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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
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Startup Nation: The Best Startup Capitals for Entrepreneurs in 2023 

ReadWriteStart

The last few months have been an unprecedented time for entrepreneurs and startup founders on the market. Entrepreneurs Want a Great Place for Their Startup A slowdown in economic activity has made it increasingly challenging for entrepreneurs to establish themselves against the backdrop of reluctant consumer spending and recession risks.

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A Visit With the European Startup Community

Gust

My wife, Ann, and I took a trip this past spring to visit Estonia, Finland, Ireland and Russia. In all four countries we met passionate entrepreneurs who were eager to discuss their exciting startups, as well as angel investors looking to support them. A two hour ferry ride across the Bay of Finland carried us from Tallinn to Helsinki.

Community 121
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Building a new startup hub

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Building a new startup hub Last week, I had a unique opportunity to spend some time in Boulder at the behest of TechStars. It was a great experience to see a relatively new startup hub in action - and thriving. Their model looks like a key ingredient in the startup brew there.

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5 Lessons From the Garage48 Helsinki Hackathon

ReadWriteStart

It gathered 120 hackers from Finland, Estonia and Latvia under the same roof and challenged them to go from zero to demo in 48 hours. Sixteen startups were created during the weekend. At Garage48, the goal is to produce a small startup, rather than just a really nice hack like you would at a traditional hackathon.

Latvia 158
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Many Startups Stumble on International Cultures

Startup Professionals Musings

I was once asked by a top executive of a major software company why we were not selling more products in Finland. He did not seem to understand that Finland was not part of Scandinavia and that English is not too well understood by most people there (with the exception of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland).

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Techstars brings The Lean Startup to Boulder

Startup Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Thursday, July 30, 2009 Techstars brings The Lean Startup to Boulder Im very excited to announce a pair of events that will kick off a very busy fall speaking tour. The event will include a talk from Eric on The Lean Startup over dinner, followed by moderated table discussion and then final Q&A with Eric.

Lean 68