Cofounder search for Startup Sauna alumni and participants

What Startup Sauna is and is not

Startup Sauna is Aalto University's accelerator program, based in Otaniemi in Espoo and drawing participants primarily from the Helsinki-Espoo metro and internationally. It is a team-based program with a selective application process. Accepted teams go through an intensive period of mentorship, product development, and investor preparation. It is one of Finland's most established startup programs and has produced a notable alumni community.

The program is designed to accelerate existing teams, not to create them. You apply as a team and go through it as a team. There is no individual-founder track or matching component within the program itself. The cofounder search, if you need one, happens before or after the program, not during it.

What happens when teams dissolve after the program

Team dissolution after a structured program is common and does not reflect badly on anyone involved. The intense environment of an accelerator often clarifies incompatibilities that were not obvious before. Former Startup Sauna participants who are back in the market for a cofounder have a genuine credential: they have been through a selective process and developed their company to a point where an external program thought it was worth investing time in.

The challenge is that the alumni network, while warm, is limited to people who went through the program. Extending the search outside that network requires a different channel.

Using the Aalto ecosystem more broadly

The Aalto Entrepreneurship Society (Aalto ES) runs events and communities that include both Startup Sauna alumni and a much wider group of entrepreneurial students, recent graduates, and professionals. These are more open than the alumni network itself and are a useful complement to a public directory search.

Continuing the search outside the program community

A public profile that leads with your Startup Sauna background, what you built there, and what you are looking for now gives people outside your existing network a starting point for understanding your credibility and your current situation. See the Helsinki cofounder page for who is currently in the directory, or browse the full public directory. Also see the Slush and post-event cofounder search guide for the conference-based version of this problem.