Ecosystem

north-savo-startup-ecosystem
Ecosystem canvas was made as a part of the project Creating a succesful North-Savo startup community (S21478) 2018–2021 funded by European Social Fund (ESR). Financier: ELY Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.

This image displays the network within the Kuopio region, based on the Founders Institute Startup Ecosystem Canvas. It exhibits common stages startups go through, specific needs they’ll have and helpful contacts they should make use of in each stage.

Ski Academy is an open and relaxed community that gathers startups from all around the Kuopio region. The meetups are either held live or online, typically once a month.

The goal is to build networks, dive into founders’ key interests with the help of professionals and, of course, practise pitching. The meetups also attract organisations offering their services to our innovative bunch of startups. We welcome all industries completely free of charge – join us when it suits you!

The skiing theme of our meetups comes from the startup event Tahko Ski Lift Pitch. We aim to train and warm up our pitching skills at the Ski Academy and then compete at Tahko SLP. So don’t worry, you can leave your skis at home! Ski Academy is brought to you by Kuopio Region Chamber of Commerce and Business Kuopio. If you have any questions, please feel free to message us at: tiina.hartikainen@kuopiochamber.fi

1 Idea Stage

This is where new entrepreneurs get inspired,
learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas and begin to build their team and product.

A – INSPIRE

Startup media

Inspirational events

B – EDUCATE

Best practice startup events

Training & feedback

C – VALIDATE

Team formation

Build first product

2 Launch stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize
the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers and prepare for the next step.

D – START

Establish

Workspace

E – DEVELOP

Formalize

Prepare for seed

F – LAUNCH

Seed accelerators

Pitch and demo

3 Growth stage

In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalize
Here, a startup proves their utility, receives recognition and scales up. This usually requires funding, angels, VCs and ways to connect them to startups.

G – RECOGNITION

Investor networking

Major media

H – FUNDING

Angel investors and micro VC:S

Venture capitalists: Serie A and beyond

Public / Government finance and grants

I – GROWTH

Infrastructure

Expansion