Extremers in mountain jackets laugh in deck chairs around a fire pan on a terrace, a snowy mountainside behind them.

Networking the Norwegian way

You get to know someone properly when you do something together. Since 2015 Startup Extreme has put founders and investors in the same raft and around the same fire in the mountains of Norway. The business talk comes easier after that.

“Networking with your next investment while rafting down a frothy river might seem like insanity.
But Norwegians know that true relationships are not built by sharing business cards in a conference-hotel.”
“Networking with your next investment while rafting down a frothy river might seem like insanity. But Norwegians know that true relationships are not built by sharing business cards in a conference-hotel.”

Startup Extreme, 2017

“The best way to connect with someone else is through shared activities - by putting people in these situations they develop a deeper more impactful relationship”

Startup Extreme strategic pyramid, 2025

From first run to last song

The program kept a rhythm: outdoors in the morning, the fire and the stages by day, then dinner and the party. A day could go like this.

Morning

The day started outdoors, in small groups.

The first edition in 2015 sent everyone out “in small groups of 15 people”. In Voss that meant rafting down the river or strapping in for a tandem skydive. In Hemsedal it was husky sledding, randonée, snowkiting and the Official Ski Race, with one prize for the fastest skier and another for the best outfit.

The 2015 rafting description gave the only advice that mattered: “Leverage the forces of nature or find a quick exit strategy.”

Eight people in helmets and life jackets raise yellow paddles and laugh as their raft crashes through white water. — Rafting in Voss, 2016. Photo: Dan Taylor / Heisenberg Media

A husky team pulls a sled with two people across a snowfield, more sleds behind and snowy mountains in the distance. — Husky sledding, from the SX24 activity program.

Drone view of the ski race finish area, racers with bib numbers between Hemsedal banners. — The Official Ski Race, Hemsedal 2023.

“In 15 years of attending tech and startup conferences, I’ve never experienced anything like Startup Extreme, and I can’t wait to do it again! [Maybe this time without falling in that arctic water!!].”

Susan Lindner, Founder and CEO at Emerging Media

Midday

Around twenty people in winter jackets and beanies sit in a tight circle around a fire pan in the snow, next to a sign reading Bomber Bonfire. — Bomber Bonfire at Basecamp, 2023. Photo: Zygimantas Vaicaitis

Twenty people, one fire and a topic.

Basecamp sat just outside the stages at Stavkroa, with food, stands and bonfires. SX called the bonfire a “stage”: a meeting zone for about twenty people with one conversation set in advance, hosted by a partner, a startup or an investor.

In 2023 Zendesk held one during the river ice bathing, with the sauna next door.

Afternoon

Then the meetings you came for.

The matchmaking tent stood in Basecamp too. You booked a table in the event app, found the number and sat down with the founder, investor or partner you wanted to meet.

In 2023 the faster version was called the Speedfriending Bonanza, and the program warned: “You snoose you loose.”

A white tent with string lights full of small tables, people in jackets in one-to-one conversations, yellow table numbers on each table. — The matchmaking tent, 2023. Photo: Zygimantas Vaicaitis

Evening

Dinner, and every table had a theme.

The evening moved out to venues around Hemsedal. Fuckup Stories at Fausko treated failure “as a badge of honor rather than a mark of shame”. The 50/50 dinner took on the gender stigma head on. At Huso Lodge a Viking Feast was the setting for a dinner about mental health.

The first edition put it more simply: “Drink and dine with your new extreme friends”.

Long wooden dinner tables with sheepskins in a rustic timber hall under a chandelier. — Long tables at Fausko.

Guests at dinner tables under a large crystal chandelier, panorama windows facing the mountain. — Skigaarden, 2022.

After dark

Tribe Night.

The last item on the program was the official closing afterski party at Stavkroa, for Extremers only. SX's own program called it “The legendary Stavkroa Afterski”.

In 2023 the advice was “Come for Startup Extreme, and stay for the party”.

A packed dance floor with hands in the air under blue and white lasers at Stavkroa. — Stavkroa after dark, 2022. Photo: Zygimantas Vaicaitis

“Startup Extreme sported the perfect mix of activity and downtime to give its participants an opportunity to have the sort of deep conversations that makes this type of event worth while”
“Startup Extreme sported the perfect mix of activity and downtime to give its participants an opportunity to have the sort of deep conversations that makes this type of event worth while”

TechCrunch

What SX runs on

Allværsjakka
Norwegian for the all-weather jacket, the one everybody wears in the mountains. Up there everyone is equal. Startups and the people backing them build success together.
The VC who usually sits on the top floor in a suit and tie is no better than the founder building a startup in a garage.
Extreme startup mentality
Building a startup is the most extreme career path you can take. SX is for the people who go the extra mile for entrepreneurship and create the future we want to live in.
Networking the Norwegian way
You connect with someone by doing something together. Put people in those situations and the relationship gets deeper, and it lasts.
Hyper relevance
We respect your time. Every hour at the event should be worth it for you and your goals, and it should feel natural, never arranged.

Who you meet up there

Founders: SX started in 2015 to show Norwegian startups to the world, and founders got a stage in front of international investors and the press. By 2018 several startups had met their future investors there. Startup Day was “Founder to founder”.
Investors: Venture capitalists, angels, corporate ventures, family offices and limited partners, there for dealflow. SX once asked: “Deal flow - in the forest?” Investor Day was for investors only, a place to find the next co-investor.
Corporates: Corporate Day went by “Big-Startups-Day”, “Because winning corporates are just Big-Startups”. Partners co-created the stage program, hosted side events and brought their teams and clients.
The ecosystem: Ecosystem builders from all over Norway. The Norwegian startup community is small enough to meet in one place, all at once. Innovation Norway brought its portfolio to the stage with Norway Demo Day.

A crowd in the sun at Basecamp outside Stavkroa, a fire pan and pallet furniture in front, snowy peaks behind. — Basecamp, 2023. Photo: Zygimantas Vaicaitis

See the rest of it

How the event worked, and who took the stage over the years. Something is stirring. Get the news and you’ll hear it first.

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