Why is it important to have Head Coaches in the accelerator program?

Boost’s accelerator program Startup Journey has had a tradition to have Head Coaches for many years. Most of the time, they are changing each year. This year we are having Turo Numminen and Teemu Malinen from Sofokus Ventures and Tero Karinti from Kollektiv Ventures as Business Track Head Coaches.

👨‍🚀Turo Numminen is an entrepreneur and responsible for investor relations, networking and startup-investments in Sofokus. In addition to that he is an investor in various startups and he runs a small consulting agency.
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👨‍🚀Teemu Malinen turns ideas into companies with digital means. He has been digital & mobile business developer since 1994 and startup enthusiast & bootstrapper since 2000. Motto: less talk, more action and lot's of fun!

👨‍🚀Tero Karinti focuses on bringing the latest technology and digitalization to the public sector during the daytime. At nighttime, he shifts to the entrepreneurial mode and focuses on helping companies grow bigger, better and faster by combining sweat & equity into startups and SME:s. His main focus points at coaching companies are sales, marketing and customer experience, combined with the latest technology available.

Sofokus Ventures - our main partner for Business Track

Sofokus Ventures is a platform economy focused accelerator & funding instrument for startups in Finland. They help in everything from business design to service implementation as well as financing. They are connected to all the relevant players in order to get your business off the ground.

Sofokus Ventures are in search of startups that have a big dream and rely their scalable business on a digital platform. But they do believe in people – without a good team things won't happen. You don’t have to know everything, but eagerness to learn and make stuff happen is a must.

On the Game Track side, we also have Head Coaches

👨‍🚀 Jami Andersson is a board member at Hive and a self taught entrepreneur with a demonstrated history of working in the IT industry. Jami is the CEO of Morrow Games - a Startup Journey alumni company.
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👨‍🚀 Natasha Skult is a hardcore nerd who happened to become an artist and not a physicist, now working in gaming industry. She believes in hard work and has a stubborn mindset for ideas worth pursuing. As a doctoral candidate, university teacher and professional artist with degrees in classical and digital art production, her super-power is a multidisciplinary approach to every challenge that presents itself.
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👨‍🚀 Eeva Vuorinen is a co-founder & CEO at Punnu Games. She is working in sales, marketing, customer acquisition, and many different tasks that come along being an entrepreneur and working for some great companies on the side.

Turku Game Hub - our partner for Game Track

They are one of the gaming centers in Finland, with focus on opportunities in growth for local gaming community and business development.

Turku Game Hub (the Hive) is a shared space for startups and established gaming companies in South-West Finland with headquarters in Turku.

So why do we strive to have Head Coaches for each program?

We believe that it is crucial for the success of an early-stage startup to have someone very knowledgeable to follow up on the progress during the whole program. Teemu, Turo, Tero, Jami, Natasha and Eeva have been generously giving their time for the startups and talking with them every week. This way Head Coaches were able to see how teams were evolving and guide them through their journey. Our startups shared with us, that this very hands-on apporoach was very helpful and motivating for them.

It is also important for us to have Business Track Head Coaches who are investors. So, when they are talking with the teams, they have not only the mentor hat on, but also an investor one. They can directly tell to the teams what kind of progress they need to see in order for them to be interested in investing.

We are so grateful for the big input of all Head Coaches. Truly thank you ❤️

And soon it’s time for the Head Coaches to decide on the winners of both tracks. Startup Journey Demo Day is already this Friday! And it’s online, so you can join from wherever you are.