The Icebreaker Pre-Founder Project
As we discussed in February of 2017 in Icebreaker’s first ever blog post, one of our main goals was to help talented individuals build new deep tech startups from scratch, and that goal hasn’t changed one bit. With over 30 investments made, we can say that we are having a positive impact on the startup scene; not just in Finland, but also in Estonia and Sweden at a steadily growing pace.
We created the Pre-founder Project (PFP) as a way for pre-founders to connect, learn, and start building their own strong tech companies. The main ambition for the PFP is not that Icebreaker will invest in the individuals or teams that join the PFP (although that is always a bonus), but it is to create a community of like minded individuals who may, thanks to serendipity, find the right people to put their ideas into action. We want to be a catalyst for innovation in the Finnish startup scene. We do this by providing insights and deep diving into the startup ecosystem; how to build a company from an idea, how to validate your own idea, the first twelve months of a startup, building a great founding team — are all examples of the things we have previously covered in the PFP.
For the PFP we select pre-founders that fit a specific criteria, these include people who;
1. Are still working at a day-job or have just left,
2. Have 5+ years of relevant work experience,
3. Are great at what they do (e.g. coding, design, sales, marketing or other disciplines…),
4. Are thinking about starting or joining a strong tech company.
We have chosen this criteria for a variety of reasons. We want the people joining the PFP to be a solid group of talented individuals so that they have a chance to discuss and validate their startup ideas with people who can make a difference. Having pre-founders with 5+ years of relevant work experience in a specific domain allows for this. When people have spent enough time in their profession they start to notice the main pain points in that domain. This was something that has paid out for us and the people who have joined our PFP. So far we have invested in five companies whose ideas have come to fruition because of their own agency for innovation and their own willingness to join the PFP, these include; the company building a VR training tool for surgeons in training, Osgenic; the company that created a marketing ROI solution, Sellforte; the company building the next generation creative work management tool for creative people and companies, Puida; the company developing new techniques for infrastructure analysis, Aetlan; and the company providing customers a fastlane to multiple regulatory services with just a single integration point, Adaptio.
All of the individuals who founded these startups were at one point pre-founders in the Icebreaker community. Via the PFP they gained access to experienced organisers with 100+ companies under their belts, a strong community of 800+ experienced individuals from which they could find strong talent, and gained insights from experienced investors and founders.
The PFP and the Icebreaker community has also offered people more than just an investment. Some people have found their future co-founders or hired key recruits to their own respective startups. Aibidia, a Icebreaker portfolio company focusing on building country-by-country reporting and notification solution, found a Global Head of Sales and Success through the Icebreaker community. Another example would be Emooter, a company building better tools for people and organisations so that they can take care of their well-being at work, was founded by two pre-founders who found each other through the PFP. After the event, they found it quite enjoyable to spar off each other and work together. This was the catalyst. They then started to craft Emooter from the ground up; basing it on scientific studies done on well being at work (you can read their full story here). These are some perfect examples of what the PFP was made for and a perfect example of the type of ecosystem that we at Icebreaker want to develop.
The PFP has provided a solid foundation for those looking to tip their toes into the world of startups. There are no rewards for the best idea, no guaranteed investment, and no need to prove yourself to anyone (other than yourself). We simply provide a platform for people to come and chat about their ideas without any pressure of committing to them in the long run. And so far we believe we are doing just that. Most of our pre-founders have been more than satisfied with the PFP, according to the feedback, and we will continue providing our pre-founders the best possible experience within the Icebreaker community.
