Our path to Slush 2013

There are just a few days left to register your startup to Slush, in case you're interested in the early bird price. Note the comment!

Post by Slush.

And then there's the registration form.

When we filled the form a year ago, we really didn't have much clue on what to write there. We did the best we could, submitted the form, and waited. And waited.

Then, just two weeks before the event, we got an email announcing that our company was not among the 100 companies selected for the pitching competition. They recommended that we concentrate our efforts on networking during the event.

We were devastated. It felt that mail destroyed everything we had been working for over the past months. We were very disappointed with the application process, that was just a black box. Had we known what kind of info they expect in each of the form fields, we could surely had filled it out better. The world seemed to be a very unfair place for a moment.

But after a day or two, we got a new mail, saying we had been selected to be present on the Health Track and we'll get a demo booth for one day. So instead of pitching for one minute for a random audience, we'd have the chance to present our service to many people interested in healthcare services, without time limits - and we got the stand for free! Things were looking very bright again.

A week before the event we got yet another email. We were offered 5 minutes stage time to launch our service on stage as part of the Health Track program. This was just superb. So much better than the pitching competition would have been for us. Of course, there was only a week left and we had all of that week already scheduled for other preparations. But we just had to take this opportunity as well.

So we quickly created a launch campaign and the presentation. We couldn't get everything done in time, so we were probably one of the only companies with a booth but without a rollup (we used a screen instead). Free tip for you, startups, get your rollup ready in time. You're going to need it.


During the event, there were some last minute changes again and a bit of hassle, but that feeling of creative chaos is just part of what makes Slush so great, I guess. Our booth was busy the whole day and the launch was received with a lot of love and plenty of registered users.

In the end, there was one more nice surprise, when Slush featured us in their blog. We ended up getting so many good things. For us, this still is perhaps the most striking experience of what it means to be an entrepreneur. We lived through the initial disappointment and through every new positive turn so fully and with so much emotion. And it taught us that even in desperate times there are amazing things ahead.

This year, we still don't know exactly what to write on the registration form. But we do know there will be ups and downs on our path to Slush and beyond. And we'll most likely be devastated and depressed at some point again. But this time we'll face all obstacles with a new kind of confidence.

On the cover of a magazine

We are happy and proud to announce that the Focus on Finland magazine has chosen us to be on the cover of their new issue. The interview was made in late November, and last week we found out that we are really going to be on the cover!

Here's what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland tells about the magazine (you can read the whole press release from here):

"Focus on Finland, the annual publication showcasing Finland for key international markets, has just been published for the twelfth time. The magazine provides inspirational perspectives on Finnish business, culture, education and society. 

Focus is a joint Team Finland publication of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Employment and the Economy, Sitra, Invest in Finland and Finnfacts. The magazine is distributed primarily by Finnish embassies; it is also distributed at international trade events and seminars showcasing Finnish know-how."

We are very thankful for getting this opportunity to represent the Finnish startup culture! 

P.S. You can order a FREE print copy from here!

Media visibility

After Slush, we have been lucky to get some visibility in different media.

Taltioni 2.0 was launched 12 November and we got to present Sensotrend in the event, since it is built on Taltioni platform. Naturally, we were mentioned in Taltioni's press release regarding the new services coming up during 2014.

At Slush, as you already know, we got to launch our product on stage at the Health Track on World Diabetes Day, 14 November. Sensotrend was also presented in Slush Blog, Fighting Diabetes at Slush.

On 19 November, Mikael was featured on TV, in YLE Prisma Studio's episode about Quantified Self (around the 20 minutes mark, he appears in two short parts).

The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra wrote about their experiences at Slush and mentioned us in their post Slush 2013 – showcasing the best of Finnish start-ups.

Read about Finland's hot start-up property from this year's #Slush2013, attended by 5000 people in Helsinki http://t.co/5eHhcMkzy2
— Sitra (@SitraFund) November 25, 2013

Last but not least, on Friday we were interviewed and photographed for Focus on Finland magazine. They were making an article about New Factory and Finnish startup scene. The issue will be out in January 2014.

These are the appearances we are aware of. If you have seen Sensotrend mentioned somewhere else, please let us know!

Our first Slush

Last Wednesday and Thursday it was time for Slush, the huge startup conference in Helsinki. Slush is all about startups, investors and media getting together to make contacts and learn what's going on in Finland and globally. For a small and yet quite unknown startup like us, it is an important way to meet the investors and also make the people aware that we exist.

We got a demo booth at Health Demo Area on Thursday 14 November, World Diabetes Day. And yet, that was not all! We were also told - only a couple of days before Slush - that we would get to launch our product at Health Track, meaning a 5 minute pitch for the audience interested in health topics. Brilliant!

The launch went really good. Mikael's speech was touching and he got a lot of positive feedback and even hugs from strangers who had heard him talk (in the pic he's presenting not his abs but his insulin pump). Diabetes is such a common disease, almost everyone knows someone with diabetes, and the ways to keep the condition better in control are very welcome.

We were also privileged to have plenty of visitors at our booth. We showed them our first demo version and explained countless times what we do and why that is so important. We also met many potential partners - we believe in cooperation and combining our strengths.

One last thing Slush rewarded us with was that they wanted to write about us in their blog.

In general, for us Slush was a success. We met investors and made good contacts, launched our automated diabetes diary and got many people talk about us. Thank you Slush, thank you all who were there. With this experience it's good to continue our work.