StartupFEST – the catalyst for Lahti’s startup ecosystem

Lahti is not the city you think of when you hear the word entrepreneurship. In 2025, Lahti Entrepreneurship Society was awarded a grant by the Startup Foundation to organize StartupFEST – Lahti’s Startup Ecosystem Catalyst. Here’s what went down.

Lahti is not the city you think of when you hear the word entrepreneurship.

It’s a small city, one hundred and three kilometers away from Helsinki, with just over 100,000 people. But almost a year ago, a group of students decided to bet on the talent hiding in this place. We believed that even here, where startups aren’t a dinner-table topic, a spark could start something big.

A year later, Startup Fest happened.

There are weeks that pass quietly, and then there are weeks that feel like something shifted. Startup Fest was the latter. For five days, this small city and even smaller campus buzzed with possibility. Ideas bounced between lecture halls and shared spaces, new faces became friends, and dreams started to form into something real. At the heart of it all was one simple goal: make entrepreneurship feel alive, exciting, and most importantly, accessible.

Why did we need this?

Lahti’s startup ecosystem is still in its earliest stage. For many students, entrepreneurship feels far away, something meant for bigger cities, louder voices, or people with “the right background.”

We wanted to challenge that.

Startup Fest was our way of saying: “Hey, look at this — YOU can do it too.”

It was our attempt to bring the craziness, ambition, and creativity of startup life here, and show students that they have everything it takes to dream big and make it real.

Whether it was sitting and listening to raw founder stories, pitching wild ideas on stage, solving a real case in under three hours, or visiting companies that have made it, we gave our community ways to participate, not just spectate.

And what did we get in return? Magic.

The magic wasn’t in the logistics or the big-budget production. It was in the small, unforgettable moments:

• First-time pitchers discovering how good being on stage feels.

• Someone asking “What if we actually do this?”, and meaning it.

• Students who have never thought about entrepreneurship before, suddenly standing in the hallway listening to our speakers.

Our biggest prize? Our community.

The hardest part for us has always been getting the right people in the same room, people who care, who want to try, who want to build something. Startup Fest gave us that. For the first time, we saw our shared space filled with students staying late, sharing ideas, asking for feedback, and just hanging around to talk about what’s next. It felt like something had finally clicked.

We’ve built more than an event. We’ve built momentum. We’ve built a community.

Lessons learnt?

We knew this week would not be perfect. It was filled with last-minute scrambles, unexpected complications, fear, and exhaustion. But we knew that would come with this.

We have a whole notebook of lessons learnt and a thousand conversations about how to improve this experience. Some of the important lessons we’re taking with us:

• Plan every step with even more intention. Order earlier. Double-check everything.

• People don’t need to be convinced into entrepreneurship; they only need to be invited.

• Ideas aren’t enough. Ecosystems are built on people. And now, we have people.

So, what’s next?

Now that we’ve given our community a taste of what’s possible, we’re not slowing down.

We’re already dreaming up new events, initiatives, and opportunities to keep this fire alive. We’ve seen what happens when you open a door: people walk through it with boldness you didn’t expect. We’re ready to keep the doors open.

If Startup Fest showed us anything, it’s this: Lahti is ready.

- Jazen Cordero, LahtiES