Pivotal Moments - TINC Virtual 2020
Since TINC, the Tech Incubator at Nordic Innovation House-Silicon Valley was first launched in 2012, 164 companies have taken part in the programs in Silicon Valley. It has triggered pivotal moments for success companies like Kahoot, eSmartSystems, Shoreline, Tise, Arifiq, Documaster, Inzpire.me, Coala Life, Authentec and Winningtemp. This year, under the restraints of Covid, the TINC Program itself had to pivot, and for the first time in history, run all virtual.
So, what happens, when you replace the buzzing scene of Silicon Valley with a dark bedroom and a laptop in Finland, Iceland, Sweden or Norway? What relationships can you build when all your mentoring sessions are via Zoom, and early morning in Palo Alto meets late evening in Finland? And how can you bond with the other participating companies, when even close colleagues dial in from different locations?
Quite well, as a matter of fact.
This fall nine Nordic companies signed up for our Virtual TINC 2020 Program, and as for all beta solutions, the participants were warned that flaws and failure was to be expected. Just to be on the safe side. We were also worried about the outcome of the program, without the physical presence. But those worries were soon to be forgotten.
Our trusted mentors saw new opportunities in the online model and were as present as ever for the individual companies. The companies did not have to leave their operational tasks for 4 weeks to travel to California but could combine daytime work with evening classes. And the joint sessions where participants from across the Nordics met online, were filled with both valuable exchanges of experience, good advice and singing around the virtual campfire.
The virtual experience
The companies reported that they were able to connect with their teammates more closely during the program and several commented that their team became much more aligned. The companies were able to work on their operational tasks during the day and leverage TINC Virtual 2020 in the evening workshop sessions. They were able to implement the lessons learned in the TINC workshops into their daily operations and this way learn and iterate in real time.
Main takeaways from the companies is that they now have a much clearer focus on where to go and how to get there. “We have a focus and a way forward with a much better business model than we started with”, says Rocsole.
We asked the companies to sum of their experience and what advice they would have for companies thinking about joining the TINC program. And here are some of the things they told us:
“Don't hesitate, just do it. TINC helped us reevaluate our business, leaving us in a much better state than before.” Beetroot Academy.
“TINC was a phenomenal four weeks of connecting to Silicon Valley tech industry experts whose sole focus in the program is to coach the teams to grow and succeed. We came away with much more confidence in our business model, unity of spirit and a stronger pitch for the exciting road ahead”, Flow.
TINC is in-depth expertise and insights delivered in a personal way that make it accessible. It has given me experiences and memories of great value and something I will bring along for the rest of my life!” Emergency Management Solutions.
“TINC gave us a huge amount of focus on how we position the company and how we build a legitimate strategy for growth.” Kitemaker
“TINC helped us make a roadmap to fulfill our goals, whether it be business model, go-to-market strategy or scaling.” ReducePlan
VIRTUAL Demo Day WITH INVESTOR PANEL
At Demo Day on December 3rd, all companies delivered exceptional pitches to a panel of professional investors. A huge thank you to Arne Tonning, Partner, Alliance Ventures, Heather Richman, Founder, Defense Investor Network and Nadav Eylath, Managing Partner and Founder, at.inc/. The training and preparations with Demo Coach Nathan Gold really paid off, as did the valuable sessions with long term TINC mentors like Julie Hanna, Victor Belfor, Sean Percival, Han Jin, Daniel Kjellen and Eva Nahari. This program would not have been the same without their expertise, guidance and care for each and every company.
The TINC companies this year represented a wide range of sectors, but shared the same passion for solving issues of importance in their individual markets. In the field of social innovation Flow (IS) became even more mindful of the opportunities for growth in the market for meditation and mental restitution. Bsafe Emergency Management Solutions (NO) improved their approach for safety on college campuses and Reduce Plan (IS) pivoted their solution to even better address the opioid crisis. From the more industrial tech companies, impressive progress was presented by ROCSOLE (FI) and their solutions for monitoring critical equipment in the oil and gas industry. WENN (NO) also got the investors undivided attention with their solution to scan for damage and calculate repair cost for rental car operators at airports. Algoryx Simulation (SE) did a great job to present their cutting edge AI solution for visual and physics based simulations for heavy autonomous machinery. From the EdTech side, Beetroot Academy (SE) made a convincing presentation of the effect of the growth potential for their digital IT learning platform. For target groups in higher education and research, Osint Analytics (NO) made a compelling presentation of their technology to search and qualify the content in vast amounts of research papers. Finally, Kitemaker (NO) convinced the investors and audience that there actually could be a market for another product management tool for improved collaboration and smarter integrations between different systems.
For Nordic Innovation House-Silicon Valley and the TINC Team, the experience with an all-digital program has left us with new insights and ideas for the coming years. We still very much believe in the power of presence in Silicon Valley, but also see how preparations and early stage coaching could be executed just as well online as on site in Palo Alto. This would make it easier for great entrepreneurs to join the program without leaving their daily operation for weeks, and still have the opportunity to pitch, network and feel the Silicon Valley vibe when coming over for the end of the program.
We will keep you posted on how the pivoted TINC program will look in the next couple of months!