Re: The Burning Platform Tour — Saving Nokians
 

Sounds like a good way to get in "contact" with lots of chicks :D

Re: The Burning Platform Tour — Saving Nokians
 

From that comment, i can guess you have not been to many entrepreneurial focused events :D :rolleyes:

At least here in Finland, they are still pretty guy heavy.
Not sure why, as women *ALWAYS* deliver better pitches.
Oh and here in Finland, sauna is normally taken seperatly ;)

Re: The Burning Platform Tour — Saving Nokians
 

Miserable git :p

Re: The Burning Platform Tour — Saving Nokians
 

LOL yes I guess they are :D wonder why? Maybe it has something to do with crawling into a sweaty sauna with a couple of geeks ? ;)

Re: The Burning Platform Tour — Saving Nokians
 

Also, we are talking about Nokia here. As much as things are improving, the tech teams (who got the boot) are still rather male-dominated. So as a strategy to pull girls, this is probably the weakest ever!

But, as Mike pointed out, we want to help those folk within Nokia. We're both passionate about entrepreneurship. We have both had links to Maemo/Meego and friends who suffered the consequences. Mike has been coaching people within the StartupSauna and AaltoES groups for quite some time, and I'm a poor sod of a startup entrepreneur myself.

If there's something useful I can do with that background, it is to pass on even some of the lessons and experiences, and to hopefully inspire new entrepreneurs to start pushing the field. Finland has absolutely outrageous technical talent, and some big things have come from here, but often after long struggles (as an example: Rovio had been running for years, and was all but bankrupt before Angry Birds). Are there ways we can get the world to realise the strengths here, and to get more people to take that plunge?

I just feel a lot of those small stories of struggles and brilliant inspirations of ideas do not get covered by the media. Only the big successes do. But many fight their way every day to get that break, and to talk about their battles. As a general thing, our whole project is about collecting and sharing those stories.

So honestly, if someone has a grudge against this and sees it as a couple of guys taking a holiday, then please do step in and be an organiser for the project instead. Or to join the team. I'm happy to stay at home or to offload some of the work (new organisers would be very welcome!!) —*as long as we get those entrepreneurial stories told, and as long as we can do something good for the people who worked their arses off inside Nokia.

Re: The Burning Platform Tour — Saving Nokians
 

And yes, this must be the first time a Defender has been described as a luxury vehicle!

Here are some key quotes from Auto Express:

"It's unbeatable off-road, but incredibly uncomfortable on tarmac and very noisy."

"Cramped driving position, vague on-road handling"

"The car bounces all over rough tarmac. The steering isn't very responsive and has lots of turns lock-to-lock too, while cornering is best done slowly."

I still love it, though :)

Edited to say (for the Americans who might not know the Defender as it's not available there): this is a totally different vehicle from Discoveries and Range Rovers and the like. This is the authentic, original Land Rover, evolved over 60 years and used by the military and farmers. It's a totally utilitarian vehicle, built for a purpose, and that purpose was not to pose at shopping malls. Does a good job hauling a massive trailer sauna, though!