My Bootcamp Experience: Insights, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

Unexpected Interest in Startup Life

A year ago, in the middle of my product manager career, something unexpected happened — I found myself interested in startup life. An idea sparked, and it seemed promising enough to explore it. I conducted a quick possible competitor research, estimated roughly the total addressable market, ran a survey through social media, and concluded there could be a solid product-market fit with potential.

I still don’t quite know where my energy and enthusiasm came from, but suddenly it occurred to me that I wanted to dive deep into the startup vibe, from pitches to funding rounds. In Finland Startup Sauna is the hub for startups, and the name alone is a fun reminder of where I am. Several accelerators are also connected to it, and I considered joining one could be a great way to expand my network and meet potential investors.

I’m writing this and still can’t quite believe it was real. Entrepreneurship was never on my radar — my usual sense of responsibility makes corporate work intense enough as it is. Leading a startup might even challenge my mental health, but there I was, excited to see where this journey takes me.

Bootcamp and Market Validation

Before joining the accelerator I was required to go through a bootcamp. I had a few weeks before the start date, so I spent that time filling out an extensive survey about my idea and the data supporting my confidence that it would work. This is where my market research really proved to be valuable. Based on my survey responses I was invited to the week-long bootcamp.

The purpose of the bootcamp is to ensure that wanna-be founders validate their ideas qualitatively and confirm a product-market fit. I assume the requirement was based on a lesson learned by the accelerator from past experiences where founders rushed into building solutions without verifying that there was user demand for them.

At the welcome meeting it was announced that the bootcamp would require participants to conduct as many interviews as possible to clarify the user problem. The suggested target was forty interviews. Every evening participants were to submit a form on the website summarizing the day’s insights. Based on these insights, the organizers would select a set number of startups (I don’t recall the exact number) to join the accelerator.

Additionally, the organizers created a Slack channel, though it proved to be less useful than expected. Unfortunately, there was no dedicated activity to help participants get acquainted at the start of the bootcamp. I did connect with a few others in the lobby, but that was the extent of it. The networking experience would have benefited greatly from some facilitated activities to help people get to know each other. Overall there were three offline events: the welcome meeting, the results announcement, and a final barbecue party.

Conducting Interviews and Managing Workload

Right after the welcome meeting I began recruiting participants for my research. Half of them came from a local women’s chat, which is a goldmine of insights on nearly any topic and also a supportive community. The other half were came through earlier social media survey where I had added an option for those interested to join further research and interviews.

Somehow over the following week I managed to conduct twelve interviews on my own. The findings were supposed to be processed the same day. Balancing this with my main job was not easy, it required more effort than I’d usually take on. Still, I learned a lot, and the insights I gathered deserve a separate article.

Reflecting on the Accelerator Experience

In the end my idea wasn’t selected for the accelerator program — though in hindsight, this may have been a good thing. By the end of that intense week I was so exhausted that even I started to question the brilliance of my own idea.

Although I didn’t commit to a startup based on this idea, I decided to still share its core value with those who might be interested. As a result I created a regular email newsletter featuring content that was initially intended to form the core of the app. Now I prepare content every two weeks as a personal project.

A total of 57 teams applied to the bootcamp, with 45 completing the research phase. However, I never received any direct feedback on my own submission, which leads me to suspect that the final decision was based more on the written pitch than on the research results.

One of the most popular ideas among the organizers was an “Airbnb for parking.” The concept allows users to rent out their parking space during work hours to those needing it in their neighborhood. This is a beautiful idea, however, it can be challenged in many ways. It will be interesting to see if a similar model emerges in Helsinki or Finland in the near future.