Part 2 in our mini documentary on Helsinki as a future startup hub asks two important questions. Can Helsinki be it, and what pieces are missing for Helsinki to become a startup hub?

We get to hear Alexander Stubb talk about the work being done from the government to support this ambition. Scott Sage from DFJ Esprit says Helsinki is one of the undiscovered gems in the tech industry.

The attitude and mentality of people are both important parts of a startup hub, says minister Stubb, infrastructure is also important. Aaron Patzer highlights the heritage from Linux, Nokia and MySQL. Peter Vesterbacka from Rovio says we are on the right track.

In part 1, we hear the visiting founders presenting themselves. We also hear that Aalto Entrepreneurship Society has some ambitious goals for Finland in the future.

Just Do It... or is there another way?

I'm reading The Lean Startup by Eric Ries, read the first post here. In this post, I want to emphasize this quote from the book:

"[S]ome entrepreneurs and investors have thrown up their hands and adopted the "Just Do It" school of startups. This school believes that if management is the problem, chaos is the answer. Unfortunately, … this doesn't work either."

During Founders' Week here in Helsinki I got the opportunity to speak to Paul Bragiel. He is very much a "just do it" kind of guy, I wish I would have read The Lean Startup before that so I could have challenged him on that point.

Ries' answer is that yes, the old school of management fails when it is applied to startups. But there is an alternative to chaos. That alternative is promised later on in the book. I'm all ears.