Aaltoes was privileged to host Hannu Verkasalo, serial entrepreneur and founder at Zokem Ltd., this Thursday at the Aalto Ventures Park in Otaniemi. This was the first of the Aaltoes Tuli Talk series, a monthly event dedicated to hearing the stories of entrepreneurs with a research background.
Antti Aarnio from the Tuli program was on hand to open the event and tell the audience of the funding that they make available (check out www.tuli.info). The new Aaltoes chairman, Jens Sørensen, also talked to the crowd briefly about Aaltoes and where we are currently going in our event series, and what’s coming up.
Speaking in front of an audience of 50 young students and researchers, Verkasalo spoke about his experiences as an entrepreneur, his companies, research background, and current company – Zokem, which aims to bring mobile analytics to a new level. It was refreshing to hear how Verkasalo has utilised his past as a researcher, both through knowledge and contacts, to monetize and develop his ideas.
The idea behind Zokem and its product interested the audience, who were keen to learn more, launching the Ventures Park stage into a 20 minute question-and-answer session in mid-event! Verkasalo ended his hour on stage with a list of useful tips and truths-based-on-experience for the audience. The lessons we learned today:
- Be bold and take risks – believe in your idea
- Forget technology – collect facts! Does it make business sense?
- Patents do not guarantee anything – execute on go-to-market and sales
- Team is everything! Do not take the pain alone – be open!
- Go out and talk – do not hide your stuff! Put yourself and the product into the fire.
- Don’t run for Tekes and VC money – raise money from customers!
- Be willing to sacrifice (time, money, leisure, sleep) in order to get rewards
With similar messages coming in from so many directions, it seems quite wise to listen to the ones with existing experience. Especially concerning getting out there and discussing your ideas – that is a very central part of everything we do at Aaltoes. We want you to come out and talk about your ideas, and that’s exactly what happened in the informal mingling after this event. People stayed for a good while to talk, discuss, and exchange ideas.
Check out Zokem at zokem.com, let’s wish them all the best – thanks Hannu!
