Techies, who might be disparaged as ‘nerds’ in another country, are public celebrities in Estonia.
“In Iceland, every person has a band
In the US, every person has a car
In Estonia, every person has a start-up”
So go the opening credits of Ükssarvik (Chasing Unicorns), an Estonian film that follows two young start-up founders, one tech geek and one level-headed businesswoman, as they hustle their way to fame and fortune. The country has a unique cultural identity, including the Estonian language, which branches from the same language tree as Finnish. Its recent history has been defined by a succession of foreign occupations. Controlled at various points by the Hanseatic League, various Teutonic knights, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, Poland and Russia, it was a Soviet Socialist Republic from the end of World War II until 1991. Travel into and out of the country was tightly monitored.
Despite its small size and difficult history, Estonia has significantly shaped the way many people live today. Much of the world knows how to place a call with Skype, residents in Europe and Africa request cab rides using Bolt (formerly Taxify), money moves around the world on Wise (formerly Transferwise) and people gamble using Playtech online gaming software.
Why has Estonia had so much success with start-ups and technology? Its new post-Soviet government helped by building the initial rungs of a ladder of opportunity and diverse actors have helped complete this ladder.
But what gave the system its spark? What makes it sexy to be a tech entrepreneur in Estonia?
‘Everything changed with Skype,’ asserts Liisi Org, development manager at Startup Estonia. Skype, a voice and video internet calling platform launched in 2003, became so popular it began to serve as shorthand for all internet calling and its memorable ringtone inspired dance remixes. Jaan Tallinn, Ahti Heinla and Priit Kasesalu, its three Estonian co-founders, first created ‘Kosmonaut’ in 1989. They were all about twenty years old at the time and the new Estonia was yet to be born. Together with Swede Niklas Zennström and Dane Janus Friis, this trio of Estonians embarked on several failed projects, including the wildly popular yet legally unviable file-sharing platform Kazaa, before settling on Skype.
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An international phenomenon
Ten thousand people downloaded Skype on its launch day in 2003 and thousands more took it up every day thereafter. Skype’s user base quickly outpaced the population of its homeland, making it an international phenomenon.
Skype had a catalytic effect upon the Estonian start-up scene. Much as Kip Keino’s epic run at the Mexico Olympics elevated Kenyans’ ability to conceive of themselves as world-champion runners, the advent of Skype gave a boost to Estonians’ collective self-image as tech creators. Suddenly everyone was considering whether they too might have a brilliant business idea and a few technically minded friends.
‘It created this mindset that you can do something meaningful here in Estonia,’ recalls Ede Schank Tamkivi, Estonian journalist and non-profit founder. ‘At that time, all of Europe hadn’t really created many world-renowned start-ups. I think it just empowered Estonians that we can also do some meaningful work and not just do some outsourced stuff for other big companies somewhere.’
Skype provided an impressive demonstration of what was possible for ordinary Estonians. It endowed tech with glamour and techies with celebrity status. Working as a developer for Skype became the hot new job prospect for university students.
Prime-time television shows in Estonia feature hackathons and other brainy contests among techies. Perhaps no public spectacle better showcases the celebrity status of tech entrepreneurship in Estonia than Ajujaht (Brain Hunt), a televised entrepreneurial competition with more than 100 teams pitching ideas in one season. A government and private sector joint endeavour, Ajujaht has been running without a break since 2006. The entire country tunes in; the show is a household event.
Where a ladder of opportunity begins generating a flow of excellence, ripples of shared pride spread through society. Glamour and glory are attracted to the activity. Its stars become public celebrities.
This excerpt from ‘Why Kenyans Win Marathons and Estonians Build Unicorns’ by Anirudh Krishna has been published with permission from Penguin Random House.