Looking forward to Startup Weekend
As Rainmaking is co-hosting Startup Weekend throughout the Nordics, Startup Weekend found it interesting to interview Carsten Kølbek about Rainmaking’s involvement. Here is the result:
How have you got interested in Startup Weekend?
We have launched a European accelerator program called startupbootcamp. The critical factor for us is to attract the best European startup teams. When we met Clint Nilsen, one of the founders of startupweekend, we immediately saw this as a great vehicle for getting in contact with hundreds of entrepreneurs across Europe and that is the reason we are now sponsoring and co-arranging startupweekends in Vilnius, Kaunas, Stockholm, Lund, Copenhagen and Oslo.
What do you hope to get from Startup Weekend?
Personally, I hope to have a fun and rewarding weekend where I meet a lot of great people who are enthusiastic about entrepreneurship. From the perspective of Rainmaking, I hope we find one or two great teams who could be candidates for our startupbootcamp program this summer in Copenhagen.
Please, tell prospective participants about yourself and Rainmaking
I am the co-founder of Rainmaking, which is a “startup factory”. We have created 11 companies in 3½ years. Some have failed but fortunately we have also made our first two exits. Currently, our companies have an annual turnover of EUR 20 million. And we employ 60+ people.
Q&A: The background of Rainmaking and the beginning of Startupbootcamp
Carsten Kølbek is Partner in Rainmaking which is organizing Startupbootcamp - an entrepreneurial initiative where each entrepreneur can get DKK 25.000 as seed capital to start a company in three months.
What is the point with Startupbootcamp?
--The purpose of Startupbootcamp is to support and strengthen entrepreneurial teams with good ideas. The target group consists of entrepreneurial people in Northern Europe, and we hope to receive approximately 250 applications from teams. From these, 10 will be selected to enter a three-month program in Copenhagen over the course of the summer 2010. The goal is that the teams will move from idea to prototype or product, which at the end of the program will be presented to a large group of investors.
Who is Rainmaking?
--Rainmaking was founded in 2006 by Martin Bjergegaard, Morten Abildgaard Kristensen, Morten Bjerregaard Nielsen and I. Since then, we have had two exits with the GodtSyn and CityLasik, both related to eye surgery treatments, and both sold to the eye treatment company Memira with Investor Growth Capital as major proprietor. In the beginning of 2010, we opened an office in London, and we are planning to open an office in New York within the next two years.
Why did you initiate Startupbootcamp?
--More and more self-employed business people approached us wanting to do business, and with Startupbootcamp we have found a good way to comply with these approaches. Also, we want to be attractive towards new and edgy entrepreneurs and hopefully contribute to the making of the next Skype. Last but not least, we feel that we have learned a lot about entrepreneurship over the last couple of years, and we would like to give something back as well as pass on this knowledge.
Who’s helping?
-- Approximately 50 top mentors from our network will take part in Startupbootcamp passing along their good advices as well as open some doors to their own networks.
Who have been your “rolemodels” to start Startupbootcamp?
--We have been inspired by Tech Stars, Seedcamp and Y Combinator. We have not found any similar initiatives here in Scandinavia. Although there are plenty of councils, incubators and investors, we have not seen others, who help entrepreneurs with the first and crucial steps in such a hands-on approach.
By Anders Frick, Rapidus