Polar Bear Pitching is an extreme way for entrepreneurs to show how much they care about their startup.
Impressions of Polar Bear Pitching 2019: Entrepreneurs pitching in the freezing waters of Finland!
When you are in the cold water (1-4 C°), you focus on the most important aspects of your business and throw away everything else.
It’s a great way to make your pitch easy to understand by the panel of investors ready to support your project.
The Polar Bear Pitching was created by Mia Kemppaala in 2013, right after the fall of Nokia.
It had 2 main objectives:
- To improve communication between entrepreneurs and potential customers or investors
- To show how motivated entrepreneurs are even in hard times or environments.
The deal for entrepreneurs is that you can pitch as long as you want while you stay in the ice hole.
Attendees could enjoy many side events as well, like the Race of Drones and multiple conferences around the theme “Business Unusual”.
Ian McCready from UltraHack talks about his observations as an attendee of Polar Bear Pitching 2019.
What was the experience like for entrepreneurs? Mike Muriuki from MealBox shares his experience at Polar Bear Pitching! (You can hear some Irish music in the background at the end)
Here is a list of all the startups:
As an ambassador for AlphaGamma, I had the unique opportunity to try the ice hole myself!
This was extremely intense during the first minute but it becomes quite enjoyable afterward.
As a big Wim Hof fan, I was really motivated and focused when I went in the freezing water which allowed me to stay relaxed at the beginning and keep on going for 8 minutes!
I would compare this experience to bungee jumping even though you need way more stamina and control for this one.
I strongly recommend it to all people wanting to challenge themselves and test their physical and mental capabilities.
You can find all the pitches on the Polar Bear YouTube channel.
Stay tuned for the next editions of the Polar Bear Pitching event – it is going to be held next March in Oulu, Finland. Make sure to join the Polar Bear Pitching newsletter for the latest updates!
For more startups and business tips, check our entrepreneurship section and subscribe to our weekly newsletters.
The splash photo has been created by the photographer Henri Louma.