As Slush, one of Europe’s biggest events for tech entrepreneurs, draws closer, Skolkovo startups have been attending a two-day boot camp headed by a prominent Finnish entrepreneur and coach.
Finnish entrepreneur and mentor Aape Pohjavirta, left, pictured at Skolkovo's Startup Village by the Sea in Vladivostok back in September. Photo: Sk.ru.
Aape Pohjavirta, the founder of Funzi, a mobile learning service that helps smartphone users learn practical skills free of charge and has over a million users, knows what he is talking about. A regular participant of Slush since it began, the tech evangelist is now an advisor to Slush and mentor for Startup Sauna, a Finnish accelerator programme.
In preparation for Slush, which takes place in Helsinki on November 30-December 1, Pohjavirta advised representatives of about 40 Skolkovo startups attending the event to indulge in a little light cyber stalking.
“Google people who are going to be at Slush in advance,” he told the Russian entrepreneurs at Skolkovo’s Hypercube on Thursday, who will all be hunting for investment at the event. With 15,000 people expected to attend, preliminary groundwork is essential.
“Who is relevant for you to talk to? What are they looking for, what are their hobbies? How should you approach them? Analyse all this beforehand. No one else can do that work for you, and this is the key to success: knowing who you need to talk to,” Pohjavirta urged them.
Once there, the most important thing is communication – which is admittedly not always a strong skill among scientists and inventors, especially considering that the working language of Slush is English, and that knowledge of English in Russia is generally lower than in neighbouring Finland.
“By far the biggest problem for Russian startups trying to establish contact with foreign investors is that they don’t understand you – especially Americans,” Pohjavirta told the assembled entrepreneurs frankly, before setting them some practical exercises for improving their fluency.
The energetic Finn has considerable experience of working specifically with Russian startups, having attended the Skolkovo Foundation’s Startup Village by the Sea event in the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok in September as a mentor.
“You’re doing great work,” he told the entrepreneurs preparing for Slush, but there is always room for improvement, including in their pitch presentations. Some companies will be pitching to an audience of investors from the stage as part of a competition, while others will be showing their projects from the Skolkovo stand. The first thing to be able to do is explain clearly and concisely what the project is and why it is needed, said Pohjavirta.
“You should be able to give short, tweet-long answers,” he urged the entrepreneurs.
“Tell them the problem, your solution and how to deliver it. Everything else is unnecessary. Know what you do, know why people should care, meet people and tell them,” he said, identifying a Russian tendency to leave the crucial information about the project until the last slide: “Bring what you have achieved to the front!” he said.
Having taken a look at some of the companies’ presentations, Pohjavirta took no prisoners, though his trademark humour tempered even the most brutally honest feedback, and all the criticism was followed up by constructive advice.
“You don’t need those slides. They suck, they’re really horrible,” he said, explaining that the graphs and diagrams included in them were simply unintelligible.
“Don’t steal photos for presentations!” he chided. “And get a professional designer to produce your slides.”
Nor should personal presentation skills be neglected when interacting with other Slush participants on a one-on-one basis, advised Pohjavirta.
“You should be looking good, smelling good and sounding good. Be positive,” he said. “Don’t stand too close to people! And don’t show off. There’s nothing worse than showing off,” he added.
The startups preparing for Slush now have another two-and-a-half weeks to incorporate Pohjavirta’s wisdom into their preparations. The companies taking part this year in this year’s event include:
Watts Battery, a system for controlling and storing electricity that can be used indoors and outdoors and is controlled via a mobile app.
Marvelmind Robotics, which makes an indoor navigation system for use with autonomous robots, copters and virtual reality. The company, whose technology is accurate to within two centimetres, won the first prize at the Slush Shanghai competition for the best seed-stage companies last month.
Pryaniky, a software platform aimed at increasing labor efficiency by motivating staff via gamified tools and closed social networks.
DRD Biotech, which makes rapid tests for the diagnosis of strokes, concussion and brain damage.
Texel, which uses 3D body scanning to help customers to find perfectly fitting clothes.
Zooprotein, which makes high-protein feed for animals made from crushed fly larvae.
Biozet Laboratory, which is developing antibacterial films for food packaging that will almost double the length of time food can be stored for.
Fibrum, which makes a mobile virtual reality headset and VR apps.
MobilityLab, whose WorksPad product turns mobile devices into mobile workspaces by making the employee’s corporate email account, files and programmes available on the device – while keeping that information secure.
Rezonver, which makes innovative welding equipment that combines both welding and cutting in a single compact device.