Each year, Slush gathers together the core of the European startup ecosystem from the best early-stage founders to leading investors. It is the largest gathering of VC money there is. In total, attending investors sit on 4 trillion assets under management. Slush is the perfect place to build unique peer-to-peer connections and to meet investors – whether you’re actively fundraising or not.
The best way to book meetings at Slush is through our Matchmaking Tool. Here’s what you need to know about it as a startup.
Improved company profiles and startup analytics.
No matter who you’re looking to meet, it’s important that your profile stands out in the Matchmaking Tool.
- 100% Company Completion Score – once you create a company profile, you’ll reach a certain company completion score based on the amount of information you’ve provided. If you reach a 100% company completion score, your profile is sure to stand out and attract attention from investors.
- Startup Analytics – you can check how much traction your profile is getting on the platform under Startup Analytics. It’ll reveal how many times your profile and your pitch deck have been viewed.
Note: remember to include the basics in your profile. You should have a profile picture, a company logo, and a concise and informative profile description both for yourself and your business. Fill in all the fields and add a link to your website.
Identifying the right investors.
- Make sure your company meets the fund’s investment criteria. Pay attention to industry, stage, and geographic focus.
- Target the right person. If you’re looking to raise funding, reach out to someone in the investment team instead of a comms expert.
- VCs often employ a variety of different profiles who all handle dealflow. As partners receive a ton of meeting requests, reaching out to an investment manager or an analyst might increase your chances of getting through.
- Be strategic. Meeting requests are unequally distributed among investors – you can maximize your chances of securing an investor meeting by reaching out to local and emerging VCs as well as industry specialists.
Meeting locations.
By using the Matchmaking Tool to schedule your meeting in the Meeting Area, you are guaranteed a proper meeting table for the duration of your meeting.
- Meeting Area is a seated area inside the Slush venue specifically reserved for taking meetings. For each meeting in the Meeting Area, there’s a table reserved for the duration of the meeting (25 minutes).
In addition to the Meeting Area, the tool has several different options that you can choose from.
- 1-on-1 Point is a spot inside the Slush Venue where you can easily find the person you are meeting with. The difference to Meeting Area is that there is no table reservation – it’s there to help you locate the person you are meeting with. Once you have found each other, the actual meeting can take place anywhere.
- Choose yourself means you can send a meeting request without a specified location – book a time with someone and suggest a spot to meet at the Slush Venue yourself through the chat found in Matchmaking.
- In addition, if you or the person you are meeting with is involved with a company that has a lounge or a booth, you can suggest the meeting there.
- If you (and the person you’re looking to meet) are attending Founders Day on Day 0 (Nov 29), it will appear as a location in the tool. This is a great opportunity for learning and for building peer-to-peer support networks.
Start matchmaking sooner rather than later
The response rate declines steadily towards the event. Make sure you start matchmaking early enough to maximize your matchmaking success.
If your or your teammates’ tickets are unassigned, you can’t use the Matchmaking Tool. Quickly assign your tickets before starting to use the tool and you’re all set.