An insider’s guide to the Nordic startup scene
This is a guest-post by Sissel Hansen, who is the main-organizer of Nordic Startup Guide, one of Rising North’s latest funded projects. The guide is done in collaboration with Business Sweden and Digs.
PS. You, as a Nordic startup hustler have the opportunity to influence the content of the book, find out how:
Skype, Spotify, Klarna, Supercell. These are names we all know well — and that have now become synonymous with Nordic unicorns. In the past decade, the Nordic startup ecosystem has risen through the ranks to become a hotbed for innovation. Everyone’s buzzing about it. What’s the region’s secret sauce? What can we learn from their entrepreneurial culture? How can we get a peek into the people, places and players fostering the ecosystem’s impressive growth? What are the pros and cons of starting up in one Nordic country compared to another?
Enter Startup Guide Nordics
Picture this. You’re interested in launching a startup, business or innovation project somewhere in the Nordics, but you’re not sure where yet. English is your working language. You research your brains out only to learn that the information you need is deeply fragmented and spread across Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish. Great. This means you and Google Translate will be in a long-term relationship for the next couple of years until you find what you’re looking for. And goodbye to all your business ideas until after that.
It shouldn’t be this difficult. That’s why we’re currently working on Startup Guide Nordics, the first insider’s guide to exploring entrepreneurship and innovation in the Nordic region. The handbook cuts through the clutter to give you essential data, insights on major trends, inspiring stories and in-depth interviews with the movers and shakers in the Nordic ecosystem — all in one place. Not only will it cover how to start up and invest, it will also put a spotlight on the unique culture and approach to innovation in each Nordic country. In a nutshell, we want to do achieve three things with the book:
- Help newcomers access useful information and get inspired by Nordic success stories
- Strengthen ties between Nordic startups, creators and innovators in the region
- Offer a refreshing and comprehensive look into the Nordic startup ecosystem
Let’s do this together
In a world steeped in the digital, we’re still lovers of a good physical experience. There’s something about sniffing freshly printed books that we can’t get enough of, which is why making books is our jam. We love immersing ourselves in a new place, meeting new people, having stimulating conversations about startups, innovation and creativity, and then putting it all together. Have any ideas, suggestions or thoughts about the Startup Guide Nordics book? Tell us your every desire here ;)
Publishing a book comes with its challenges, but knowing that we’re creating an object that will become someone’s trusted companion on a new (startup) journey excites us to no end. But we wouldn’t be able to do any of this without our partners, sponsors, readers and the community. To make Startup Guide Nordics a reality, we’ve been lucky enough to garner the support of Rising North, a three-year impact fund that aims to help Nordic startups succeed by financing projects and initiatives from the region. If you have a cool project that will help the Nordic startup ecosystem reach new heights and you’re looking for funding, we definitely recommend applying to here.
Last but not least, we’re always looking for interesting partners and collaborators, so if you’d like to connect to the Nordic startup ecosystem and be a part of the Startup Guide Nordics book in some way, we’d love to hear from you!
Sissel Hansen
CEO at Startup Guide
sissel@startupguide.world
