Summer is winding down, and it is about time to wrap up our 2021 Journey, look back at the highlights of Demo Day and officially say goodbye to this year’s startup batch. Day to day updates from day 1 and details about Demo Day of our Journey can be found on our Instagram, and we invite you to visit our  Youtube link to watch our teams’ beautiful pitches.

We would like to express our warmest thank and deepest gratitude to our coaches, judges, mentors, Boost Board, Boost’s Journey organizers, and our partner: Turku Science Park, University of Turku, SparkUp and Turku Game Hub. Thank you for your thoughtful, all-around support and for making this year’s hybrid Accelerator possible. Startup teams, thank you for your trust in us, for your hard work and dedication, for taking part in this Journey and contributing to our entrepreneurship ecosystems in Turku region.

What we love about Startup Accelerator Journeys throughout the year is that none are the same. Every summer we welcome new teams, new coaches, new ideas, unexpected challenges, as well as pleasant surprises. We, as a Startup Accelerator, have been working tirelessly to provide our early-stage startups network of contacts, access to mentors, educational and practical curriculum, in order to bring them more opportunities and better chance to success in the future.

What sets us apart from many and oh so many Accelerators in Finland in particular and in Nordic countries in general is that, we do not aim for instant success. We don’t focus on the final result of their current business ideas, but their progress, development, growth and learning process. In our 2 Tracks, we treat both business teams and game teams equally, with tailored curriculum, different sets of mentors and judges. With the intense, immersive and diverse pack of knowledge we offer, we hope to improve, inspire and encourage aspiring entrepreneurs. We hope to equip them with learning-by-doing knowledge, cognitive skills and business execution tools, so that they can develop and continue to work on their dreams. Their business idea today might be a success, or it might be a stepping stone for better ideas, better plans, better future. We sincerely wish them all the best!

If you are having a business idea but you do not know where to start, or if you think you need any kind of help, do not hesitate to contact us. Let’s discuss, let’s join in one of our programmes, let’s work together and create something meaningful for you and for our entrepreneurship society.

Let’s end our 2021 Journey with some short testimonials- Q & A from this year’ winners:

SAD SOFA- Game Track WinnerSummer 2021 at Startup Journey in 3 words?
‍An absolute Blast!

‍The best thing about the Journey that your team experience. Why should startups join in an Accelerator programme?
‍As a team we feel like the Journey offered us a lot of possibilities, but out of all of them we feel like the most important ones were networking, validation and learning what are the actual important things when developing a game company! And yes, definately do join in Boost’s Startup Accelerator, it is helpful in so many ways.

‍What stage are you now? What is your next step?
‍We are currently slowing down as we are both still students and our studies are continuing, but we are continuing, let’s wait for more detail.

‍Your hope and expectation for your business?
‍Of course our hopes and expectations are to succeed in the industry and get our names out there, but we feel like Boost has been one of the best learning experiences out there so even if we wont succeed with this project we will be sure to use the things we have learned to succeed later!

POCKETSOMM- Business Track WinnerSummer 2021 at Startup Journey in 3 words?
‍Feedback, Perspectives, Work!

‍The best thing about the Journey that your team experienced?Why should startups join in an Accelerator programme?
‍This is quite an obvious one but definitely the final pitch since we were able to showcase everything we had been working towards during the Journey. Why should startups join in an Accelerator programme? I would almost turn it around, why wouldn’t a startup join? You get high-quality coaching, lectures and a network of people in the startup realm willing to help and passionate about what they do. Thank you Boost!

‍What stage are you now? What is your next step?
‍We currently have a prototype we are using to negotiate deals and pilot programs with potential customers. Our next step is to close a deal and generate our first revenue. Your hope and expectation for your business?Our AI will be used by many of the large wine and food companies to boost their sales by making high-quality wine-food-pairing accessible to anyone anywhere.

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