Category: Info

BLOG POST: Startup networking tips

There’s no need to hit a brick wall! We are here to help you to network with some proved and useful tips!

Networks are for startups as important as water is for plants; without networks you simply will not survive. May you find the tips refreshing and be able to put them into action straight away.

If you have in mind an awesome startup related networking tip share it through our form!

TIP NB 1

GIVE BEFORE YOU GET

You need to establish some sort of a connection or a relationship before you run towards a person asking for favors. Don’t assume that people will help you without expecting nothing in return. You have to show them that you are willing to return the favor now or in the future. 

When networking/connecting with new people it is important to remember that the point of networks is not to only help you in a professional way. The point is to establish some form of a relationship with them and show that you are interested in them and ready to help them as well. 

It is super important that you treat your networks with respect, care and understanding. 

Sometimes your giving can be a smile to brighten the day or a moment to listen without interrupting while sipping coffee together. Get creative! Give and you’ll see you’ll get even from the act of giving. Be the person you want to network with.

This tip is from our form. Thank you!

TIP NB 2

ASKING FOR HELP IS A SIGN OF TRUST

It is really important to remember that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of trust and strength. Don’t get locked in thinking about how well you know a person in order to ask for help. Rather think about how you would feel if someone would ask for a small favor from you; I bet that you would feel happy, appreciated and ready to help. We usually enjoy helping others.

Many people think they are not good enough if they ask for help and that is why it is so hard for majority of us. Asking for help and trusting is a great foundation for a connection. Take a leap of faith and try yourself!! It is one great way to expand your network and improve yourself.

It’s good to keep an open mind when networking. There’s no way you can imagine now which connections will be helpful for you after five years. Give time and understand that we are all in a journey and none of us knows for sure how we or our surroundings will be in five years.

With some persons you will soon realise that the mutual trust just isn’t there. Maybe a person just keeps asking and expecting but gives nothing at all. There is no need to carry on with people who don’t show respect to themselves or others.

Don’t compare apples to oranges. Trust and trust again. No one survives alone. We need to keep on going, asking and having those fruitfull conversations. Just by showing up and brainstorming together with a new person you may both benefit enormously. Ask, trust and give whenever you have a chance.

This tip is through an inspirational conversation with Joni Ramu from HUBS. Thank you!

TIP NB 3

TAKE CARE OF YOUR DIGITAL BUSINESS CARD

How does your digital business card look like? You should keep in mind that for a potential customer or business partner your LinkedIn page could be the first thing they see regarding you . Please check is your profile picture presentable, have you updated your latest job experience, and overall would you enjoy going through your own profile? Remember that if the information is not easy to find and all in all your digital business card is messy it doesn’t give that good of a picture of you. It is good to keep it simple and updated all the time.

While taking care of your digital business card remember that the tone you choose to represent your work and you is essential. Digital business card is not only your LinkedIn page. It’s worth to take some time and check your overall information, approach and visual presentation in different social media channels in addition to your other web appearances.

Easy way to get some beneficial activity to any of your social media pages is by following, commenting and liking key companies and potential customers. Don’t forget talents in your field for collaboration and peer support possibilities. These actions help the algorithms to show in your feed relevant and interesting posts and people giving you opportunities to come across even some unexpected awesome new contacts.

When the number of followers is increasing keep in mind that it is not about the amount, it is about interacting, learning, understanding and possibly even creating together. Oona Kankkunen believes that no one wants to have just thousands of faces as followers. The quantity of people who are following you is one measure, but far more relevant is to really realize and think who the people in your own network are and are they engaging with you.

TIP NB 4

FOLLOW UP AFTER THE FIRST MEETING

Time is valuable so it is important to keep that in mind while networking. Don’t waste another person’s time, but don’t be afraid to ask for a meeting. If you are sincerely interested in the person and their interests they will most likely make time for you then. 

You can follow up by thanking the person again for their time and help, by giving them some more ideas or sharing a beneficial tip or an article. Do however follow up without delay. Use the channel that you feel is the most appropriate and practical.

When you follow up after the first meeting, it is a lot easier to continue the conversation later on, because also this way of communicating has already started. Keep in mind that following up doesn’t have to happen just after the first meeting. You could send a message even after a quick chat you had while enjoying some hot beverage.

A good message is personalized and to the point. There is a human in the other end of it who also has needs, weaknesses and time limits. Please consider this when choosing the form, tone and timing of your message. Always appreciate the other person’s efforts. And do keep in mind that networks work both ways. Please be ready to bring your effort to the table also. Maybe you should consider scheduling few minutes every day in your calendar for networking messages and some time for lending a helping hand?

This tip is inspired by a conversation with Tommi Uitti who is Startup Ecosystem Community Manager at Business Tampere and Vesa-Matti Ruottinen who is Senior Specialist at City of Tampere. Thank you!

TIP NB 5

BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR CONNECTING

Webinars are an awesome opportunity to connect with some new people while getting some valuable information from your field of expertise or about a generally interesting topic. 

While attending webinars, remember that you have an opportunity to use the chat box to introduce yourself and from there hopefully form some connections. Do not overthink it. Just put a polite message in the chat box telling who you are and link your LinkedIn page there so people can get to know you better and stay in touch.  

While telling about yourself remember to be clear why people should connect with you. Don’t be a company sales guy pitching your company. You are an expert. Bring that value into your introduction and be YOU, genuinely!

These are the key factors in building some new meaningful connections. Best webinars for connecting are the ones that are nearest to your field of expertise. How about you mark straight away in your calendar the webinar when you will give this a try!

This tip is through a lovely conversation with Oona Kankkunen. She has her own company called Network & Growth. Thank you!

TIP NB 6

TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT

When you grow your network you grow yourself also. Don’t be afraid to try something different when networking. It might be wortwhile to challenge yourself with something new.

Maybe if you have always looked for a friend to join you to an event you could consider going by yourself? Or one time you could decide beforehand that you’ll bite your tongue and listen more than you usually do. Maybe you can even copy someone who you think is a star of networking. You could even schedule a mentoring moment with a star to get some light if you still think networking as a big monster.

Whatever network you are building virtually or in real life always keep asking why. Why I’m spending my time here? Why spending it in this way is important?

Consider scheduling a new networking theme for each month. Choose a new way, a new style or a new approah and take some beneficial steps for you as well as others. What will you be especially working on the first month of 2022?

This tip is from our form. Thank you!

These Startup Networking tips have been put together by Tribe Tampere marketing intern Leila Ali with the support of Marketing Lead Mirella Mellonmaa and marketing intern Farzaneh Esmaeili during the Autumn of 2021.

BLOG POST: Startup dictionary for dummies

We realized that entering the startup world can be intimidating for many reasons, and understanding some of the relevant terms can make it a tiny bit easier!

That is why we are here to explain the most common words used by the startup community for everyone to get an idea of what the heck are they talking about!?!

Accelerator

Accelerators are timed programs to help build startups. Accelerators enable stuff like mentorship, education and fundraising opportunities. Check RBA and NSS if you are hungry for info and wanna know more.

An exit

Keeping it simple as always, lets get to it. Are you angel and invested a huge amount of money in a startup? Well using an exit strategy you can reclaim your investments. It is kind of like playing poker and knowing the right time to quit the game. Exit is a gamble where you drop your cash out after collecting the spoils and walk away.

Angel investor

True to the title, an angel investor is a godsend for startups and entrepreneurs alike. An angel investor typically is a wealthy person who offers you money in exchange for a slice of an ownership in your company. Meet some real life angels here.

Assets

Assets are things that hold value to a company or an idvidual can benefit from in the future. Your assets can be stock, bitcoin, your car, your education, even your dog. (Assets= Equity + Liability.)

B2B, B2C, B2G, B2B2C

 

These are business models that define who are you selling your product or service to.
B = Business
C = Consumer
G = Government
2 = to (You already knew that)

  • B2B = the big guy sells to another big guy.
  • B2C = big guy sells to the small guy.
  • B2G = big guy sells to the big brother.
  • B2B2C = the big guy sells to another big guy (the middle man), who then sells it to the small guy.

BML

The molten core of lean startup is BML, build-measure-learn-cycle. It is a loop of ideas and opportunities that form a model to take businesses to the next level. Let us give you a step by step instruction on applying BML to your business, life, anywhere feasible.
Step 1: have some plan, shooting in the dark gets you nowhere.
Step 2: Get your prototype ready, or MVP as we startup nerds like to call it.
Step 3: Measure your results, is this what you wanted for your end result? this step will define the next step.
Step 4: If you are not satisfied with your end results, get back to the drawing board and PIVOT. If satisfied, congratulations! Time to hit the market.

Bootstrapping

Bootstrappers strap your boots. Just kidding. They are startups who don’t depend on investors. They rely on combining their own savings along with talented awesome people and pure luck to fund the starting stages of their startup. Check out this awesome example of Bootstrapping!

Burn Rate

Burn rate is the rate at which a company is losing money, in other words, how much money you can spend before the cash flow is negative. A company’s burn rate is usually the total amount of money they spend in a month. So if you manage to spend one million a month, it means your burn rate is one million. It also means you are a big spender.

Business model

Basically a business model is how you plan on making money with your product. It is not all about the money but it is about generating value. What value do you offer your consumer? Why would they pick your service over that of the competition? Your business model is your framework to creating a successful business that can achieve long-term goals. For a business model you may require something called value proposition. Remember that? If you don’t remember there is a chance you need to read the dictionary thoroughly…..

Buyout

Buyout is simple. For example, you have a beautiful cottage by the lake but the up-keep is hard, or recent events have made your cottage super popular among real estate buyers. An interested party with a LOT of money, offers you a huge sum for your cottage. You sell…and ta-da! that is a buyout. A larger company, private equity and new investment rounds are a few reasons startups decide to buy out.

Capital

Capital this, Capital that! What the s**t is it? Capital is basically Money or financial wealth that is necessary to start a business OR invest to make more money.

Churn

Not everyone loves or commits to a product or service. Churn is the number of paying customers who cancel their subscription. A low churn rate is usually a good sign.

Co-founder

Everyone’s had an epiphany with friends over “a few” drinks to start their own company. The next morning after popping that painkiller to numb the hangover from last night, you still find that idea interesting. You decide to start working on this vision and of course you need helping hands. The person who helps you along the journey from idea to viable company, is your co-founder. Your co-founder is there with you from the get-go or hops in to the wagon in the begining to fill the skills you lack and complete the picture.

Crowdfunding

If you have a product or a service that you are super excited to develop, but for some reason the big investors don’t see the value, you might want to try crowdfunding. If you plan your crowdfunding campaign to be as cool and sexy as possible, you might get the attention of a large number of early adopters willing to put a small amount of their money to help you launch your stuff.

Disruption

Disruption, something we have heard when we make a little too much noise. Keep quiet kids! In startups, especially our friends in the tech startup; disruption is a mindset adopted to begin simple and progress within your market, and eventually replacing the existing competition. A great example are companies like Netflix and invention of an engine vehicle that replaced horse driven carriages. Certain products today are referred by the brand name because they have established themselves so well that they become a primary selection. Make some noise!

Early adopters

We all know a person who got a new gadget that no one else has yet, and can’t keep their mouth shut about how cool it is and how everyone should have one. Those are early adopters. The people who use a new product, innovation, or technology before others. Startups benefit from early adopters because they are ambassadors of the new product, and can also give valuable feedback on the possible flaws.

Equity

 

To break it down: As an individual equity could be applied to your car, house or your business. Let’s say your house is worth 10,000 €, and you are selling it. You still have 4000€ of unpaid mortgage, so if you sell the house and get 10,000€ your equity is 6000€. (Equity= Assets – Liability)

FFF – Friends, Family, Fools

People around you who may want to invest or purchase an ownership in your business venture! They can be your beloved friends and family who want to support you, or just fools, who are eager to invest in risky businesses.

Growth Hacking

Growth hacking is a mentality of failing fast to succeed, experimenting, creativity and trying s**t out. If you want to know why to hack growth, here’s a brand new article about the subject by Red Brick Accelerator! 

IPO

Initial public offering. Think of it as a yard sale, except everyone who buys a piece of something you own, now shares in a piece of it. Initial public offering refers to the first time a company allows the public to invest through stock. If the entry to the market is successfull it allows the business to grow bigger with the newly aquired capital. Additionally, it allows for initial investors to plan an exit strategy and cash out!

Iteration

Try, try, try again.If at first you don’t succeed, Try, try, try again (William Edward Hickson).We have all heard of that proverb! We are not here to talk about William, he is cool tho. Iteration is making small changes to your product/service based on how your customers are accepting your product. Remember not many of these changes make it, the idea is to try different things and repeat while aiming to do better. In short iteration is trying fast and failing fast and moving on! It is also the core process of Growth Hacking.

Lean startup

The lean startup favors iteration over rigid planning. The terms we have discussed MVP, iteration, pivoting are a few fine words that have existed before the official rising of lean startup and form the principles of lean startup. Think of it as +planning a trip; instead of planning every single second of every single day of the trip, you ask your mates what they prefer and how they feel on different days of the trip and plan accordingly. Life happens, a plan never goes exactly as you planned it in your head.

Liabilities

 

As an individual your liabilities would be your student loans, weekly groceries, monthly bills and payments you need to make in order to thrive. In businesses liabilities are debts you own to employees, other businesses, bank loans, taxes and operational expenses. (Liabilities = Assets – Equity)

MVP

 

The real MVP…..most valuable player..Wait…thats not it. Minimum viable product is your first ever (continuing to keep it simple). Did you just create and app to feed your dog from work? COOL! but you need to have a prototype first to understand your customer’s needs. Sure, everyone is behind a cool new app but how does it work in practice? Instead of conducting surveys and asking people if they would like such an app, why not create a simple version of it and see how it is received.

NDA – Nondisclosure Agreement

NDA protects sensitive information that is not meant for anyone else’s ears except people involved. If you sign an NDA when you start in a new job, you can’t tell anyone about the secrects at your workplace. Secret things protected with NDA can be their business model, recipe of a product, new innovations or other similar things. 

Pitching

 

Do you love Shark Tank? Well, so do we. Enterprenerus shoot their shots at the judges and share their business idea and concept, in hopes of getting attention and investors. They basically ‘pitch’ their idea. Your main goal while pitching is to get new customers, investors and just letting people know you exist and have a cool idea that can make everyone money. Then there is also pitching in cricket but that is not our area, Sauna Pitching is.

Pivot, Pivoting

When you read ‘Pivot’, does your mind go to Ross screaming ‘PIVOT’? Us too! To Pivot is to change the product or service to respond to the problem better. Think of it as finding a better place for your couch where it aligns better with the television. According to Red Brick Accelerator, on an average 30-40% of startups pivot during their incubation period.

Pre-seed

Money isn’t everything but you gotta start with it when you have a new business. Pre-seed round is technicaly hitting up your friends, family and fools to invest in your awesome idea. Don’t only leech, you can put in your own money as well. This round gets the ball rolling!

Problem solution fit

Problem solution fit is the foundation for product market fit. Remember Value proposition? We wonder if the customer would buy or subscribe to the product or service. So time to do some exploring by series of testing and validation if your solution is actually solving the customer’s problems. If it doesn’t, then back to the drawing board you go!! Ask any of our community startups at Platform6, no company or product has stayed the same since creation.

Product market fit

Product market fit is the specialisation process after problem solution fit. This part is all about developing your awesome product / service, talking to your target group and finding out who exactly are your customers. In addition this is something startup accelerators work with often, and guide the startups to find the right product market fit.

Proof of concept

Remember MVP? If you do, then this term will be easy to understand. PoC , Proof of concept, is the starting stage of your product/service. Is it a practical idea that will work in the real world? Your proof of concept is your backing for why your product deserves a shot and why there is a need for it. You start with an idea, you iterate a few times and then land on your proof of concept, in order to gather support for your product. PoC is your first step into reality; where you idea is given life.

Scalability

Your business is considered scalable if it is managing to grow rapidly at the face of increasing demands. Thanks to the advancements in technology you can now satisfy the needs of multiple customers even if you do not have multiple providers. Are you adapting easily to the changing environment and keeping up with what the world demands of you? Congratulations you are scalable!

Seed

This is the first official funding round. True to its word, it is literally the money invested here that helps grow your business; you are planting the seed. There is this one dude who loves this stage of funding; Angel Investor. Remember? Once you have this round of funding, you can hire employees and begin to develop your product or service further!

Series A, B, C

 

Let’s have a quickie with these rounds of funding:
Series A funding is where investors give you money to fund your product and user base and help the business create a strong strategy that can soon start generating revenue.
Series B funding is all about growth. You can invest further in marketing, branding and work on scaling you business. Your business model is looking good and now go and grow.
Series C funding. If you have made it here, it means you are a successful business and are planning to take over the world with your product, expand into new markets and maybe even expand your product line.

Shareholder Agreement

As you might expect, a shareholder agreement is an agreement between parties who have invested to the company and own a share of it. Usually it is made to protect the investment and set out fair rules between investor dudes and govern of the company so that nobody gets bamboozled.

Social Capital

Best way to define this would to take Tribe as an example. Our main capital lies in our networks, talents and you guys who make Tribe. Our shared goals, values and efforts in the startup community that lead to growth and can be considered as social capital.

Startup Ecosystem

Like in nature’s ecosystem, the principle is the same. People, startups, communities and other operators interact together, supporting and helping each other to grow. Tampere’s startup ecosytem is born from people, passionate startups, organisation and a bustling city that has birthed 285 active startups.

Takeover

Remember playgrounds when you were younger? You play with random kids, share your toys, the works! Now a takeover is someone buying your toy in the sandpit. Your sand truck, if you may. Now, let us use this to discuss the different types of takeovers in business.

Friendly Takeover: You and your playground buddy negotiate terms, and they get your truck on terms you happily agreed. Good for you both.

Hostile Takeover: Big lousy bully of the playground, you disagree with the terms bully has suggested. Regardless, your truck is acquired, and you need to go rat on him asap.

Reverse Takeover: Remember IPO; you will need it here. Usually, companies need to go through an IPO to be listed as a publicly owned company, a tedious process. When a private company takes over a public company, it becomes a public company. Kinda like if your teacher at pre-school takes your truck and it becomes a school property; now everyone can play.

Backflip Takeover: Who can do a backflip? Come to Tribe and lets try? A backflip takeover is acquiring a company because of its strong brand presence. After the merger, the brand name is preserved. The person performing the takeover becomes the subsidiary of the target acquired. Imagine buying your older siblings truck but telling everyone it is his truck so they dont take it from you, also your older sibling is cool at school.

Traction

What is traction? Technically the grip of your tires while driving down an icy road. Aren’t living in Finland, but somewhere warm? Lucky you! Well, traction in startups is about having validation from your customers to show investors that you aren’t going down a slippery slope but have enough traction to move forward. You build momentum with traction in your business and have a chance at creating a successful business model. Higher the traction, happier are people to invest.

UI – User Interface

User interface is a space for friendship of humans and machines, where interaction between these two occur. Your computer’s operating system is a perfect example of UI.

Unfair competitive advantage

If you have something so unique that is almost impossible for anyone to copy, and also something that your customers really need and value, you have an unfair competitive advantage over your competitiors. You are just simply the best. Better than all the rest.

Unicorn

Mystical. Magical. Single horned creatures. Quite the fantastical beasts. These beasts take a much more tangible form in startups. How do you ask? Unicorn startups are a rarity because they are privately held startups valued at over 1 Billion. SpaceX is an example of an unicorn. A unicorn that makes our fantasies of commercial space travel a reality! SpaceX is currently valued at USD 74 Billion!

USP, unique selling proposition

Does your product or service have a feature that makes it better from all the competitors? For example a material that makes it last longer than other similar products? If your customers are willing to buy your product instead of competitors (and pay even a bit more), you have a USP!

UVP, unique value proposition

How to make your product or service stand out from all other alternatives, and become the best possible option for the customers! By coming up with a unique value proposition that no one else has! UVP points out the unique personality, identity and strenghs of your business.

UX – User Experience

When using a certain product, system or service, ask yourself how easy and efficient it is to use it, and how well does it solve your problem and respond to your needs. If you have an answer, you have an user experience!

Validation

It is basically proving that your s**t works. It is not enough to create a product that works and believe in it. It is very important to create the approval of the product on the market. You could grow the most delicious apples and know to be good but it should also sell in the market. Find out how is the competition like? Are your apples the best? Why would anyone buy your apples? This is the step you take before you proceed with the idea or PIVOT! (We are sure throwing that word a lot out here!! LOL) Truth is most startups pivot. Iteration is necessary in this business….oh sorry thats another word. Maybe you want to check that out too.

Valley of Death

 

Valley of death is a period during your startup life cycle. It is the time between friends, family and fools and till the point you are successful (your product is selling for money). The period is an exciting one but it also means uncertainty. It is like that period after you graduate university and hope to make it in your field of study. You have the knowledge and hopefully the passion and now you hope your products catches attention and starts generating revenue.

Value Capture

Value capture is a model in which a business is able to create profit from its transactions. Think of it as growing an apple tree yielding delicious apples, you have your value there but you need to sell those apples to capture value. One easy way to test your ability to capture value is to see if you can raise prices without losing customers?

Value Proposition

 

Value proposition is to indicate why a customer would buy or subscribe to your product/service. The product or service you create should aim to solve your consumer’s troubles or offer new solutions that the competition doesn’t. If you cannot do those things, maybe time to evaluate your product/service and PIVOT??????!

Venture Capital

Venture capital is a BIG load of money that boosts your company in exhange for equity. Sort of like when Ariel gives up her voice for legs. JUST KIDDING. This will only happen when the investor can see long term growth potential. If your company has caught the attention of a venture capitalist, you might be doing well.

XaaS

It’s 2021, anything can be tailored to be sold as a service. Think about it for a minute and compare all the service apps on your phone at the moment. Many of your applications are SaaS, software as a service. Multitasking while you are reading this post and watching Netflix? Netflix is a PaaS, platform as a service. Basically, XaaS stands for everything you can sell as a service. Be warned: keep it legal. Everything has limitations 😉 XaaS works best with the correct technology and logistics.

This Startup Dictionary for Dummies has been put together in by Tribe Tampere marketing team volunteers and interns with the Marketing Lead Mirella Mellonmaa and with the help of Mirza Sagdati (aka Startup Thief) during the spring 2021.

Special thanks to: Catherine Maloney, Ella-Juulia Ora, Farzaneh Esmaeili and Leila Ali

Download Startup Dictionary for Dummies PDF here!

BLOG POST: Helping people to enter job markets, partners meetup April 2021

How to help job seekers who are looking for their first job in a new industry. Community of practice meetup by ESR – Networks Behind New Growth project

This digestion is meant for people interested in becoming professional in the field, network together and bring out new knowledge. Therefore fully understanding this digestion needs some pre-understanding of the topic of interest and the ecosystem in Tampere region. This document is meant to help anyone interested in joining our community of practice to join to the conversation and action!

On April 27th we met around the topic of how to help job seekers who are looking for their first job in a new industry. These are mainly students, migrants and career changers. The meeting was participated by startup entrepreneurs, program managers in associations, public officials and meeting facilitators. For example the project manager from the city of Tampere joined for the interest to pilot new services to reach the common goal, which the public sector could co-produce with the private and third sector in the future if they prove successful. 

The meeting was joined by representatives from each of these organizations and in the beginning we shortly introduced each other to the group. After that we heard a case example of Amplaffy startup company’s approach to solve the program. Lastly we discussed freely on how to involve and educate job seekers and how to engage companies in recruiting. 

Introduction

Participants told what their organization does and why they are interested in this community of practice. (Group that shares insights on the field they work on)

CoreSeer
Senja Luoma Co-Founder of the startup. 

  • They develop a platform that integrates digital skill development courses, provide these to job seekers and negotiate with companies which skills CoreSeer’s talent pool should develop to get in a specific field such as ICT (information and communications technologies)

Red Brick Accelerator
Mirza Sagdati – Founder

  • They host seed stage startup accelerators four times a year and pre-accelerator.
  • They are interested in developing a mentorship program for startups in the idea stage.

Bloom Tampere
Karen Ahtinen – Program manager

  • Their mission is to be the bridge for integrated life for internationals in Tampere and they own a community space in Kehräsaari.
  • They are interested in helping internationally minded people to develop their skills so that they find jobs

Skill School
Meenu Chauhan – Founder

  • They have executed workshops for soon graduating students in developing various works life skills
  • Developing program where employees and employers meet and learn how to integrate talents to different industries, which have unique dynamics

EntreCom
Arina Lykova – CEO 

  • Creating a platform type website for cities and regions to integrate talents, companies, events and programs that aim to employment or self-employment.

Tribe Tampere
Karina Viche – Community Lead

  • Unites the startup ecosystem in Tampere
  • Interested in finding opportunities for their Fellowship pool that has close to hundred entrepreneurially minded opportunity seekers

Ensimetri
Jari Myllymäki – Project Coordinator

  • The organization mentors over 1500 individuals interested in entrepreneurship every year
  • Interested to find new approaches on creating new community based services to the people considering entrepreneurship

Growth Services – City of Tampere
Jaakko Pohjolainen – Project Manager

  • Interested to hear new ideas in innovative employment services that we can start piloting. The piloting does not need to be successful, but they need to provide new knowledge on new approaches

International Tampere – City of Tampere
Kagan Özkan – Talent Advisor

  • Interested to hear new ideas

Case of the meeting Amplaffy

  • Founder and CEO – Elisabet Miheludaki

Amplaffy is a three years old company which launched a platform last year. The platform integrates job advertisements from different sources. Before that the startup team did manually connect job seekers to the right jobs. This process has now been automated. Lately their job advertisement inflow has increased and they have been able to start using data from the advertisements such as which job positions are looked after and which skills these positions require. The job seekers can input their skill and interest to the platform and see if there are matches with the open positions. Major insight has been that companies are looking for senior people, but do not offer junior positions where people can gain experience toward seniorship. Companies are afraid to make hiring decisions in Finland because it is costly. 

They would like to discuss with companies to learn their perspective on recruiting and consult universities to find solutions for the talents work-life readiness. Both groups seem to lack time and skills to solve the issue, hence Elisabet sees Amplaffy in the research side of our community of practice. 

For talent development they have piloted programs such as shadow leadership programs for women where they follow the CEO of the company for a few weeks to learn how executives and entrepreneurs work. This has raised interest in companies that are enrolling to the program. She hopes that they could use the method in some companies that go to Red Brick Accelerator since taking interns has been viewed as really challenging in startup companies.

Q&A 

Q: Does talent get alternative recommendations on jobs based on their skills in your platform? 

A: The platform recognizes only direct matches at the moment

Q: Does the platform tell which skills job seekers need to update?

A: Yes, it gives possible job suggestions and which skills job seekers need to update also generally which skills are needed in specific industries.

Q: Do you have data of internal recruiting, headhunting or other sources than job advertisements?

A: No we do not

Q: Do you work globally, nationally or in one city?

A: The jobs advertisements and job seekers come mostly from Finland. From job seekers 77% are from Finland and 90% from the EU. 

General discussion on how to involve talents and companies to create jobs. Digested by Santeri Tuovila:

It was agreed that most impact can be made by connecting job seekers and company representatives directly to discuss together. The communication is not well established at the moment. As an example company representatives feel uncomfortable using English professionally, and job seekers focus on building CV’s but not on figuring out what the companies actually need. If the experiences and knowledge is shared it happens in bubbles of people in the same situations, not between employers and job seekers. 

To address this problem we need to understand that every industry has different ways to enter. More importantly, gaining a job from big organizations or small and medium sized companies has different dynamics on recruiting. In smaller companies it is the entrepreneurs who make the decision and they mostly do not have time to register on platforms and join open events. Self-employment is a choice as well and it requires its own set of skills. On top of skills the job seekers need right networks, some that support innovative solution driven thinking and some that require institutional certificates.

Service pilots could include workshops on how to act in a professional situation such as networking events. Job seekers and entrepreneurs will participate in real situations that are followed and analysed in a group together. The industry practice, soft skill and cultural aspects are discussed and communication improvement ideas are raised. The job seekers can also host an event about the industry’s topic and the professionals can review the value of the event to the volunteering job seekers. 

Follow up.

Everybody agreed on a new meeting which will be facilitated by a volunteer co-facilitator with Nina Erkkilä. 

More information contact:
Nina Erkkilä
nina.erkkila@tribetampere.com

BLOG POST: American Entrepreneurial Challenge 2021

The United States Embassy, in collaboration with Tribe Tampere is excited to announce the American Entrepreneurial Challenge 2021. Together, we seek to challenge secondary and upper secondary school students to bring their fresh perspectives for new business ideas, create viable business plans, and successfully pitch their ideas to a panel of expert judges. Participants have the opportunity to improve their business skills and learn from mentors throughout the competition. This year’s competition will be virtual. The winners will receive financial support, mentoring, and (COVID permitting) a trip to an entrepreneurial summer camp. 

First launched in 2013 as the Ambassador’s Entrepreneurial Challenge, the competition has become an annual tradition. This year, the competition has a new name, American Entrepreneurial Challenge, but the goal is the same – increasing entrepreneurial spirit among young people. Together, we are fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs who will continue transatlantic leadership for a better tomorrow.

Winners of the AEC competition 2020

Tribe Tampere is an entrepreneurial community who works to unite and empower entrepreneurial people. As the organizer of the AEC, Tribe is supporting future founders to take action and nurturing their growth mindset to create a thriving startup ecosystem in Tampere and in Finland. Tribe also seeks to connect young people with student-led Entrepreneurship Societies around Finland to help them create valuable connections from day one. Tribe will  feature its team of four experienced members to carry out the competition: Juho Mäkinen as the Project Coordinator, with Ilia Fedorov, Petteri Kiuru and Michelle Frank. Platform6 startup house is also a supporting partner of the project.

Tribe Tampere team responsible for carrying out the competition: Juho Mäkinen as the Project Coordinator (back), with Petteri Kiuru, Michelle Frank, and Ilia Fedorov.

Tribe Tampere has a history of supporting entrepreneurial and startup related projects in Finland. In the spring of 2020, Tribe was also one of the organizers of the Startup World Cup online competition. Tribe is also the organizer of the annual Most Startup Friendly Company in Finland competition.
 

AMERICAN ENTREPRENEURIAL CHALLENGE 2021

  • Series of 6 online competitions for students in Finland.

  • 38 teams – 102 attendees.
     
  • First semi-finals in April 2021. Finals in May 2021. 

  • 13 secondary school teams – 34 attendees.
    One winner and two runner-ups will be awarded with financial support for the development of their business idea, mentoring, and a summer camp in Finland, with a heavy startup focus.

  • 25 upper secondary school teams – 68 attendees.
    One winner and two runners-up will be selected: awards will include financial support for the development of the business idea and mentoring

BLOG POST: COVID guidelines of Tribe Tampere and Platform6

COVID-19 UPDATED GUIDELINES (6.8.2021)

Platform6 and Tribe are actively monitoring the COVID-19 situation.  A list of new measures has been taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on Platform6.

Guests: No guest policy is now lifted for Tribe. Remember that is up to the host of the guest/visitor to inform and ensure that our House Rules and COVID-19 Health guidelines are followed!

Face Mask recommendation: Face masks are strongly recommended in all public common places, including corridors, toilets, meeting rooms and other common areas. 

Limit on Number of persons: Tribe premises has combined of 250m2 space for customer use. To ensure that space users have the opportunity for social distancing, we have limited the use of the space to a maximum of 50 people at a time.

Remote Work: we promote to work remotely as much as possible to flatten the curve until the end of the year. 

5th floor kitchen: & coffee areas:

  • Residents can continue to use the shared kitchen on the 5th floor to warm up your lunch or get coffee.
  • We strongly suggest to avoid kitchen area and common areas during peak lunch hours 11:00-13:00.
  • As a general reminder, please wash your hands before and after operating any kitchen appliances.
  • Social distance of 2 meters should be in practice all the times.
  • Please be mindful that we very strongly advice for no more than max 50 people in the area at same time!

Even with mild symptoms, we kindly ask you to not enter Platform6. 

To protect the community, it is important to also observe the safety precautions during your free time.

BLOG POST: Tribe has a new home!

Tribe has a new home at Platform6

First of all, welcome to our new and improved website! We will keep building and improving the content, and we hope you can find all the relevant information here in the future.

We have finally moved from our old and beloved home Pinninkatu 47 2nd floor to our new and shiny place at Tampere startup house Platform6 5th floor. We have been renovating, cleaning, painting, hammering and screwing for several weekends to get the community space up and running. We owe a huge thanks and hundreds of remote hugs to our awesome volunteers who have been helping us throughout this process. We could not have done it without you! 

About Platform6

Platform6 is the epicenter of the Tampere startup ecosystem: one stop for all things startup. Located in the heart of Tampere in the Tulli business area, Platform6 opened its doors in October 2020 and it will be home to more than 50 resident startups and a natural meeting place for the startup community. 

The renovation schedule of Platform6 has been constantly changing because of, well, you know, that is just how renovations work. Thus there has been, and still is some complications in getting the common spaces fully operational. Also because of the new location, our operating model will be slightly different in the future. What we know at the time is that Tribe will be running its operations mainly on the 5th and 1st floor.

1st floor

The 1st floor of Platform6 will be open for everyone interested in the house and Tampere startup ecosystem. The specific operating model of 1st floor has not yet been decided, but it will most likely be along the lines of what P47 was before. So don’t worry, there will still be an open space for free mingling and open events! The 1st floor will open in December, but because of the COVID-19 situation, there will most likely not be any opening parties; at least not this year.

5th floor

The 5th floor will be a community and event space for house residents, Platform6 members, and Tribe Fellows through Tribe Fellowship. We wanted to create the Tribe Fellowship for the most active players who are not residents of the house, but who want to work together with Tribe’s operational team on a regular basis to build, help and support the startup ecosystem of Tampere.

So how can you get in?

The 5th floor will technically be open from 26.10.2020. Although, before the opening of the 1st floor, the house will not be fully open to any incoming guest. If you are curious about the 5th floor and want to come by and say hello, you can access the 5th floor as a visitor. Just drop us a message.

We will still be organising some community events with precautions (masks, sanitisers etc.) and are looking into hybrid event options at the moment.

If you want to help the startup ecosystem in these challenging times, one way to contribute is Tribe Fellowship! We are planning on creating projects to boost the ecosystem with Tribe Fellows, and of course as a Tribe Fellow you will get your own key access to the 5th floor.

Well all this sounds pretty messy and confusing!

Things do not always go as planned, and especially anyone who has ever been involved with startups knows that. Change is inevitable, and we will steer the boat as best we can to the direction that will be for the better. Tribe is all about people, about you, me and all of us. We will know more in time, and as a community do the best we can to keep the Tribe heart and spirit alive!

“You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen.”

Paulo Coelho