Our History

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In the Spring of 2018, the Startup Sauna Accelerator programme was shut down.

In the early Summer of 2018, after talking with a number of the active coaches and recent alumni, our Head Coach, Mike Bradshaw, saw that the existing accelerators were leaving a large group unserviced.

The existing accelerators had become a filter/training service for the region's investors, so if your startup was not an obvious "winner" it was very difficult to get any help.

The inspiration to work as a zero equity, alumni supported programme came as we were following our own advice, and looked at what our customers needed most - honest, actionable feedback today, to help them be successful in the coming years. This helps keep Sampo Accelerator focused on helping founders become better, so they are able to support future activities.

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Having coached & mentored at a number of different programmes in the region, the structure and syllabus of the programme was clear.

Now the only challenge was to prove that the hypothesis was true and to get young companies to come and join the programme.

The first batch was held in October/November of 2018, and the theory was proven correct.

This first batch also saw the team expand with the addition of Teodora as COO.

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In the late winter of 2020, we held the first batch of The Mill.  

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