Websummit and Slush– the hottest events of November

Websummit and Slush– the hottest events of November

Running a startup is a hard core sport, like climbing the Himalayas, it’s dangerous. You risk everything, your career, your mental health, your family, friends and loved ones.

20 years ago when I started, I felt like an outcast. My friends were asking why does that guy want to run a startup? Now the sexiest events happening in Europe are the big startup conventions. How does it make me feel? I’ve spent nearly 20 years in high technology startups. In those days an animal called VC didn’t exist. Now it’s incredible to see that the weirdest thing I started with has become the hottest thing all over. Beautiful that there are like minded people, that the corporate structures that limit opportunities are disrupting and that knowledge work, thinking and decision making is liberated.

Fingertip got to take part in the hottest events this November: Websummit and Slush.

Websummit was big, a sold out event during which 44.000 people took over the beautiful city of Dublin, 2500 startups attended and countless interesting sub summits. It was really the place to follow and listen to the big names. The strength of Websummit was the huge number of carefully selected startups presenting during the 3 days. It gave an excellent insight into the market. There were a lot of companies offering solutions and products for the same problems. This was as an entrepreneur interesting and scary at the same time. It gave me the understanding of where not to enter, probably investors had the same feeling. And of course there was the Night Summit, fun and excellent for networking, which is an never ending necessity for succeeding as a startup.

Last week Slush in Helsinki was again a sold out event with 15.000 attending. The infrastructure was great and only beaten by the strong team spirit and sense of unity. In direct comparison to Websummit, Slush for sure is the better party in terms of venue, light show and overall atmosphere. (But you need to remember that I might be biased being born and raised in Helsinki.) At Slush there were less companies presenting than at Websummit while at the same time a lot of the bigger companies were showing a strong presence. It was less noisy, but a lot of Remember the milk type of applications. I found myself repeating the question, are they ready to deliver to market? Hopefully the media won’t kill the good stories. I have great respect for brave entrepreneurs!

What does it feel like for an entrepreneur? This is a question I asked myself while I wandered around and looked at other entrepreneurs pitching their businesses. How does an entrepreneur think or make decisions? How is he different? The way I see the entrepreneur as a decision maker, he is opportunistic. He has to be in fact. While the average Joe’s main goal is to not make mistakes an entrepreneur is thrilled by the possibility of failing, at the same time learning and ultimately figuring out something crucial.

Did you attend any of the events? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.