There has been much talk around Slush lately. Yet, it has not yet been very clear at all what is happening and I’m partly to blame. Now I try to shed some light onto the issue and at the same time invite you all to Slush.

In a nutshell Slush is a new Helsinki originated event for startups by startups. The whole process started when I along with a few others passionate about the subject were trying to brainstorm on how to give a boost to the Finnish startup scene, home and abroad. We had an idea that a bigger annual event might be the answer for the lack of visibility among Finnish startups in the global arena. If nothing else, we saw that such an event was missing from the Finnish startup fabric.

After throwing ideas back and forth for while I, Peter Vesterbacka (of Mobile Monday fame) and Kai Lemmetty (of Floobs) came up with an event that would show the best Finland has to offer, once a year every year. Later on Helene Auramo from Zipipop jumped along to bring her positive energy to the team and give it an even stronger startup perspective. Peter came up with the name Slush and so it started.

Finnish summer can be an amazing experience with its nightless nights, but there’s also the dark winter we live with the other six months. Thus, any startup born in Finland have equal number of slushy and dark Novembers in their DNA as they have those warm sunny Julys. Many say the one quality a startup needs above all is perseverance against adversity and out of all the languages Finnish is the one that has its own word for describing just that. The word is Sisu and I believe that it has much to do with Finns pushing through those dark slushy winter months. Thus, an apt name especially for a startup event. Having said that, I believe this is the case with startup DNA all over the Nordic and Baltic countries.

After finding the right people to take on the challenge we were ready to start working. What we really aim to do is light up the startup scene, namely by showing students what entrepreneurship can be at its best, and show the international crowd that there is much more to Finnish startups than the tip of the iceberg they’ve seen so far. Naturally big part of the whole event is to enable the Finnish entrepreneurs meet not only each other but also investors and other businesses from home and abroad.

We know there’s a plethora of events that are not working as well as they could for the entrepreneurs themselves, and thus we decided that everything we do should be done in the interest of the startup scene in mind. If something is in conflict with that focus, it will be scrapped from the agenda. For startups by startups or nothing.

Now we are at a point where the website is up and running so we can tell people about the event, invite them along and spread the word. Even the fact that the website leaked out half ready turned out to be only beneficial, since many people wanted to help out. For example the nice guys at Valve volunteered to help out right away. I’ve also heard that the Bolder guys are ready to do their part and Scred has promised to make the actual platform for selling tickets for the event.

The event itself will take place 24th November at Korjaamo Culture Factory in Helsinki and run through the whole day. The program will be a combination of four parts:

1. Success Stories - This is were we have the Finland’s finest web entrepreneurs lined up. Risto Siilasmaa from F-Secure, Petteri Koponen from First Hop/Jaiku, Ilkka Paananen from Sumea/Digital Chocolate, Asmo Halinen from Apaja only to name a few of the entrepreneurs that have started small and made it big.
2. Technology track - This is modeled on the Startup Developer Gathering (SDG), which was put together by Kai Lemmetty. For Slush Kai is putting together a tech presentation bar none. This track will go on all day and have many Finnish heavy weights like Teemu Kurppa (Jaiku/Google) presenting their insight for the Slush attendees.
3. Thirdly, a showcase where up to 40 local startups can show what they have, be it products, services, their team, philosophy behind the concept and what not.
4. Fourthly, probably the most important reason pulling the event together in the first place, we have seven pre-screened teams presenting their business ideas to the audience. These teams will be funded by the Slush Fund. The Slush Fund will be in effect just as big as the combined sponsorship revenue plus the proceeds from the sold tickets will allow it to be. In another words we will channel all the money from the event (minus cost e.g. rent for the venue etc.) to the seven teams. If you are a student with an idea for the next big thing you should apply. Instead of writing code and making coffee at one of the big corporations next summer, you could spend the summer of 2009 working on your own idea and have the expertise of most of the Finnish startup community to draw from.

In a nutshell this is Slush Helsinki. An event for startups by startups.

If the website seems that it does not give out all the details yet, it is by no means because we want to keep you in the dark but rather because we are working on the agenda as we go along to make it as good as resources and time allow. ArcticStartup will be naturally reporting what is happening at the event itself but also how the event is developing from now until the day itself in late November. Welcome to the Slush everybody!

Edit: There was a mistake saying October instead of November. The correct date for Slush is NOVEMBER 24th.

Risto Siilasmaa (of F-Secure fame) has invested in Whatamap.com, a mobile map service, (more on Whatamap.com here) and is thus also bringing much needed experience to the company on how to build and scale a startup into a successful global player.

The parties did not disclose the specific sum invested but according to Whatamap.com the investment was ‘markable’.

Fruugo, the new Finnish startup gathering loads of interest with Jorma Ollila and Risto Siilasmaa on board among others, has been in strict stealth mode. Today, CEO Reijo Syrjäläinen revealed a bit more about their plans to Arctic Startup in a breakfast meeting.

In short, Fruugo positions themselves as the “trusted 3rd party of ecommerce”. The major problem Fruugo sees and is trying to solve is in the internet ecommerce supply chain. Reijo described that purchasing from the web is still quite painful; you enter some product name to a search site, and from the thousands or millions of hits you need to figure out where you could and should get what you are looking for. Then, after finding some etailer, the next questions arise around whether you trust the seller, payment options, etc. Also for the etailer, especially in Europe as an example, it’s hard to deal with varying regulations, laws, taxes etc. in different countries.

Fruugo believe they can offer the consumers and etailers easier, simpler, and safer way to do web purchases. They see big inefficiencies in the current web ecommerce supply chain, and believe they can streamline it a lot. Reijo didn’t want to comment the business model nor the technical concept in detail yet. Fruugo is essentially a consumer company, and their marketing activities will be heavily focusing on creating buzz and interest in the internet.

Currently Fruugo is building the technology platform with especially scalability and partner integration automation in mind, and establishing partnerships with key players in the industry. The service will be available in closed Beta in a few months. So far Fruugo has “some plans” for including also mobile into the equation, people’s roots being strongly in the mobile world, but not right from the start. Reijo comments they naturally see a huge potential in the mobile web, as mobile handsets are becoming the main way of accessing web in many parts of the world.

So, what does the mystic equation 1L + 1M + 1P = ? on their web site stand for? There have been all sorts of wild quesses thrown in the air, but Reijo now reveals it’s simply “1 Language + 1 Mind + 1 Purpose = Success”. So it rather describes the company’s culture and mindset than its offering, as was speculated. They are building the company around a strong vision and hand-picked people with strong can-do attitude.

Reijo also states all the key supporters have positioned Fruugo for real success - they didn’t even think about establishing the company anywhere else, as all share the same love for Finland. They really want to show that it’s possible to create a top-notch internet startup here as well. Naturally Fruugo is going to bring more international color to their team, but the “heart and soul” will be Finnish in any case.

We’ll be revealing more about Fruugo later on as things progress. Also note that Fruugo will launch their renewed web site by Monday, with a bit more content than currently.

This Friday, Arctic Startup will be among the first to know what Fruugo, the super secret Finnish startup with Jorma Ollila and Risto Siilasmaa on board, is really up to. We have received an invitation to a morning event this Friday.

Fruugo will be hosting a breakfast meeting with a few bloggers. Fruugo is taking this first step seriously as the host for the session is none other than their CEO Reijo Syrjäläinen. VP of marketing, Janne Waltonen does not want to reveal anything regarding the event, however he wants to point out this is one of the first initiatives to support their open attitude towards social and participatory media.

If we could ask just one question from the CEO, Reijo Syrjäläinen - what would you want to ask?

Disclosure: I have worked with Janne Waltonen on founding Gyllene Skor, he is also a share holder in the company.

TEKES organizes Verso Software Summit as part of program November 5th in Marina Congress Center in Helsinki. Free enrollment by Oct 24th.

The event offers presentations given by experts such as Johan Zetterström (Salesforce.com), Risto Siilasmaa (F-Secure), and Seppo Ruotsalainen (PROFict Partners). After the keynotes round table discussions will follow where different cases are talked over lead by a variety of expert advisors. Topics cover different aspects of internationalization strategy and operations, including partnering, financing, M&A, and HR challenges.