I find it ironic to be arriving here in Helsinki for the Arctic 15 Conference a week after Steve Blank’s visit and recent blog post on the ‘Pay it Forward Culture’ in SF. http://steveblank.com/2011/09/15/the-pay-it-forward-culture/. I was on the receiving end of the pay it forward culture this evening by Jens Sorensen, CEO of Tuubio.com. He was introduced to me late this afternoon and as we jockeyed trying to find a time to meet-up in between my back-to-back meetings and his manic schedule (he is launching Tuubio in a few weeks in Finland before rolling it out in the states) he suggested that he pick me up from the airport and drive me to my hotel. Sounds like something Esther Dyson would do right?!
We had 2+ hours to discuss his vision for Tuubio, the music industry, sky diving and great local Finnish beer. I also got to hear his vision for turning Helsinki into a leading centre for startups and tech investing (which I believe is already well under-way). I love the fact that, as a guy who needs 8 hours of sleep, Jens paid it forward tonight by helping out one of his own. He could have easily gone to catch his zzz’s or hang out with his probably somewhat neglected gf. But instead, he went out of his way to pick me up and provide me with some awesome Finnish hospitality. This is why I love coming to Helsinki and can’t wait for DFJ to make its first investment from Fund III up here.
A huge thank you to Jens and very much looking forward to the event tomorrow.
