Its going to be an eventful week!

Author

Roope Ripatti
May 20, 2024

Last week we saw a ton of new AI news. Both the release of GPT-4o and the Google developer conference showed us some glimpses of what we should be expecting from the next steps of AI.

This week there is a ton of stuff happening in the capital region, from robotics hackathons to AI & Data workshops at Supercell. Check out what kind of events the startup ecosystem has coming up and sign up for at least one!

I’m quite annoyed that I’m in Germany this week, but at least I get to sip on some Riesling while drowning in FOMO.
- Roope Ripatti

News 

Finnish Government to Cut 25% of Business Finland Funding

The Finnish public organization Business Finland has been giving out grants to emerging startups for quite a while. Like one of my founder friends once said: “90% of what they give out is complete bullshit, but the 10% that is given out to the right companies is the only reason why they can exist:”

In the article, it is mentioned that investors rarely invest in companies that have no public funding. This might be the most Finnish startup fact I have ever heard. Tbh I think this might even be a somewhat good thing if the Finnish startup scene can adapt.

Startups are all about finding a market that is underserved. If you can really find one, you will get investments and you will find growth. Government backing or not. If we can adapt to not having “free money” from the government, maybe we can come out of this stronger.

(article only in finnish, might be a paywall)

Upcoming events around capital region

Mon 20.5.

Tue 21.5.

Wed 22.5.

ES Impact Report Launch (Very good event if you want to jump into the ecosystem for the first time!)

Thu 23.5.

During the weekend (25.-26.5.)

Help needed

The junction team lead applications are open until 31.5.
More info here

Your weekly read

Instead of highlighting a short text, I wanted to highlight a book this time. Ben Horowitz’s’ The Hard Thing About Hard Things is an amazing deep dive into how hard running a business, let alone a startup, is.

Before starting the Andreessen Horowitz VC company, Ben Horowitz was the founder of Loudcloud. A company that was the underdog for their whole journey and went from one fight to the next. It is a story of grit and how to stay alive as a company long enough for it to succeed!

You can find the book in most e-book and audiobook apps as well as from the library of Startup Sauna (where you can loan a copy for free!).

Sign up for one of the events!

-Roope