Scaleup Launchpad

Results

Internationalization and growth are the goal and also a challenge for many scaleup companies. This is also the case for companies in the Scaleup Launchpad program in Finland, Estonia and Sweden. Starting a concrete export requires good products and services and the right way of working. At first, the companies in the Scaleup Launchpad program mainly operated only in partner counties, so exporting is a natural next step. The challenge for the companies was, among other things, that they did not know enough about the markets, demand, competition and potential partners of potential foreign target countries. There was also no clear strategy for growth and internationalization.

The Scaleup Launchpad project offered companies three workshops (3 days each), one in each country, in Finland (Tampere), Estonia (Tartu) and Sweden (Norrköping). In addition, there was a joint final seminar for all companies in Helsinki, in connection with the Slush event. The companies received mentoring from external experts, which responded to the challenges of both the companies and their people. In addition, online lectures and events on various topics were held regularly.

With the help of the previous measures, the business groups formed a high-quality entity, which naturally cooperated both outside and inside the official project. During the project, business relationships, mutual sparring relationships and a network were formed between the companies, in which the companies helped each other in various ways. The companies were very satisfied with these achievements. The project implementing organizations also networked even better and the organizations’ cooperation has continued in the name of other projects.

The Scaleup Launchpad program had two business groups, totaling 28 companies. In addition, representatives from other companies also participated in the program’s web coaching or events. However, workshops and mentoring were reserved only for the companies in the program. As a result of the program, 21 participating companies achieved scaleup status, meeting the scaleup company criteria defined in the project plan.

Lessons learned from the perspective of the implementing organizations. Some of these were new considerations, some were confirmations of planned things. The following are examples.

• At the beginning of the project, all companies must be provided with high-quality and sufficient communication. This must be continued throughout the project.
• It is important to collect the company’s situation and goals at the beginning and ensure that the motivation and readiness for action of the participating companies are high.
• Networking and communication between companies and their representatives is very important and useful.
• Project staff can and should also help companies in other ways, for example by networking and opening doors to different parties.
• The duration of the project for each group of companies, approximately 12 months, is a good time. In that time, there is already time to implement measures and achieve results.
• The implementation of the project should be changed, if a need for development is already identified. In other ways, it is also important to be absolutely flexible, of course following the project plan and other instructions from the financier.
• Mentoring is a very good tool for developing companies. However, it must be flexible in its implementation. Some people prefer several short meetings, while others prefer one larger joint implementation, with customized content and company contacts.
• Central Baltic is very cooperative and ready to develop the details of the program if there are reasonable and productive reasons for it.