Node by Slush
Community Events
Community Events are a series of highly curated mentoring sessions, workshops as well as firesides and keynotes delivered by the brightest minds of the startup world. We’re hosting three Community Events throughout the Fall to meet and learn together.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE WEBINAR
Our monthly Community Events are not your average webinars but a chance to personally engage with the brightest startup minds and share with your peers that are currently tackling similar challenges in their business. We pride ourselves on avoiding the platitudes and providing you with brutally hands-on and painfully honest advice straight from the source. Learn more about how we do it and join us on Nov 17–19 as we bring the Node by Slush community together for the third and final time in 2020.
“This is 10x better than real-world events: it’s more focused and content-oriented – thanks to moderation & Q&A it feels much more direct.”
Jeremi Yak
Head of Communications, Neufund
COMMUNITY EVENT #3 – NOV 17–19
This month we’re focusing even more on facilitating startup-investor connections through our new concept Matchmaking Sprint, bring you Mentoring Sessions, Roundtables, and Workshops from builders and backers of world-changing companies and Firesides and Keynotes from the brightest startup minds. On Nov 17, we are also presenting a day full of Side Event by our Partners.
We’re inviting 100 startups from Pre-seed to Growth to take part in the Matchmaking Sprint with 25 investors looking for their next portfolio company. During the Sprint each startup will able to meet with at least two investors for 15 minutes to pitch and/or demo and get to know their investment thesis. To make the most out of the meetings, the team at Slush will hand-pick the attendees to create the best startup and investor matches.
Sonali de Rycker has worked with some of the most accomplished entrepreneurs of our time. In this fireside with Jonas Nordlander, founder of Avito, the second-biggest classifieds site in the world and one of Europe’s largest internet properties, Sonali explores lessons on leadership from the front line. From building strong teams to keeping that laser focus on the vision, this heart-to-heart fireside unveils what happens behind the scenes to create a powerful and enduring business and culture.
Andrew Chen is a leading voice in Silicon Valley on growth, mobile, and metrics. In this fireside for founders and investors alike, Andrew discusses the current consumer investment landscape (from creator marketplaces to entertainment and gaming), how successful consumer teams think about metrics and growth levers, and why he believes “social” platforms are approaching their next renaissance moment.
Sequoia Capital, the renowned Silicon Valley venture capital firm, has recently opened its first office in Europe. We are thrilled to give you two partners leading Sequoia’s strategy for Europe: Luciana Lixandru and Matt Miller, in conversation with TechCrunch reporter Steve O’Hear. The firm has a legendary track record of backing companies like Apple, Google, Dropbox, Airbnb, and Stripe, and European category leaders, including Klarna, UiPath, and Graphcore. Now, with boots on the ground, Sequoia is on a mission to partner with founders across Europe as early as possible and help build the next generation of global companies. What makes Sequoia a desirable partner? What strengths of the European startup ecosystem will they build on? What are the future investment trends they see coming over the next year and beyond? Tune in and find out.
The Helsinki-based delivery platform Wolt has expanded to 23 countries and over 100 cities in just 5 years from launch. Originating from Finland, which is a hard market for a delivery service, as the population is small and spread out, the company had to build its foundation on technology, efficiency, and customer experience. This has become the company’s competitive advantage, which allows it to operate in different sized cities around the world, from Kouvola to Tokyo. We couldn’t be more excited to lift the lid on the story behind this success with Wolt’s Co-founder and CEO, Miki Kuusi, and Amy Lewin from Sifted. Wolt has the potential to become a truly global brand – so what direction will its leaders take the company now? Tune in to find out.
Different businesses require different growth strategies. In this hands-on fireside, Casey Winters takes a look at growth models that have been defining the tech landscape in the last years. With experience leading marketing and product teams at GrubHub, Pinterest, and now Eventbrite, while advising companies like Airbnb, Reddit, or Canva, Casey is the ultimate expert on scaling products. Tune in to hear his best tips on startup growth and find out what growth models could disrupt the industry in the future.
The Metaverse, or spatial internet – a future augmentation of the internet through shared and interconnected virtual realities is fast-approaching. For this thought-provoking session, Lakestar is bringing on three entrepreneurs from across their portfolio who are building some of the vital pieces of infrastructure needed to bring this to life: Identity, Money and Fashion. They will be joined by three senior members of Lakestar’s investment team.
For this session, Mosaic Ventures is bringing together some of the deepest fintech expertise from across their team and portfolio. They will discuss the challenges and opportunities created by COVID and their advice for early-stage founders on how to navigate these.
2020 has been a uniquely challenging year for all of us. However, it’s also been the seedbed of new opportunities that founders shouldn’t overlook. To that end, the session will cover how to steer your business through choppy waters, but also, how to seize the window of opportunity created by phenomena like accelerated tech adoption and changes in consumer behaviour.
In this high-paced workshop, Draper Esprit will run through a startup’s fundraising journey from Seed to IPO, focusing on tangible must-understands from along the way. The session will kick off with three pithy keynotes by Christoph Hornung, Jonathan Sibilia, and Will Turner – all Draper Esprit Partners, and each focusing on the stage at which they primarily invest. Beyond the 30-minute mark, the session will split into intimate breakout room discussions with the speakers. For this part, startups are assigned to rooms according to their current stage of growth. After the session, Draper Esprit will set up an email address that all participating startups are welcome to use to reach out to their team.
Whether running a Seed or Series A stage company, ramping up enterprise sales is always a challenge. In this workshop, we share insights on avoiding classic pitfalls of enterprise sales, how to utilize best-practice solutions to build sales organizations, and how your next investor will evaluate your sales success.
With this year bringing both a cultural and biological pandemic, the need for us to work together to effect social and environmental change has never been more obvious. European tech is going from strength to strength, but how do we ensure we are creating sustainable and inclusive businesses? Magda Lukaszewicz, Investment Principal at Balderton and co-lead on Balderton’s ESG team, will open up the conversation, sharing Balderton’s own “Sustainable Future Goals”, and speaking to two incredible founders from Balderton’s portfolio about their own approaches. Fanny Moizant, President and co-founder of Vestiaire Collective, will explain how Vestiaire has kept a focus on sustainability as it built a fashion community of over 10 million members across 100 countries, and Rickard Carlsson, CEO and co-founder of Detectify, will explain how the cyber-security startup began its major diversity push to move forward from its all-white, all-male founding team.
“To build a legendary company you need a legendary category not only a legendary product. “ This is the crux of category design. It’s a business strategy and a discipline that helps companies create, develop, and dominate new categories of products and services. The concept is the subject of the book Play Bigger and is a foundational, strategic approach to assessing the company’s potential, to frame its value proposition, and ultimately to create an unfair advantage. This is your chance to learn the basics of category design, the foundational principles, and how they apply to your company; you’ll come away with a clear idea of how to kick off the strategic planning phase of the design process and be armed to identify the new category you’re creating and its potential.
For this Matchmaking session, Slush & Helsinki Business Hub are looking to connect promising early-stage Finnish companies with Finnish & European angel investors. After an introduction for the whole group, the session will split into intimate roundtables between 2 investors and 5 startups. Startups are asked to prepare a 2-minute pitch, after which they’ll have the chance to ask the angels questions about fundraising and their business.
In this session, Caroline and Dan from Atomico provide practical advice on people management for early-stage startups. Partners at one of the most prominent European venture funds, they bring with them years of experience in helping founders hire, grow, and retain talent. They will give insight into how Atomico helps their portfolio companies grow and scale teams so that you, as an early-stage founder, can avoid the most common startup mistakes.
How should you plan your Series A fundraising to successfully attract and lock investors? In her capacity as Principal at Balderton Capital, Cayetana Hurtado daily works with early-stage founders pre- and post-deals. In this session, she pulls from her experience to share concrete steps to landing your A round, starting with the overall strategy for your fundraising process, thinking about your fundraising plan, and understanding and presenting your key unit economics.
Angel investors can be a great asset for early-stage founders looking to raise their first rounds. In this session with Bindi Karia, a Venture Partner at Draper Esprit, you will learn how and where to find angel investors, how to conduct your due diligence, what are acceptable terms that you should be considering, and what role can angel investors have in your startup post-deal. The focus will be on building a strong (angel) investor network and long-term successful relationships with them. Bindi Karia is a Venture Partner at large London-based VC Draper Esprit. Throughout the last years she has held positions in and around the tech industry including advisory roles across a number of organizations (Startup Europe, Techstars Startup Weekend, European Innovation Council, WEF).
Understanding your customer, while undeniably key to finding a P/M fit, remains a challenge for many founders. In this session with Hannah Meiton, mentor at one of the top European accelerators, you will explore building a customer journey A-Z: nailing customer personas and relevant value propositions, creating a go-to-market strategy, and finally building your organization around your customers. It’s time to take an outside-in approach to fuel your startups’ growth. Hannah has many years of experience developing software companies, primarily in Silicon Valley, most recently as COO of Soundtrack Your Brand and as VP Sales at iZettle.
Having the right shareholders can be a key enabler to the company’s growth, support network, strategic input, and ultimate end-result in terms of IPO or an acquisition. On the other hand, having the wrong cap table can be the source of frustration, misalignment, and in the worst-case – strategic misdirection. As a former venture-funded entrepreneur, an investor in several unicorns, and now partner & head of Europe at one of the largest Silicon Valley funds, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rytis will share a perspective and engage in a hands-on, practical conversation on the topic that is relevant to companies at pre-seed stage to pre-IPO stage alike.
“At first I was wondering a bit how Node by Slush would differentiate from the many other startup-investor networks, but after experiencing the stupendous quality of the Mentor Sessions I now see the light!”
Richard von Kaufmann
Founder & Managing Director, Pricetap
PREVIOUS SPEAKERS
These founders, operators, and investors have stepped on our virtual stages during the fall among the other bright minds in startups and venture capital.
Frequently asked questions
What is Node by Slush?
Node by Slush is a curated community for startups, investors, and ecosystem builders that allows you to make new connections, learn and grow every day. The community is powered by a platform with features such as personal profiles, company pages, as well as search & filtering that allow you to discover and be discovered. Direct messaging, discussion forums, and feed posts enable sharing and collaboration between the members. In addition, we facilitate connections between the members through monthly community events including mentoring, keynotes, and more. Learn more here.
What are Community Events?
Community events are the cherry on the top of Node by Slush. We are talking about a series of highly curated encounters between founders, investors, mentors, and partners topped with firesides and keynotes delivered by the brightest minds of the startup world. Running in the afternoon on Sep 23-24, Oct 20-22, and Nov 18-19, they provide a unique opportunity to meet people you need to build, scale, fundraise, or simply get inspired. Everyone is welcome to join Firesides and Keynotes, whereas the curated sessions are for the only Node by Slush members via application or invitation
What are Keynotes and Fireside Chats?
Keynotes are 30–minute presentations into some of the best-kept secrets in the world of startups. Building on examples and learnings from the most accomplished founders, operators, and investors around, these sessions provide you tangible tools and tips to accelerate your growth. Open to everyone interested, but limited in capacity. Spots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Fireside Chats are 30–60 minute moderated discussions with some of the most prominent founders, operators, and investors in the world of startups. These sessions take you from macro to micro with a focus on honest, hands-on advice you can apply to your thinking the very next day. Open to everyone interested, but limited in capacity. Spots are filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
What are Mentoring Sessions?
Mentoring sessions are interactive Q&As for a curated audience of 30–50 peers. During the intensive 55 minutes, you will get a deep dive into the topic at hand from a seasoned entrepreneur, operator, or investor, followed by a chance to ask your own questions and learn from those posed by your peers. We curate the audience through invites and applications to make sure that every participant gets the most value out of the mentor and the peers joining.
What are Roundtables?
Startup Roundtables are intimate sessions are for a highly curated audience of 6–10 participants to enable heart-to-heart exchanges. During the intensive 55 minutes, you will receive genuine and in-depth advice from seasoned entrepreneurs, operators, investors, and fellow founders. You will also gain valuable connections with peers and experts that stay with you for the next time there’s a bump in the road. We curate the audience through invites and applications to make sure that every participant gets the most value out of the mentor and the peers joining.
Investor Roundtables are Exclusively available to our investor membership holders, investor roundtables host 6–10 participants, giving you a chance to discuss the world of venture with like-minded peers. Each session will be led by a designated host who’s in charge of framing and moderating the discussion. The topics on offer range from industry-encompassing points of debate to thematic deep dives. Investor roundtables are between 45 and 60 minutes in length.
What are Investor Workshops?
Investor workshops are intimate gatherings with some of the most prominent firms & individuals that invest in European ventures. These sessions offer startups a chance for learning and individual exposure. Over the course of the fall, we’ll run sessions for various job functions and across stages of growth. Each session will be uniquely structured by the hosting fund, and will typically last between 60 and 120 minutes.
Please note that our investor sessions are invitation-only based on criteria set by the hosting fund.
How much does it cost?
Unlock your access to our community platform and events by subscribing to a monthly membership.
Startup – With a monthly Startup membership you’ll get access to the people directory and direct messages, monthly keynotes and fireside chats, forums and feed, personal profile, startup page and invitations to investor workshops and mentoring sessions. The 1-month membership (Excl. VAT) costs €29.
Investor – With a monthly Investor membership you’ll get access to a personal profile, people directory and direct messages, unlimited startup data downloads, forums, and feed, monthly keynotes, and fireside chats. The 1-month membership (Excl. VAT) costs €109.
Angel Investor – With a monthly Angel investor membership you’ll get access to a personal profile, people directory and direct messages, unlimited startup data downloads, forums, and feed, monthly keynotes, and fireside chats. The 1-month membership (Excl. VAT) costs €79.
Ecosystem – With a monthly Ecosystem membership you’ll get access to the people directory and direct messages, monthly keynotes and fireside chats, forums and feed, and a personal profile. The 1-month membership (Excl. VAT) costs €109.
“Mentoring Session with Casey Winters was awesome. I needed to hear these things right now and I got so much new energy from it.”
Ben Fernström
CEO, Paperini
Apply for membership
Unlock your access to our community platform and events by subscribing to a monthly membership.