HELSINKI, Finland - While many of Slush’s 10,000 attendees were partying into the night at the grand opening of Europe’s biggest startup conference on Monday night, Skolkovo’s top startups were cramming ahead of a potentially life-changing pitch contest.
A quarter of a million euros in investment will go to the winner of this week’s Slush 100 startup pitch contest, with many startups also seeking to lure partners and staff onto their projects during the two-day event in Helsinki that begins Tuesday.
As the light faded over the overcast Baltic city Monday, several of Skolkovo’s 53 startups that traveled to Finland used the last remaining hours for dry runs and to hear key advice before they take to the stage in front of hundreds of potential investors and a grand jury.
Felin delivering advice on pitching to Skolkovo startups in Helsinki. Photo: sk.ru
Rinat Nafikov of HandyPower gave a confident and humorous pitch of his company’s portable charging technology, with Alexei Boch, CEO and founder of Panorics, dipping into truly idiomatic English to convey the attractiveness of full-immersion 360 degree video system.
After one of the pitches at the headquarters of Helsinki Ventures, a top Finnish business accelerator, partner Timo Felin noted: “It was difficult for me to grasp what the problem was with that pitch. What is the problem you are solving?
After another one, Felin said: “You spend way too long on the technical details. Tell users about the end product.”
An interesting piece of advice was: “Don’t tell them you’re from Russia. Who cares where you’re from? Startups are from all over the world, and letting the audience try and guess from your accent is a nice way of keeping them engaged.”
Slush, only in its fifth year, is just as famous for its raging parties all over Helsinki as it is for its hoodie-and-jeans tech conference. Its grand opening party, drawing thousands of guests, was to run into the early hours.
The kind of parties that Slush is becoming famous for. Photo: slush.org
This year’s delegation from Skolkovo is three times greater than 2013.
Eight will compete in the Slush 100 pitch competition, where they will try to woo investors and impress a panel of judges for a shot at the generous prize. They will hope to make the cut to 20 for Tuesday’s semifinals, with just four spots up for grabs in Wednesday’s final.
The other Skolkovo companies entering the pitch contest are: Cybertech Labs, Oriense, Plazma Pro, MaxTelCom, Transbiotech and Element 22.