Last year, I had the opportunity to work with Startup Iceland and Vodafone Iceland on a project aimed at helping Icelandic companies scale internationally. In my opinion, scaling is often the most challenging part of running an Icelandic startup, so I was really happy to be involved.
We ended up creating a startup competition called Stökkpallurinn (English: Launchpad), designed to give startups access to the right mentors to better understand scalability. We brought in various experts to share their knowledge on topics like marketing, PR, and sales, and we also leveraged our networks to help these startups find customers.
Overall, for a first-time project, it went really well. We had some awesome startups participating—companies doing amazing things but just needing a little extra push. The best part was that we didn’t charge them anything. They didn’t have to pay or give up equity. Even better, Vodafone showed interest in collaborating with some of the companies after the event, and several mentors continued to provide guidance because they liked the startups so much. I’d call that a great success.
Now, Startup Iceland and Vodafone are bringing the competition back, and they’re using what they learned from last time to make it even better. Tomorrow, they’re hosting an introduction to the competition at Bryggjan Brugghús—and yes, there will be free beer and food, so you really have no excuse not to come! I’ll be there and I’m looking forward to seeing you all.
Sign up for the event here: Facebook Event
If you can’t make it, you can still apply to the competition online:
Scaling Competition Application Form
For more details about the competition, check this out:
https://startupiceland.com/stokkpallurinn/
Frumkvöðull í meira en 20 ár. Stofnandi 7 fyrirtækja og Frumkvöðlar-samfélagsins. Skrifar um ferðalagið — gott og illt.
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