Professionalism in seeking venture capital
18.02.2012
- It was an excellent training – the whole day was very effective and managed by very impressive professionals. We have participated in several venture capital events in Finland – this was on its own level, much better and more professional than previous ones. The feedback for our presentations was concrete, enthusiastic and energetic, the participants in Friday Seed Forum training camp told from one mouth. The Finnish Seed Forum training session was the first one in some years’ period.
Aalto University Small Business Center is an official representative of Seed Forum International Foundation in Finland. – We arranged the training camp and we got 11 start-up companies as participants. Everyone was really impressed and they got very relevant content in improving their presentations. The most important issue was the thinking model of venture capitalists – it has differences between potential and real customers. When start-ups are seeking needed capital in securing their growth, internationalization and expansions in new market areas, they have to speak directly and on right way to investors. It is not easy task – to be clear and short at the same time, Seed Forum Finland contact person Seppo Rantalainen from Small Business Center says. – This was the main message we shared in our training camp in our premises on Friday. And the feedback was really good – next time the training session takes place in October. In the training content the Seed Forum International and its managing director Steinar H. Korsmo are at their own level – very experienced, enthusiastic and professional. Many of our participants have been involved in several investor events in Finland and their experience after Friday teaching was common – much better than the previous ones.
Start-Up Center has direct connections to international investors
In the Friday training camp there were eight companies from Aalto Start-Up Center-incubator.
- Our incubator is a unique place in the Finnish incubator network – it is the biggest one and its services are very wide and versatile. Now we have really started with international investor network. Seed Forum International and its global series of events are very strong addition in our service portfolio. As an example, many of Friday participants we are able to send in London, Oslo, Palo Alto and Moscow Seed Forum events. This is an excellent possibility, project director Marika Paakkala emphasizes the services Aalto Start-Up Center is able to offer.
Home Market project behind the Seed Forum Finland concept
The managing director of Seed Forum International Foundation, Mr Steinar H. Korsmo is a very experienced trainer and the chairman of global investor events. – His energetic and very supporting feedback in addition to his absolute professionalism helps all of us to develop our business idea, the ways of its presentation. We learned here very much and if we have to buy the whole training session from the markets, the price would be thousands of euros, all the participants convinced their satisfaction.
- Aalto University Small Business Center has defined as a main target of its Home Market-project to create or import high level, professional investor organization in Finland. We found Seed Forum International in Latvia in the first meeting last September, project manager Anne-Marie Salmi told the program of the backround Home Market project. Now Small Business Center is an official representative of the organization in Finland.
In March the first Seed Forum event in Helsinki
- Seed Forum investor seminar takes place 20.03.2012 in Helsinki hosted by Aalto University Small Business Center. – We are working with Nordea Bank Finland Oyj and they offer us the beautiful and most valuable bank hall in Finland for presentations. We have chosen there eight Finnish companies – the others are coming from Estonia, Lithuania and maybe from Sweden. All of them present their business in seven minutes pitch session and in addition to this all companies can meet the investors the whole day and also in the night reception, Seppo Rantalainen introduces the coming seminar.
Aalto University Small Business Center is a domestic partner of Home Market project. It is a part of Central Baltic Interreg IV A program 2007-2013 (ERDF). Its lead partner is Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, Riga (LV).
