On more than 3000 m2 with more than 300 people attending, this October for the third year Helsinki hosted Slush , a two-day annual conference focused on entrepreneurship. The highlights included insightful key-note speeches by Allan Martinson and Mårten Mickos, Slush Seven pitching competition for early-stage start-ups with the prize of €7500 cash and Slush School of Angels. The event also included many presentations from local start-ups and some captivating panel discussions. The space was thoughtfully organized with plenty of booths and chairs, though some participants missed the smaller and more intimate lay-out of venues used in previous years.

Allan Martinson gave a lesson on 'how to grow 'your stupid little start-up' into something'. The main message confirmed some known wisdoms like people are paramount to any business, entrepreneurs should be patient, fail fast and aim to solve a true problem. Interesting point was added regarding the dynamics of the founding team: at best it should include a hyper-active leader as the driving force and a sceptical co-founder who'd push the 'stop' button at the right times.

Mårten Mickos inspired many and caused a surge of complimentary Tweets on the second day of the conference. Mårten gave some useful insights into success: take joy in delighting your customer, focus your business around problems that remain constant and don't be afraid of being inexperienced - it is the best driving force for successful entrepreneurs.

Slush Seven competition was won by Dealmachine,  a graduate of Aalto Venture Garage's Bootcamp. Their product aims to revolutionize CRM software by adding gaming aspects to it. The team came together and started from scratch only in June this year and they've already made considerable progress. The service received very positive initial feedback but let's see how easily corporate employees can be convinced to stop using long-established ways of managing their sales process.

Finally, Slush School of Angels, run for the first time, received almost standing ovations. The 'school' was a three-hour workshop run by Burton Lee and Aydin Senkut with ten business angels from Finland and ten people from various other backgrounds. The aim was to teach local business angels pros and cons of investments, share tips and establish benchmarks. The atmosphere at the workshop was untypically Finnish: there was no speaker authority but instead everyone easily networked and exchanged opinions. Crucial advice for investors was to remember due diligence (confirming all material facts before investing) and be part of wider networks within the ecosystem to make sure they get all the up-to-date information on upcoming deals.

Overall, Slush is a great part of Finnish ecosystem and would hopefully grow into an even bigger phenomenon with more active start-ups and investors as well as more international audience.