Finest Love from Crazy Town

Finest Love from Crazy Town ♥

An online accelerator and matchmaking program for young at heart companies looking for talent, partners, customers or funding

Apply by January 17th

We select 15-20 teams onboard. Cost is free for participants. Some of the sessions might be held in Finnish, depending on the teams.

Finest Love from Crazy Town is a 3-month program for young at heart companies:

Startagains looking for a new direction, business models and customers
Growth-stage startups, who are scaling their business
Entrepreneurs and teams with growth-mindset

Program is all about matchmaking you with the right communities, mentors, peers and resources.

You should have some customers ready, a working prototype in place, or have previous experience of running a business.

We believe that future of work is about connected communities collaborating. Finest Love from Crazy Town brings together people and networks you can trust.

From Crazy Town, with love

Program runs for 3 months from January to April 2021. It consists of online kickoff, mentoring and workshop sessions, fireside chats, a demo day, as well as tailored matchmaking activities for each participant.

Matchmaking

Program is tailored to bring you together with customers, partners, talent and/or funding.

Mentoring & peer-learning

Access to mentors and coaches. Fireside chats with other entrepreneurs for peer-support. 1-on-1 "Solving my problem" sessions.

High-trust community

Work closely with Crazy Town family of 250 businesses - customers, project opportunities, partners and talent acquisition.

Trainings and hackathons

Curated access to online / offline events according to your own need.

Fundraising

Targeted investor meetings and funding workshops.

High-trust global connections

We put you in touch with trusted ecosystem players in Estonia, Vietnam, India, Ireland, China, Japan, Silicon Valley, France, The Netherlands Thailand, Germany, Sweden and Helsinki - just to name a few locations.

Schedule

Sessions marked with * mandatory, rest optional. There will also be team-specific activities and mentoring throughout the program according to your needs.

Kickoff *
Date: 26.1.2021, 12.00 - 16.00
Host: Mikko Korpela, Kustaa Valtonen and Peter Vesterbacka

1-on-1 orientation hour *
Date: During weeks 5-6
We go through your needs for mentoring and program

How to build a pitch?
Date: 5.2.2021, 09.00 - 10.00, followed by 1-on-1 sessions
Host: Toni Pienonen

Fireside chat discussion and sparring
Date: 16.2.2021, 09.00 - 11.00

Growth funding
Date: 26.2.2021, 09.00 - 10.00, followed by 1-on-1 sessions
Host: Tommi Pajala

Fireside chat discussion and sparring
Date: 9.3.2021, 09.00 - 11.00

How to talk to investors?
Date: 12.3.2021, 09.00 - 10.00
Host: Peter Vesterbacka and Kustaa Valtonen

Fireside chat discussion and sparring
Date: 16.3.2021, 09.00 - 11.00

Crazy Pitch Day *
Date: 19.3.2021, 09.00 - 15.00 (organized online and in Crazy Town locations)
Host: An international jury of investors and partners

1-on-1 roadmap session *
Date: During weeks 12-13
What you got from program and how will you continue?

Sessions and events organized online.

Apply if you are...

Our mentors and partners can especially help teams working with digitalization, ecommerce, industry 4.0, artificial intelligence, health, wellbeing, fintech, proptech, games, XR and new learning solutions.

You don't need to be a startup to apply. You should have already some experience of business and running company. For the first cohort of 2021, maximum intake is around 15-20 teams.

Ambitious learning-oriented entrepreneur / team with intention to scale
You have a functional prototype, some customers / traction ready or previous experience in business creation
You benefit from matchmaking with talent, partners, customers and/or funding
You are willing to learn together with peers and share experiences

When applying to the program, you commit to attend the Kickoff, first orientation and Crazy Pitch Day. Other sessions are optional and for you to decide whether or not to attend.

Finest Love from Crazy Town is free of charge for every participant. You will also get free sparring from our mentors and experts.

Apply by January 17th

Why are we doing this for young at heart companies?

Having worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs throughout Finland, we noticed that one thing was often missing from the picture - support for growth-oriented start agains and teams.

In 2016, when we took Crazy Town on a new direction with new ownership and business plan - a 13 year old company at that point - we were denied entry for several activities simply due to age our business ID. A typical program was aimed for early-stage startups or students.

Kasvu Open was an exception to the rule for also letting "start agains" to participate and we have them to thank for our current situation. We hope that with Finest Love from Crazy Town, we can enable more opportunities for companies that are young at heart.

Organizers

FINEST LOVE VC

Startup investment fund and ecosystem builder. Partners include business angels and mentors Kustaa Valtonen & Peter Vesterbacka.

CRAZY TOWN

Community for work and learning. We help entrepreneurs and teams to grow together. First cohort of Finest Love from Crazy Town is piloted as part of ESF-funded Kuopio Growth Entrepreneurship project.

Mentors, coaches and experts

These are some of the fine folk we have onboard helping you. They will be available for mentoring your business and team, or delivering keynotes and workshops.

Examples of partners, ecosystems and places to connect you to

. . . and more than hundreds of finest people from Crazy Town community that we will put you in touch with

Apply by January 17th

Contact info

Anu Tuunanen
Project manager

050 586 6062

Mikko Korpela
Events

0400 499 242

Niklas Isberg
Communication and admin

050 460 9299

Mikko Markkanen
Partnerships

040 758 8712

Finest Love from Crazy Town is organized as part of "Kuopio Growth Entrepreneurship Community" project, made possible with support from European Social Fund.