Slush! Helsinki

Event Info

Mon 24 Nov, 2008 at 12:00am

Korjaamo

Töölönkatu 51 b

Helsinki, 00250, UK

Cost: EUR 99+VAT Standard, Free for Students

"Slush is a slurry mixture of snow and liquid water. In the natural environment, slush forms as ice or snow melts. This often mixes with dirt and other materials, resulting in a gray or muddy brown color. Often, solid ice or snow will block the drainage of fluid water from slushy areas, so slush often goes through multiple freeze/thaw cycles before completely disappearing." -From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A new breed of technology entrepreneurs has entered the Helsinki start-up scene and they want to share their wealth of energy with other start-ups by bringing together a group of inspirational entrepreneurs and industry figures. For one day only, Korjaamo in Helsinki will be hosting the very first Slush! conference and workshop for the hungriest start-ups and rising stars.

The speakers include Risto Siilasmaa from F-Secure, Michael “Monty” Wideniues from MySQL, Ilkka Paananen from Digital Chocolate, the man behind First Hop and Jaiku, Petteri Koponen as well as Sampo Karjalainen from Habbo Hotel and Asmo Halinen from Aapeli. Taneli Tikka and Matt Marshall will moderate the interactive day of keynotes and workshops. Taneli is the founder of IRC-Galleria and serial entrepreneur, who is currently managing RunToShop and Dopplr. Matt is the editor and founder of VentureBeat blog from Silicon Valley.

The organisers are expecting about 200-300 visitors from Finnish start-ups, key universities, venture capitalists and global businesses. All of who share the same spirit; if you can make it in the slush, you can make it anywhere. The event is organised by start-ups for the start-ups, and it is aimed to motivate more people to start their own companies and demonstrate the importance of networking. A dedicated Slush Fund will add more motivation by funding seven most interesting business ideas to be developed.

"We have made it, if Slush! motivates new entrepreneurs to start their own companies, open new doors to others and give the companies more ideas to succeed. Instead of just talking and planning, we want to share experiences and this is why we are giving the start-ups an access to the key industry players. There is nothing more inspirational than to hear the success stories from the people who have made it, “ explains Peter Vesterbacka, resident networking guru and one of the founders of Mobile Monday network.

Slush! believes that the strength of Finnish businesses is based on the survival in the harsh elements of the long winter, and promises to provide a window to the cold and dark habitat of the cool new start-ups from the region. All Slush! organisers are natives of the area and have gone through extensive, annual slush experiences.

"The financial crisis may have brought in an early winter that is limiting opportunities for the new companies to get the vital funding to grow but with a bit of Slush! attitude, we can get through this and be ready for the spring,” Vesterbacka continues.
Slush! is also partnering with TechCrunch UK, who will host a breakfast brunch for 100 start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors and key industry players the day after the Slush conference.