36 min

Episode 16: Ville Vesterinen - Lessons from a nordic serial entrepreneur - Slush, Grey Area, Swappie - becoming an Atomico angel investor & more Leap Takers

    • Entrepreneurship

Ville Vesterinen (@vesterinen) is a serial entrepreneur from Finland. He is one of the original founders of Slush - one of the world’s leading startup & tech conferences, that attracts around 25'000 attendees every year to Helsinki. He also founded Grey Area - a gaming company that was backed by Index Ventures, LVP, Lifeline Ventures.
Ville also serves as the chairman of Swappie, an ambitious young company selling refurbished mobile phones, which just raised $40M in June 2020. He is also on the boards of Maria 01, a 70 000 m² campus for tech companies in the heart of Helsinki as well as on the board of Startup Foundation, the organization that owns various initiatives supporting the Nordic startup ecosystem, among them Slush.


Most recently Ville joined Atomico, one of Europe's leading venture capital investors, as an angel investor to support new aspiring entrepreneurs. Ville also just started his own podcast - The Long Map, where he explores how to live an interesting life.


In this episode, we talk about the origin story of Slush, Grey Area, and Swappie. We cover Ville's learnings from being a serial founder and investor, as well as his tips for other aspiring entrepreneurs in Europe.


Show notes:



02:07 -- Intro - Who is Ville Vesterinen
03:11 -- How Ville became interested in entrepreneurship & tech
04:59 -- Retelling the experience of becoming an entrepreneur in the 2000’s
07:08 -- The origin story of Slush, Europe’s leading tech conference
10:24 -- Ville’s learnings from starting Slush and tips for founding a conference
13:27 -- Major milestones and projects that Ville worked on so far
15:38 -- Location-based games & Shadow Cities
17:57 -- Swappie, refurbishing and selling second hand iPhones
20:04 -- Learnings and advice for future startup founders
24:46 -- Atomico Angel programme and Ville’s investing focus
28:48 -- Ville Vesterinen’s new podcast - The Long Map
30:32 -- Ville Vesterinen’s favorite book
31:38 -- Ville Vesterinen’s best personal investment
33:06 -- Advice to your 25 year old self
34:13 -- What courage means for Ville


Please follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and my Website, where I post new episodes, share interesting articles I found, and blog occasionally about cool startups!
Sign-up for the mailing list to stay in the loop!


If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.



Special Guest: Ville Vesterinen.
Support Leap Takers
Links:
The Long MapCompanies VIlle hopes to Back - Ville VesterinenVille Vesterinen (@vesterinen) / TwitterSlush | The World's Leading Startup Event & Community of EntrepreneursSwappie | Refurbished and affordable iPhonesShadow CitiesHow Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World's Most Dynamic Region - Joe StudwellReaktor VenturesSecond Atomico Angel Programme CohortThe Nordic WebNeil S W Murray (@neilswmurray) / TwitterSophia Bendz (@sophiabendz) / TwitterLSE - London School of EconomicsPokémon GOWorld of Warcraft

Ville Vesterinen (@vesterinen) is a serial entrepreneur from Finland. He is one of the original founders of Slush - one of the world’s leading startup & tech conferences, that attracts around 25'000 attendees every year to Helsinki. He also founded Grey Area - a gaming company that was backed by Index Ventures, LVP, Lifeline Ventures.
Ville also serves as the chairman of Swappie, an ambitious young company selling refurbished mobile phones, which just raised $40M in June 2020. He is also on the boards of Maria 01, a 70 000 m² campus for tech companies in the heart of Helsinki as well as on the board of Startup Foundation, the organization that owns various initiatives supporting the Nordic startup ecosystem, among them Slush.


Most recently Ville joined Atomico, one of Europe's leading venture capital investors, as an angel investor to support new aspiring entrepreneurs. Ville also just started his own podcast - The Long Map, where he explores how to live an interesting life.


In this episode, we talk about the origin story of Slush, Grey Area, and Swappie. We cover Ville's learnings from being a serial founder and investor, as well as his tips for other aspiring entrepreneurs in Europe.


Show notes:



02:07 -- Intro - Who is Ville Vesterinen
03:11 -- How Ville became interested in entrepreneurship & tech
04:59 -- Retelling the experience of becoming an entrepreneur in the 2000’s
07:08 -- The origin story of Slush, Europe’s leading tech conference
10:24 -- Ville’s learnings from starting Slush and tips for founding a conference
13:27 -- Major milestones and projects that Ville worked on so far
15:38 -- Location-based games & Shadow Cities
17:57 -- Swappie, refurbishing and selling second hand iPhones
20:04 -- Learnings and advice for future startup founders
24:46 -- Atomico Angel programme and Ville’s investing focus
28:48 -- Ville Vesterinen’s new podcast - The Long Map
30:32 -- Ville Vesterinen’s favorite book
31:38 -- Ville Vesterinen’s best personal investment
33:06 -- Advice to your 25 year old self
34:13 -- What courage means for Ville


Please follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and my Website, where I post new episodes, share interesting articles I found, and blog occasionally about cool startups!
Sign-up for the mailing list to stay in the loop!


If you're enjoying the podcast, the best way to support the show is by leaving a review on Apple Podcast or in your favorite podcast app.



Special Guest: Ville Vesterinen.
Support Leap Takers
Links:
The Long MapCompanies VIlle hopes to Back - Ville VesterinenVille Vesterinen (@vesterinen) / TwitterSlush | The World's Leading Startup Event & Community of EntrepreneursSwappie | Refurbished and affordable iPhonesShadow CitiesHow Asia Works: Success and Failure In the World's Most Dynamic Region - Joe StudwellReaktor VenturesSecond Atomico Angel Programme CohortThe Nordic WebNeil S W Murray (@neilswmurray) / TwitterSophia Bendz (@sophiabendz) / TwitterLSE - London School of EconomicsPokémon GOWorld of Warcraft

36 min