Over a week ago, more than 12,000 founders, investors, executives, and press put on their warmest jackets and gloves to enter Helsinki, Finland for Slush, the world’s leading startup event. We were lucky enough to be brought along for the ride with Lightspeed Venture Partners. At the conference, we helped manage their onsite presence at Slush during the regular programming, as well as event happenings after dark (or 3:45 in the afternoon, as the Finnish call it).

Read along for a recap of the Scandinavian adventure!

Not familiar with Slush?
Let us enlighten you! Slush is a student-driven, not-for-profit movement on a mission to create and help the next generation of groundbreaking entrepreneurs. It originally began as a single event in Helsinki, to what it is now a one-of-a-kind community and event series that has spread around the world. In addition to Slush, they organize smaller “Slush’D” events all over the globe. 

What was something you experienced that you haven’t seen before?
Several things. If Slush had a middle name it would be Sustainable. The event was carbon-negative and the evidence was clear to see:

• The only meals served were vegetarian and sustainable from Meeat, ROOTY, and Don Tortilla

• Recyclable decorative materials 

• Recycled clothing for volunteers - all materials were made from 100% recycled textile waste

• Collaboration with FloweRescue to redistribute all Slush greenery after the event

• Use of Fortum’s renewable electricity to charge the electric cars used during the event

Typically at events, one constant you can count on is swag—but not at Slush! With printed materials and trash serving as key contributors to landfills, in an effort to host a sustainable event and reduce waste, Slush banned the sharing and production of stickers, giveaways, flyers, and other printed media.

Additionally, speakers and top partners of the event were assigned a ‘Slush buddy’. This is a student volunteer who is essentially your guide to all things Slush. On top of helping us coordinate transportation to/from the airport and afterparty events, they knew where every stage and meeting room was inside the conference. Plus, they know the local language. They made our experience much less stressful and we were so grateful for them (shoutout Anton and Jonathan)! 

Who speaks at Slush?
After hearing so much about Slush from our speaker management team, we were really looking forward to seeing who took to the stage! Notable speakers from top tech companies like Twitter, Affirm, OnlyFans, Klarna, and Twitch took to the very neon stage. Even the Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Martin graced attendees with her presence during a session on the role of government in creating an environment for innovation. 

What did cred help manage while onsite at Slush? 
Lightspeed co-hosted an epic ‘partyround’ after Day 1 of Slush. We helped to manage the event, which included registrations of 800+ startup founder and investor attendees. Guests mixed and mingled until the wee hour of 1:00 am, the fun complete with a full bar and DJ.  Lightspeed also hosted an intimate private dinner at Restaurant Grön in central Helsinki. The epicurean tasting experience highlighted seasonal, organic, wild Scandinavian produce, accompanied by exclusive, regional wines. It was a delightful evening of food and networking. About 20 hand-picked attendees joined for the bespoke meal. 

There were eight Partners from Lightspeed who attended Slush so, along with their director of events, we made sure everyone was in the right place at the right time:

• Judging: As one of the best early-stage active funds in Europe, Lightspeed had a large role to play in judging the ‘Slush 100 Pitching Competition’. Along with four other VCs, the lucky winners had €1M invested into their business. 

• Investor Lounge: From here, Lightspeed took meetings, prepped for stage time, and used it as a general home base. We helped to manage the bookings for this lounge.

• Speaking: Lightspeed Partner Paul Murphy moderated a session with Lightspeed Venture Partner & Advisor and current Chairman of the Board at Microsoft John W. Thompson. The conversation was an opportunity for John to share lessons learned from the 40+ years he’s built technology companies, and what comes with it: the weight of responsibility, complexity of leadership, and innovation in the ever-changing technology landscape. John regaled the audience with interesting stories from succeeding Bill Gates as the chairman of Microsoft from 2014 to 2021, to numerous positions at multinational powerhouse IBM.

Across all days, Slush’s tagline (“The break of dawn”) could be seen, heard and felt through speakers’ remarks onstage, matchmaking opportunities, and buzzy afterparties (and after-afterparties). From the airplane ride into Helsinki all the way to the very end, it was incredibly special to be a part of such a unique event. 

We hope to be involved again next year—whether through events, speaking or both! Have a conference presence you need help managing? Let us know by emailing events@credpr.com!