Amid Covid19 pandemic, Startup Journey 2021 once again goes virtual
It was another summer day in July 2021. Finland was enduring one of the worst heatwaves with Lapland experiencing 33,6oC, the highest temperature recorded since 1914. Life seemed quiet, because the Covid19 pandemic had been still dragging on. Many people were depressed, and businesses were suffering with on and off lockdown restriction.
Well, I wrote “seemed”, because in fact, many businesses and organizations have managed to move to telework and function on a variety of digital platforms. Technology has empowered us to continue to live, work and build up a new normal. Boost Turku is one of them. Most of the time, there are no Boost staff in our SparkUp Turku office, but every event, every Startup Journey has been going as scheduled. Since the Kick-off Day on 05.07, we all have been working hard.
This is the second year we hold our 8-week Startup Journey Accelerator, our biggest and most important event, mainly online. We still remember how life was at this time last year. 2020 was such a special and painful year for the whole world. Personal life and work life were forced to closed off. It was the first Covid19 year, so lots of us were unprepared. Many events, summits and conferences were canceled, due to gathering restriction and lack of management or possibility to telework. Boost beat the odds and successfully organised the hardcore Journey Accelerator online. There were inevitable hiccups, but things went surprisingly well. This year, we once again have been holding all sessions via Zoom, Telegram and REMO.
Aape Pohjavirta giving his keynote during the Boostcamp hybrid session on Friday 09.07.2021
Week 1-2
Boost staffs, startup teams, our coaches and mentors all proved to have an amazing adaptability. Despite difference in time zones, because we have coaches and team members coming from several continents, people underwent the heavy schedule of the first week relatively well. It was a week full of 6-hour workshops and 1-on-1 coaching with the famous pirate captain Orfeuo Lionor (why “pirate”? His word, not mine. Follow our Instagram account @booststartupjourney to know more). On Friday of week 1, we moved to a 2-day Boostcamp in Turku, which was a hybrid event where keynote speaker Aape Pohjavirta from Funzi and the exquisite duo Anu Timmerbacka and Esteve Pannetier from GreenElephantOrg came and delivered brilliant speeches and productive exercises for both online and on-site participants. Week 2’s schedule was less intense, but the tasks were just as challenging. Again, workshop, 1-on-1, workshop, 1-on-1. Our teams have been undergoing crucial training to develop their skills in all aspect.
Let’s wait to see how much they grow throughout the Journey. No matter how many Journeys have we organised, we at Boost are always amazed at the Demo Day. Stay tuned and share the joy of work and creation with us.