thumbnail

What Makes a Successful Startup Community? Is it Possible to Build One Where You Live?

Both Sides of the Table

From startup Rovio in Finland. If you’re working with early-stage companies you need to be spending quality time with them which means you need to be nearby. It came from an amazing small startup in McKinney, Texas (30 miles North of Dallas) called NewToy , which they acquired. Think again. Angry Birds?

Community 378
article thumbnail

Building a new startup hub

Startup Lessons Learned

The companies I spoke to all agreed that the community there was extremely supportive, especially in the critical ulta-early-stage. Then, create an encouraging environment for early-stage companies. Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. And do your customer development.

article thumbnail

Lessons Learned: The four kinds of work, and how to get them done.

Startup Lessons Learned

Another advantage of the early stages is that most dont have to juggle too many competing priorities. If you dont have customers, a product, investors, or a board of directors, you can pretty much stay focused on just one thing at a time. Take a look and let me know what you think.