The STREAM Startup Festival is an annual event designed to provide an atmosphere targeted to strengthening the startup ecosystem of Tampere. The participants include the early stage startups, the founders, the investors plus the corporate partners. There are opportunities for attendees to listen in on keynote speeches and pitch competitions, in which we at VISUON also participated.
We were very impressed with the event overall. The attendees were all there for the same purpose, to network and mingle with like-minded business people. Needless to say, the environment was friendly and pleasant to be a part of. One challenge that we faced was the pitch competition, in which had to be presented in front of investors — better known as sharks! Fortunately, they didn’t bite too hard.
For the pitch, it had to be constructed to be within a 3-minute timeframe. Within this short time, we had to present who we are, what we do, the benefits, how scalable we are, plus financial needs. It was certainly a mouthful! In addition, there was a 2-minute session for questions and answers with the investors. There were 3 questions and unfortunately, we were only able to answer only one of them.
The questions raised related to the future of the company, how sustainable it will be, the unique features compared to that of competitions and what research has been conducted to prove that the product works so efficiently. It takes a tremendous amount of courage, preparation and estimation of the questions that may be asked. What we learned is that you have to be prepared for anything! It was a learning experience for us and we had a lot of fun through the process.
Thank you STREAM Fest — we will see you next year!