Around the corner...

It has been somewhat tough winter. Data visualization is the word and direction we're heading. Our platformisation work is progressing but has proved to be more challenging than we preliminary estimated in January. Having said that, the platform do look nice now and very very soon can handle unlimited nbr of social objects on the map. Not bad, eh?!

I hope you have checked out the first "corporate version" of the platform: www.hankegalleria.fi by TEKES (Finnish Technology and Innovation Fund) where they are visualizing organisations and research projects they are funding. Fantastic example how our platform works. And there will be more!

Now the summer is here and most of the country stands still making it difficult to open/close that many new sales cases. It is actually quite unbeliavable what kind of answers one gets when asking about how and when could we continue discussing this-and-this...too often the answer is something like "yes, this is good and we'll definitely do something about it but nothing happens before mid-August..." Try to build cash flow there... no good.

Anyway - let's enjoy the sunshine while it lasts - and continue the visual revolution we're working with. It is just around the corner!

Pump up the pace!

We're living extreme times. Working methods from 90's do not apply anymore. If you cannot adopt the new pace, you'll fail. Like it or not, adopt or die is the mode now.

Preparing for the pitches...

A wise one once said: "If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail". I could not agree more. One HAS TO prepare in god time. Especially when it comes to presenting and pitching. Cold calling is not the way here...

Ja voittohan sieltä tuli! We did win White Bull 2011!

Eli piipahdin Barcelonassa pokkaamassa White Bull 2011 Bully Awardsin palkinnon Yearlings-kategoriassa. Hieno meininki!

I was a great honor to be presented with the White Bull 2011 Bully Awards trophy in Barcelona. Thank you White Bull!!!

Hitlantis ja Cognitive Maps Ltd on yksi Euroopan lupaavimmista teknologiayrityksistä!

Hitlantis nimitettiin Bully Award 2011 -kilpailun finalistiksi

Suomalainen ohjelmistoyritys Cognitive Maps ja sen ensimmäinen tuote Hitlantis on nimitetty Bully Award 2011 -kilpailun finalistiksi. Bully Award -kilpailussa palkitaan vuosittain Euroopan johtavat teknologia-, media- ja telekommunikaatioalan yritykset.

Kuusikymmentä yritystä nimitettiin finalisteiksi vuoden 2011 Bully Award -kilpailussa. Ansioituneet finalistit valittiin satojen eurooppalaisten teknologia-, media- ja telekommunikaatioalan yritysten joukosta. Finalistit jaettiin kolmeen luokkaan yritysten iän ja taustan mukaan: tulokkaisiin, nuoriin lupauksiin ja vanhoihin tekijöihin.

- Bully Award -kilpailun finalistit valittiin ensisijaisesti niiden erinomaisuuden ja innovatiivisuuden perusteella. Jokainen finalistiyrityksistä on johtava omalla alallaan. Valituilla yrityksillä on selkeät liiketoimintasuunnitelmat, tarkoituksenmukaiset strategiat ja niiden toiminta on lähtenyt liikkeelle asiakkaiden tarpeen ymmärtämisestä ja sen pohjalta kehitetystä teknologiaratkaisusta, kertoo Farley Duvall, White Bull Summitin perustaja ja puheenjohtaja.

Hitlantis sopii hyvin Bully Award -finalistiksi.
- Etsimme ’viekkaita petoja’, joiden uskomme elävän jokaisen menestyneen yrityksen sisällä. Olemme käyneet huolellisesti läpi joukon yrityksiä aina alkutekijöissään olevista starttiyrityksistä aikaisen vaiheen ja kasvuvaiheen yrityksiin sekä valinneet näistä yrityksistä finalistit, joissa uskomme olevan potentiaalia tulevaisuuden kasvuun. Valitut yritykset ovat ansainneet paikkansa valokeilassa, kertoo Duvall.

Kolmekymmentä voittajaa, kymmenen jokaisesta kategoriasta, julkistetaan White Bull Summit, Pathways to Exit -tapahtumassa Barcelonassa 3-5 lokakuuta 2011. Kaikki White Bull Bully 2011 -kilpailun finalistit ovat esillä kilpailun kotisivuilla.

www.whitebull.com

Rehearsing makes perfect...

Dunno about perfect, but it sure helps.

During the past months I've been invited to pitch Hitlantis in numerous occasions, presentations and pitching competitions all over the world. I've been fortunate enough to actually win some of those competitions. The fact is that one must not attempt pitching his/her service/case unless he/she trains the pitch very carefully. Basically every word you say must be pre-thought and during the presentation there really must not be room for ad hoc thinking at all - there really is no time for that. One must know his sales pitch from word-2-word by heart. There really is no other way. Unfortunately I've seen many pitches and presentations with obviously too little rehearsals behind. It really is awfull - makes the presenter look and feel amateur and actually disrespects the audience.

One aspect of my own rehearsals is video taping as many of them as possible. By doing this it is easier to learn from silly mistakes and odd looking gaps etc. Here's one of my rehearsals taped infront of a very small audience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RG0L1Oq-Dg

This 10 mins session was quite ok but lacks some energy what I typically put into my presentations with bigger audiences. Also the length of the presentation is important factor as here I did not need to rush but if you are given just exact 2 mins or 5 mins time to do your pitch, the storyline must be different in order to get the message through. One must rehearse the different lengths carefully.

I'm going to attend couple of pitching events this fall too and hopefully they will be video taped so I can share them here.

later...tp

Preparing for the A-Round...

Hello everyone, summer's over and we're supposedly all charged up to keep up the good work with Hitlantis. The spring closed nicely with the announcement of the closure of our seed rounds, which made excellent headlines all over the press. Like Billboard here.

Now its time to take the next steps towards the A-round of 3-5 Meur.

More to follow soon...

tp