At Start Up The Fusion, an event in which Opinno collaborated, all kinds of experts from different fields had the opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions. One of the talks that filled the conference room of the Círculo de Bellas Artes was that of Peter Vesterbacka.
An air of expectation filled the room and no wonder. Peter Vesterbacka along with his team have succeeded in erecting the Rovio empire from an ingenious mixture of mobile applications and entertainment. We are of course talking about AngryBirds.
What could be seen at first glance as a simple mobile game is, for it’s creator, something more. Peter Vesterbacka talks about a complete experience for the user, the reason of which he assures that Rovio “doesn’t skimp on marketing” in any of its campaigns.
The Finnish company created in 2003 is currently of the most important businesses in videogamesand, along with its Scandinavian compatriots, a European example of innovation and Startups.
He looked to get the best out of entrepreneurs: “let’s celebrate the failures”. His and Rovio’s story is similar to a lot of others: over six years of videogames that bypassed the market without glory until finally succeeding with AngryBirds, the trademark of the brand that Peter Vesterbacka supporting in each of it’s live appearances.
In this sense, his talk was animed at encouraging promising youngsters to impulse their businessand to help each other overcome the difficulties that these types of ventures face.
He confirmed that Finland were in a similar situation in 1991, a year in which the Soviet Union dissolved and political promises meant nothing. From this moment, countries living under communist influences had to reinvent their business model, something that Vesterbacka sees as “thanks to a mentality change”.
On the other hand, he admitted that Europe isn’t seen a paradise destination for investments and developing a business in due to the bureaucratic shackles that the European innovator frequently finds himself in.
Despite this, for Peter Vesterbacka this isn’t a big enough reason sit around and do nothing as business activity “isn’t about finding the easiest places to invest in”. He talked of reinventing the sector in order to, in the near future; compete with the United States of America.
Actually, he assured that the American business model is “very different” than the European, as demonstrated in the success stories of today that are used as an example for young innovators: Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.
The mind behind Rovio underlined the “personable” character of Jobs and Zuckerburg as a key point to their success whereas the European front should be, in his opinion, one that joins a large group of people striving towards one standard.
And what better moment to establish connections than in a networking session? In reference to this, he assured that “people have great ideas but sometimes don’t share them” a crass mistake that many make “because they are afraid of someone stealing their ideas”, a reality he denied. Finally, the videogames tycoon invited those present to share their experiences with him at the end of the conference.
