The Finnish startup ecosystem is relatively small. But in turn, it is very accessible. And Kiuas is the go-to place to start your journey. If you are thinking of founding a company or joining an ambitious team ready to take off, look no further.

A little back story. I launched Urban Cycles Oy with my co-founder Serhii Yatsuk to re-imagine how modern electric bicycles look, ride, and feel. In May 2019, we applied to the Kiuas Accelerator program but didn’t get accepted first. However, we still joined the Start program the following autumn.

The three weeks of the program passed in the blink of an eye. At least, that’s how we felt. It was very intense and practical. We went through the weeklies, workshops, mentoring sessions, and product sprints - everything you need to implement a classic build-measure-learn approach. Additionally, we’ve been actively using the Kiuas Toolbox. By our modest calculations, we save over €100k on must-have tools such as Google Cloud, HubSpot, Stripe, and Notion.

But Kiuas is much more than that. Perhaps, the most valuable part is the support from the community during and after the program. To this day, we keep in touch with many teams and mentors, sharing insights and helping each other.

After participation in the Start program, we spent months on research and product development. This summer, we had an engineering prototype ready and were ready to take the next step. That’s when we finally got accepted to the Accelerator program, where we focused more on our go-to-market strategy. And this autumn, we finally launched our e-bike brand - Equal. At the moment, we are taking pre-orders for the bikes with deliveries expected during the summer of 2021. Looking back, I can hardly imagine our journey without Kiuas.

All in all, there is no right way of building a company. If you do it for the first time, you’ll have to take many shots, see what works and what doesn’t, and get comfortable with the unknowns. Kiuas Start provides an excellent opportunity to do just that, so use your chance and apply now!

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Written for the Kiuas blog by the founder & CEO of Equal bike

Application period to Kiuas Start ends Wednesday 14.10 at 23.59