Slush interviewed four founders who volunteered at Slush
Slush’s mission is to help and create founders to change the world. According to its Founder Factory report published last year, 15% of Slush alumni have founded their own company. Every year, Slush introduces 2,000 volunteers to the startup ecosystem.
"Volunteering at Slush opens doors for young visionaries. It's a human accelerator that shows how far you can run, independent of your age or prior experience,” Noora Saksa, CEO at Slush describes.
By 2026, Slush has introduced more than 10,000 young people to the startup ecosystem through volunteering. Now, four ex-volunteers share how volunteering at Slush influenced their decision to become tech entrepreneurs.
Slush offers ecosystem exposure
Sami Marttinen founded Swappie in 2016. Swappie is Europe's leading refurbisher of used iPhones, with an annual revenue of over €200 million. Sami, while remaining on Swappie's board, has now stepped down from his full-time position to build his new startup.
"The biggest impact [of volunteering at Slush] at the time was exposure to the whole ecosystem, which fueled my drive to start a company right away instead of years later—my co-founder and I decided to start building Swappie already a couple of months after Slush," Marttinen says.
For many Slush volunteers, the experience allows belief of endless possibilities. Antonia Eneh, who founded Elva in 2025, recalls being inspired by the young team building Slush and wanting to get involved in the ecosystem as soon as possible.
"At Slush, people place infinite trust in you: that you can do absolutely anything if you just dare to go for it. I've utilized that same belief to my own team now as CEO,” Eneh sums up. Elva has raised €1.3 million in funding to address a key bottleneck faced by European startups: moving talent across borders.
Volunteering at Slush offers a community where age isn't a measure of success
Olli Kangas founded Intergrid in 2023 to accelerate the transition to renewable energy systems; the 40-person team now serves over a hundred industrial customers. Kangas highlights that volunteering at Slush in 2015 and 2017 lowered his threshold to becoming an entrepreneur.
"Slush is the one community where the most ambitious and curious people get things done, but with a twinkle in their eyes,” Kangas describes.
All the entrepreneurs interviewed by Slush share the experience of Slush accelerating their path to entrepreneurship: Sanni Makkonen even got her business idea for Inspot from Slush — the idea stemmed from a personal problem, the difficulty of finding her own photo among thousands of event photos. Now, Inspot, matches every event photo to the right person in an instant. Although Makkonen's startup idea came from Slush, her passion for entrepreneurship had already existed since childhood.
50% of Slush volunteers join out of interest to the startup ecosystem
Interest in the startup ecosystem among volunteers is up 50% since 2023 and is strongest among first-timers and younger age groups (Slush Volunteer report 2026).
Young people's interest in becoming founders in Finland aged 18–25 has grown explosively: in the early 2000s, only 1% considered an entrepreneurial career—in 2025 that same number is over 50% (Yrittäjät 2025).
"We’re inspired to see the shift in the interest in entrepreneurship. We need more young people who set out to build a company even if the idea isn't fully formed yet," Saksa sums up.
Read the full report with volunteer statistics here.
Methodology and volunteer statistics:
The largest single age group among Slush volunteers is 20–24-year-olds, who make up roughly 43–47% of volunteers depending on the year. Gender distribution among volunteers has been very even in the 2020s; around 51% are women. About 85% of Slush's volunteers primarily live in Finland. The reference period is 2023–2025. Interviewees were selected for this piece from Slush's networks.
Volunteers interviewed by Slush:
Sami Marttinen (Swappie)
- Slush volunteer 2014, Pre-registration
- Founded Swappie in 2016
Antonia Eneh (Elva)
- Slush volunteer 2019, Cloak room & 2021, Partner side events
- Founded Elva in 2025
Olli Kangas (Intergrid)
- Slush volunteer 2015 & 2017, Slush store
- Founded Intergrid in 2023
Sanni Makkonen (Inspot)
- Slush volunteer 2025, Event badge claim
- Founded Inspot in 2026