The startup world is on its own in many ways. It is often chaotic, fast paced, high-risk and frankly on the verge of insane. Yet, these characteristics are exactly what makes it exciting. This is why people are willing to work 60+ hour weeks, with little to no pay. It is also why this often mysterious, somewhat dangerous and unpredictable atmosphere is able to deliver companies that grow at remarkable pace, pushing creativity, innovation and disruption.
Those companies that have outgrown this stage or have been quite large for quite sometime now, are often curious about startups but sometimes are not quite ready to jump into the water with them. If they do, it is quite often still in their own corporate ways. Startups are still interested in that, but still do not quite take as their own.
Yet, every now and then there are organizations that are willing to take risks, prepared to push their boundaries and really get their word out there. They are the ones who really do want to open dialogue with startup companies, the ones that are reaching out and are happy to learn from startups, adopt their ways and openly ask for co-operation and help.
At Arctic15, for the first time in Finland, we will be gathering six brave corporations, who want to do just that through Reverse Pitching.
They want to talk to you, they want to listen to you, get your feedback, ask for help and learn together. We bring you Arctic15: Reverse Pitching Participants. Boy, what a list:
Elisa/Appelsiini: Elisa, who acquired a startup, Appelsiini, in 2010, through which they are launching a new App Store for startup developers, is going to reach out to startups, offering their marketing channels and other resources to them. By Sari Kola-Nyström.
Facebook: Facebook needs no introduction. In fact you probably want to work with them as it is, so here they are. Reaching out. Ali parr will talk about “The power of the Facebook platform for developers” and reaching out to the local companies.
PayPal: Paypal, a part of the Ebay corporation, is currently doing a lot to reach out to you guys. They have a lot of different opportunities and Orkun Saitoglu will talk about Blueprint program specifically.
Fonecta: Known for being the largest startup acquirer in Finland, will reach out to you about their current needs and areas they are looking out. This year, they have also started investing into startups, so do not miss the chance to listen to Mikko Pirinen.
Spinverse Innovation Mill has funded some 109 innovations that turned into startups since 2009 and they want more. They will help to match entrepreneurs with corporations, entrepreneurs and investors. By Pekka Koponen.
GE Health: Another corporation, reaching out to startup with a humble and bottom up approach. Didier Deltort, has a vision to build a whole village of startups next to GE and wants to start a dialogue on how you can work together with GE and help each other.
Quite a bunch, right? Which company will be the most convincing pitcher? Who will the startups take for one of their own? Find out at Arctic15, which is already next week. Get your tickets here, and see you on Tuesday.
Reverse pitching is done in co-operation with Tekes and hosted by Sami “Hoodie Dude” Kuusela and Harri Kerminen.
Top Image Courtesy of Shutterstock // Giant
