It’s 2013 and ArcticStartup is back.
Well, to a casual observer we really didn’t go anywhere. But a few months ago we were nearly on a path to shut down. As it turns out, passion and community support can do wonders. The original (not so optimistic) story spread wider than we could have imagined and a huge outpouring of support, ideas, suggestions and job offers started coming in.
And although ArcticStartup did not receive direct funding during our crisis, what we did get was much more – the support of the community. We heard a lot of good stories about how we were the first driver of traffic into their startup, or that our media and events were a big reason some got involved in this crazy startup lifestyle. And unexpectedly, some offered free services and individuals offered help in site re-design, hosting, contacts and much more.
At that point we knew that we can’t just let this company die, after all, Antti Vilpponen, Ville Vesterinen, Karri Saarinen, Miikka Kukkosuo, and others have put a lot of work into ArcticStartup to build this movement, and personally we were way too passionate about ArcticStartup community to let it drift away.
So for the past two months, both of us (Dmitri Sarle and Greg Anderson) have been working without a salary, trying to figure out a way forward. We might still be pretty broke for the coming months, but we are more confident than ever that we can continue to grow ArcticStartup.
After going through all the offers and possibilities, the original founders of the company have passed the baton to us and we are going to do our best to make them and the community proud.
We don’t want to put words into their mouth, but at ArcticStartup we have always been proud of being an independent, for-profit company that helps promote the region, when it seems that every other organization (startup or not) has tapped into government funding. We love companies, plain and simple, and we convince ourselves that we enjoy the ups and downs that comes with running one.
It is no secret that in today’s age monetizing a media company is almost as difficult as running a profitable airline, but we’re confident that we can continue to push out a higher volume of stories to provide the first and best coverage of the region. Today, we would like to share a few of our plans.
Looking at the website as a whole, we’ve gone through dozens of ideas and suggestions and here are a few that we hope to put in place in the coming months:
- Complete site re-design.
- Startup E-Commerce (Can’t give too much away yet, but we are excited about this one).
- Investor/Startup matchmaking (We are already a partner for RusBase in Russia).
- New local events that provide real value to attendees.
In addition, we’d appreciate it if you took a look at the services ArcticStartup can offer your startup or organization. This includes our Sponsored Posts, Promoted Jobs, Media Consulting, Blog Post Creation, Copywriting, and other tasks. To find them, just click the Services button in the blue bar.
Finally, if you have any questions, suggestions, ideas, or just want to say “hi”, feel free to e-mail editor (a) arcticstartup.com
-Dmitri and Greg
P.S. You can also Flattr this post, which is something we are going to be experimenting with in the future:
