HELSINKI — If you grab a drink with a startup founder, you'll likely hear a few shared stories, both good and ugly, about lessons learned along the way. Getting a company off the ground is no easy task, especially when looking for funding, but learning from your own missteps (and those made by others) could put you on the path to entrepreneurial success.
Startups big and small across northern Europe and Russia met in Helsinki this week for tech startup conference Slush to discuss which trends are surging within the space. Some tips to budding companies are simple ("stay focused" and "think ahead") but hearing cautionary tales and words of wisdom could breathe new perspective into your own approach.
See also: 9 Twitter Accounts Every Startup Investor Should Follow
Here's a look at what to keep in mind during the early stages of growing a startup from those who have been there before.
William Wolfram, founder of ecommerce company DealDash, which is valued at $100, believes startups shouldn't be put off by criticism from venture capitalists in the search for funding.
"It's basically free advice," Wolfrom said. "A founder should walk away from a meeting with what they need to work on and what they should do. You can get so much value and feedback from VCs, even if they don't want to invest."
Supercell CEO Ilkka Paananen found much success with his 3-year-old company, which is the force behind two of the most popular iOS apps worldwide right now: combat strategy game Clash of the Clans and social farming game Hay Day. But his advice to startups is to stay creative and celebrate failures.
"Don't just look at what's popular in the App Store and see how you can do something along those lines," he said. "Try and create something new and exciting."
Supercell also embraces each product failure with a bottle of champagne. "We celebrate failures," Paananen said. "We don't pretend failing is fun — people dedicate their lives to gaming production and sometimes the products get killed — but we get so much from that failure. We analyze and talk about what went well and what didn't. We pop a bottle of champagne to celebrate what we learned."
Many will offer advice, but be selective with what tips you actually follow.
"Listen to the right advice," said Jukka Hilvonen, a producer at Nitro Games. "While going through incubator programs, we met a lot of talented people from different fields and received a lot of advice. But if we listened to everyone, we'd be chasing our own tails. Some said making free-to-play apps is the only way to approach mobile, but because we are doing interactive storytelling, that would have been really hard to do."
Markus Haltunnen, whose startup Small Giant launched in February, said a well-rounded founding team is crucial for success.
"Make sure your founding team is well balanced. It's not enough that you have a group of talented people working together," he said. "We had two graphic designers and one developer, but we knew we needed something more. It's important to identity gaps in skill or knowledge. We were lucky to get someone else on the team who had experience talking to investors and that was key while we looked for funding."
Tiina Zillacus, founder of the Yoga Retreat app, said it is key to consider what you need to keep your company thriving beyond the present.
"If you need investors, raise enough money for the next level while still playing the current one," Zillacus said. "Even if someone isn't interested now, they could be later. It's about building relationships and thinking ahead, not just what you need now but what you might need two years from now."
Zillacus also said to approach investors who might have a specific interest in your category. "When you walk into a room of suits, they might not make decisions based on what you want (such as, for our company, their health)," she said. "Once I developed an eye for who might be right for our own interests, it was much easier to gain awareness."
Knowing your competition is one thing, but don't let it fuel your every move.
"You're more likely to be killed by lack of focus than competition," said Juha Paananen, CEO and cofounder of Singapore-based Nonstop Games. "Some companies look too much at what competitors are doing and don't focus on themselves."
Will Kassoy, CEO at AdColony and former senior VP of global marketing at gaming company Activision | Blizzard, said many early startups believe a strong concept is enough to get really noticed — but it's not.
"The slogan 'if you build it, they will come' doesn't always apply ," he said. "You need some form of marketing."
Hire a team or allocate internal resources to get the news of your brand in front of influential eyes.
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Image: Creative Commons, Heisenberg Media
Good design breeds great productivity, say the creatives at Behance, who developed The Action Method. That's what sets this pad apart from a regular yellow legal notebook. The visual design reminds you to describe ideas in action steps rather than just jotting them down, in line with Behance's philosophy of "Making Ideas Happen."
Each device has a different form factor, and maintaining consistency takes the stress out of to-do lists and project management. Evernote is a clear winner. You can use it on your desktop or through a smartphone app -- but if you're on a shared computer, you can also sign in through a web browser.
The company has allowed the app to integrate with other tools through IFTTT, further reducing friction.
The built-in chat and real-time editing make Google Docs awesome for collaboration. Even if you're working on your own, it's great to have your documents stored in the cloud and accessible on any web-enabled device. Auto-save ensures that the most recently updated version of a document is always available.
Text docs are most popular, but don't forget that you can create a form and embed it on any site -- which is wonderful for getting feedback from users. The spreadsheet doc is great for a simple budget or keeping track of employee's contact information.
If getting a million emails asking for a high-res version of the company logo drives you crazy, Dropbox is the answer. Files can get lost in inboxes or just be too large to send via email; Dropbox is a perfect solution to keep track of various product design iterations and assets.
Dropbox for Teams allows you to give each member different permissions to collaborate effectively. You can even share large files with partners or the press even if they don't have Dropbox. Check out Dropbox's nifty calculator to see if Dropbox for Teams is a fit for you.
Despite the fancy social networks we see released each day, email is still one of the best ways to connect with customers. The sooner you begin collecting email addresses, the better -- and MailChimp's subscription forms are the way to do it.
MailChimp doesn't begin charging til after you hit 2,000 subscribers. Even if you're not sending out regular newsletters, it's helpful to build your list for when it is time for email outreach. Analytics on campaigns will tell you who opened your email, what they clicked on and more -- it's great feedback into how well you're communicating your product message.
Handwriting activates your brain differently than typing. That might have something to do with the genius breakthroughs that were first scribbled on a napkin.
Paper is an award-winning iPad app developed by FiftyThree that works as an art pad or a journal. It's great for documenting your life or just letting loose with some digital-style fingerpainting. Check out the company's Tumblr to see what people have created.
Uber is neither app nor traditional service, but blends the two. It's a car service with the kind of customer care that wouldn't be possible without mobile phones and GPS technology. It attracts high-end customers with sleek cars and is branded as a private driver rather than a cab service.
But, the convenience is what draws most people in. No money is exchanged with drivers because payments (and tip!) are taken care of on Uber's end. Pricing varies with time and distance, and once you've dropped a pin to request a car, phone notifications let you know how close your driver is. So even if you're standing in the rain, you don't feel totally left out in the cold.
Of all gadgets, the iPad is probably the most ubiquitous. It sort of works as a laptop replacement (but not if you do a lot of coding or design) and is also great for reading blogs or watching videos. Best of all, it's slim, which makes it a great companion for travel or conference-going.
Depending on your use case, there are plenty of accessories, like keyboards or a stylus, that make the iPad work better for you. Not to mention, most entrepreneurs make a habit of staying on top of the latest tech product releases -- and many these days are first released as an iPad app, so it helps to be able to experience these products first-hand.
When you're hopping on and off planes and trains to meet with venture capital firms, you have to travel light. Luckily, a PSP can go everywhere with you. It's great for both business trips and just taking a break. Because sometimes you need to escape for a little bit to rejuvenate your thought process.
IdeaPaint is trendy, and for good reason. It turns any surface into a white board. Depending on the size wall you decide to transform, you get quite a bit of space to draw or mock up ideas. Not surprisingly, this makes the process more collaborative. Plus, IdeaPaint is cost-effective, compared to purchasing whiteboards for the office or home.
The company recently launched a transparent version, which means you can make a dry erase wall without compromising on colors.