Author Archives: Linda Nilsson

In the end of the course I think you can look at changing markets in a different way.  This is one thing I will take with me from this course. I therefore found it interesting to dig into changing industries and new innovative services.

Kaashyap shared this on Linked in : https://www.olacabs.com/ola-air

He writes “Ola taxi service in India like Uber here. They released a Video on March 31,2015 promoting that they have started the point to point chopper rides from anywhere to everywhere in India.”

I had never heard of this! I really found this interesting since there is a big room for competitors to take advantage of new innovative services like Uber and Airbnb on the market like now. They have changed the industry climate and opens up for innovation.

Do you think they can be a real competitor for taxi-companies like uber?

So how is Uber really positioned? Is there a chance to compete with them? The economy of scale is probably not that high since the fixed costs are allocated to drivers and individuals. The brand and systems are probably the main drivers so it should be a good chance for competition to grow. Maybe these local solutions are the strongest competition since they can customize the idea.

I think it won’t take to long until we see new businesses like this. Maybe with a local touch to it. Hopefully this can kick-start a new era of services that will revolutionize traditional industries like this.

Hi everyone,

I want to summarize the course through this blog post to complement the course evaluation we’ve filled in 🙂

I have decided to divide the review into the some of the given course components. I share my thoughts on each component and finishes by giving some tips to next years students! Overall this have been a great course, many elements that demands some time dedication but also gives lots of valuable experiences back.

Blogging: Interactive element to the course that I have considered the best way to discuss topics. Fun that everyone can contribute with research and analysis of each others findings. My greatest learning have been about networking since there have been valuable discussions on this topic. Also how to network in forums like this blog. It has also been a lot of fun to network with everyone and discuss entrepreneurship in class and at startup events.

Lectures: Interactive and fun! I think the best part is how many great guest speakers that have visited us. All of them have been of high quality and unique in its own sense. Great variation between early stage startups and different positions in companies and organisations. My greatest learning from this was actually Nordnet since that presentation gave concrete models to use for evaluating products. By putting it in to a context like the following you can break down the value for the customer in a structured way.

When situation, I can motivation, so I outcome

Twitter: Never used twitter before so learned a lot by having a twitter flow consisting of just entrepreneurial tweets from different sources. Saw lots of differences in what different organisations lift as important regarding entrepreneurship. It has a lot to do with the perspective on innovation; governmental, political, seed funding, startups, IPOs or the actual entrepreneur. Interesting to just follow these and I will definitely continue.

LinkedIn: Have used LinkedIn a lot before and thought it was a great source to get an overview of the activities in the different forums. Tip is to activate push notifications to get updates in real time.

Elevator pitch: Great opportunity to 1) test your idea, and 2) push your own ability to pitch. I learned more about how to prioritize what to tell when time is limited and therefore what aspects are most important to investors. This also made me think through my own projects and how to portray them. My greatest takeaway was the importance of finding the intriguing topic of the idea and keep to that to make sure interest from the listeners is kept and the speech is remembered.

Venture project: To take the venture idea to the next level. We are in the middle of this so won’t go so deep into this yet. Fun to work on the idea together. Get the feeling of starting a company and the questions you encounter together and need to approach. Have already realized the importance of doing significant analysis work with limited research material and finished product. One element that covers many interesting subjects is the Business Model Canvas. Even though this is just one of many ways to manage your business model it has been a huge help in understanding entrepreneurship. How to color-code the canvas is something I will take with me. I’ve learned the importance of structuring how different aspects in the business like revenue streams and cost structure are related to different customer groups. This is an importance aspect when evaluating your business and taking strategic decisions even if you don’t use the exact BMC.

Summing up this have been a fun course to take with a lot of interactive elements. The more time you put into it the more you get out of it. My greatest tip is to sum your work and thoughts on the blog to process it along the way.

Hope to see you all soon again 🙂

/Linda

 

One important element of the venture project is to do some market research in the first phase of building a business plan so I have gathered som thought on our project. By interviewing 5 people from different sources we have got some feedback on our product EasyMessages. When getting the feedback, they all got to watch the Video Pitch and ask complementing questions.

Who? Wanted to reach both early tech adopters and stressful business people with the targeted characteristics by choosing respondents from both groups. In this way we can compare the reaction to see were they overlap. It is a small set of data so the choice of individuals can affect the feedback a lot. From the limited pitch this should still be enough to gather some initial thoughts.

How did we find them? Searched in our own networks since the target group is close to our educational orientation. Family friends were a good way to find the attractive group of people.

Feedback 1: Direct response “I would be willing to pay an initial cost to have an app that solves my organizational problems”. Express a willingness to pay around 50 SEK to have an app that solves this problem. Prefers an initial cost but could also see a low monthly cost of ca 10-20 SEK. The targeted customer can probably afford this even if it can be a bit of a barrier.

Feedback 2: “I like the way of gathering all sources under one roof”. Likes the idea and express an interest in knowing which messages comes from what source. Think the icons used in the video pitch prototype is important.

Feedback 3: Enjoys the app and see the only challenge on how to let big players like Facebook differentiate in the app. Otherwise they may not want to collaborate. Needs to look into this but should be able to lift some players and benefit them in the work. Great potential of fast growth and funding and soon selling to one of the big market players.

Feedback 4: Great idea. Likes the most: the highlighting of the person you’re communicating with. Suggests opportunity to interlink this with usual contact book so all personal information also is gathered and can be used directly via the app, e.g. phone calls.

Feedback 5: Want us to think about: How to market the idea. Which forums are the best to enter? The project are on the right track of targeting the specific segment of customers with multitasking stressful business lives and early tech adopters. Possibility to do a market research on which forums that bring these two groups together? Also look in to different ways of marketing and establishing customer channels that contributes to an easier every day life for the targeted customers.

Going further with feedback: These are points we’ve considered in group and we will take them with us in the further development of our business plan. All ideas and feedback will be gathered and evaluated separately but definitely be used in some way.

Beside this we’ve gotten some detailed feedback from the opposition group we will regard 🙂

 

This is my second post to sum of the feedback work with the startups I’ve tried to help during the course. The first one up was Mentimeter and now it’s Boksnok’s turn.

Boksnok is a startup in a very early stage. They are soon to release their product to public and have pre-orders on their webpage http://boksnok.se/

They have developed an app for mobile tablets with interactive children books that they will sell to parents of kids in their targeted ages. They have established relations with customers and books that will be available. The product have been developed through an iterative process with customer feedback so I’ve got to test a demo and later also the actual app. The main feedback I gave on the demo and application were as following:

Design: The design needs to be compelling for both the parents and the children which makes the product unique. It needs to satisfy the need of two customer groups at the same time and the characteristics of these groups differ and the subject behind using the app is different. The kids want to be entertained and the parents targeted wants a calming setting to enjoy. I think the app design fulfills this by being easy to understand and very visual, it succeeds to attract adults by adding elements such as comments and music. To increase the value from their proposition even more they could work on the customization even more. Maybe it can add value if it is possible to customize the book design through colors, background pictures and music etc.

Functionality: Interactive and customized is what I think they’ve captured and should continue to improve. To attract both parents and kids they could twist the functions so it involves both at the same time even more. One option could be to have some sort of review function throughout the books were the readers can evaluate the app and interact with other readers through example parent forums. This could be a way to involve the parents even more. This also opens up for other partners like parenting discussion forums or related consumer goods.

To sum up the points I’ve communicated, these are the main takeaways for Boksnok’s further development:

• Push key points of being interactive and visual. This is what distinguishes them from traditional books and children-parents activities.
• Evaluate options of having partnerships with attractive players. If they choose a partner, they need them to be modern in digital terms and share the same values as Boksnok. It is of high importance to only partner with brands that are aligned with Boksnok since a strong brand and good reputation is crucial on the specific targeted market.
• Have in mind that it may be possible to add elements to the app. Functions should serve to involve both readers without disturbing the simple design and functionality of the app.

Boksnok will soon release their product. If you know any parents that are into digital solutions for their kids, you should check it out: http://boksnok.se/ It will be available on Appstore and Google play.

 

Through the course I’ve had contact with some startups to help them in their phase of development.

We’ve reached the end of the course and I want to take time to sum up the work. First startup up is Mentimeter who we have shared office with during september. By trying their product I’ve summarized some main points to consider. I’ve both commented on internal and external factors.

Mentimeter sells an app service to companies and other organisations that holds event where they want to interact with the audience through Mentimeter’s app. Visitors can respond on questions during the event and the hosters get direct feedback and data. When I last met them they announced that they will take part of the 500 startups in the U.S. which means they will get mentoring and help during four months and the possibility to pitch their results for large investors in the end of the period. They will be there for four months next spring so all the luck and congratulations to the great success!

http://500.co/startups/

Strengths to highlight: I found the functionality of the app of really high quality with focus on being user-friendly. In comparison with competitors on the market I’ve investigated other options and come to find their design and simplicity of the application far more understandable and responsive. This is of great importance in the targeted user setting. At events I find it very important to quickly understand the app and how to interact easily.

Opportunities to exploit: This also makes it scalable since the concept needs to be easy to understand quick in case of a big and changing audience during events. In order to protect this unique value proposition I would suggest them to think through how they brand the functionality in the app.  By being the first on the market to offer this packaging they can make sure to establish a large installed base. Maybe they can look over their customer channels and what partners they could have a potential collaboration with to reach more customers  in the targeted forums.

Weaknesses to consider: Price strategy contra cost structure. The price is differentiated across different levels of usage. The fees are low but it may be a barrier of increasing usage if the only reason for going up in price is level of usage. Customers may stick with a lower usage just to avoid fees. I would recommend them to investigate if the incitaments of paying for the app is enough of they could greater greater gaps in offering of different price levels. Also this should be weighted against the cost associated with each product variation so each offer has margins enough to cover fixed costs.

Challenges to approach: Online approval from customers and company design is two points regarding the actual product I see as challenging and in need of consideration for further growth. The app needs to be easy to connect to and respond in when entering events of different kinds. They therefore  should look into how people connect to the app. Today you need to approve the connection to the application when joining the event. It is easy to reject this and this can damage the quality of the app results and the overall value. My second point is the design since companies at bigger event may want to insert their own colors and logos in the app. This needs to be weighed with the reputation and branding of having their own look to the app. A customized color-scheme is a possibility but can also be damaging to the long term branding.

In the end I want to give them positive feedback since I experience that they have a close relation between their programming skills and customer relations. This is something I think they needs to conserve in order to tackle these challenges and exploit the great opportunities they possess.

All the best luck to Mentimeter! I’m sure they will have great success the coming year. Check out their webpage and use their app if you will host any events in the future!

Check out https://www.mentimeter.com/

Hi everyone,

Last night Stockholm tech had a meetup with top investors from Dubai, Istanbul and China. They also discussed how Sthlmtech can challenge themselves to come up with innovative solutions to the refugee crisis. There was both open discussions and startup pitches for new ideas on the subject.

I think this is a top initiative of huge importance. I wrote a post earlier on social entrepreneurship and when talking about initiatives to support social problems in the society this is a great one.

I did some research to see what innovations that has been made to support this kind of crisis. Also saw that Fredrik wrote a post on the refugee problem with employment so this can follow up on that discussion. I found this startup who does what Sophie purposed on the elevator pitch but in Switzerland. They connect refugees with employers in the country. Here’s the link: http://capacityzurich.ch/

I also found two other cool initiatives I would like to share.

Three Netherlands-based entrepreneurs have set up an “Airbnb for refugees.”
Link: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/01/berlin-group-behind-airbnb-for-refugees-overwhelmed-by-offers-of-help

This got me thinking of the opportunity of turning successful concepts into entrepreneurial initiatives to solve social problems. One example that can be related to this is LinkedIn but other forums like facebook, Snapshat, Twitter, uber etc. could possibly be used to support the crisis by creating awareness and supporting refugees to channels of help.

The third example I want to lift is this. Lots of people also gathers to create a startup boat.
Link to an article about it: http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/14/european-entrepreneurs-launch-startupboat-to-address-refugee-crisis/
Link to the startup’s webpage: http://startupboat.eu/

http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/14/european-entrepreneurs-launch-startupboat-to-address-refugee-crisis/

Do you know any other startups or projects to support?

Great to see you all there yesterday! Tickets and info was found through this link:  http://www.industrifonden.se/aid

/Linda

Nice event yesterday with SUP 46, this time hosted by Atomico.

A great place to mingel and meet people from the Swedish start up crowd but also investors and developers.

I got to know a bit more about Atomico that I’d like to share. They are investing in innovative companies and have a history of investments in over 50 companies worldwide including Skype, Rovio and Klarna! If your interested in the effect of investments over the past years I would recommend you to take a look at their new illustrative tool at this link:

Atomico tool

Using the play button you can follow the success of their investments the last years. Cool to see the effect of investing in new companies. Also a great source to dive into new growing companies you may not have heard of. For me these were ZQGames and InsideSales.com. Check it out!

I would also like to share a function I learned about yesterday. If your interested in getting into the start up-world you should sign up here and take part of this creative way to find start up-jobs.

Start up-jobs link

For you who missed the event yesterday, the next AW with them are on 13th of November, that time hosted by Nasdaq!

Have a nice weekend 🙂

Hi everyone,

A few days ago (29/9) was the FemTech event by SUP 46. Among their startup-event, this was the most relaxing setting this far.

The event was a follow up on a successful session earlier this month, was anybody there?

The event
The evening was moderated by Jessica Stark (CEO & Co-founder for you that may not know). It was an encouraging spirit the entire evening with guests as Adiba Arney. What I thought was interesting to share was her work with non-profit public agencies. They educate and create relationships with the technology and start up community. There is a possibility that they will post a video that summarizes the event and I would recommend you to take a look if they do so. It will probably be on their facebook page but I will link it here if I see it.

My greatest insight during this evening was the discussion that rised about feedback. Under the presentation Adiba pointed out the importance of being able to treat feedback as an entrepreneur in order to develop and succeed.

Discussion and insights after the event
A discussion followed between me and a girl named Johanna that just finished her studies at Stockholm School of Economics. That led me to break down the concept of feedback when it concerns entrepreneurs. I came up with a few points I regard as important to have a successful feedback exchange.

1. Transparency and visibility of idea – having people observing, trying and analyzing you product/service
2. Channels of interaction between customers and internal force – How easy it is to give input and feedback to the entrepreneur/start-up
3. Collection of feedback – how to gather and store feedback
4. Active response – how you ensure the feedback is lifted, discussed and affects the organization
5. Feedback in return – to make sure you encourage feedback from the customers

How I will take this with me
This is some points I will take with me to my startup and our business. We have already built up a system for gathering feedback after projects and activities but we need a more consistent way of storing and following up on feedback. I will start a project in our internal system that has a place to keep and track these ideas and also put it on the agenda on our monthly meetings to discuss the feedback we’ve gotten.

Do you have any other tips?

After the elevator pitch we had in class I took some time to review my idea and get some feedback from last year students. I thought I’d share this with you since you all might have thought on this when stepping into the venture project. I pitched my idea from the four perspectives below and was given feedback accordingly:

What is the problem? I identified the problem as for me, gym services today don’t offer the flexible training form I am asking for.
Feedback: This could have been taken to a more general perspective. By combining personal experience (“I”) with the more general problem (“you”) it can capture the interest of the audience even more.

What is the idea? Flextraining as I named it is a service to offer you flexible training through an online gym membership that enables you to book passes and activities at any gym or sport club you like. Secondly, the monthly pay rates are set from the activities you actually attend, and therefore, are variable. Feedback: A more visual description of the idea can be in order to fully grasp the service in such a short time.

What makes the idea unique? I mainly devided it into 1. it is the first service to offer you activities at both sport clubs and gyms without being committed to one gym enterprise. 2. The monthly pay rate is set from the activities you actually attend instead of the a fixed pay rate like regular gyms.
Feedback: Could incorporate key words to make it more tangible.

What’s my business model? In the short time I divided it into two parts: Revenues and costs. On revenues I related it to the monthly customer payments and regarding costs I discussed the potential partnerships with gyms and sport clubs with the trade of new customers.
Feedback: Maybe push for the collaboration and potential of the market more since you just have a short time to widen the interest of potential angel investors.

Key Take-away: What the feedback gave me in general was the need of focusing on capturing the potential angel investor’s interest. From my point of view this would have meant incorporating some vital key words to build a story that both captures and tells the story of the idea. In my case this could have been “flexible”, “gym trades”, “customized offer” for mentioning just a few.

Have you got any feedback or learned anything from the elevator pitch that could be valuable when going forward with the venture project?

Hi,

I would like to follow up on the discussion paying more fore less functionality. Hallberg posted a discussion post on this and gave two statements I would like to comment on.

First quote: “The more you pay the more you get”

Second quote: “being prepared to pay more to actually get less”

I found both of this interesting and important to discuss when questioning what happens with NoPhone. I think there’s one thing we’re missing when concerning NoPhone as products with less functionality. I would like to separate functionality and customer value. Maybe we shouldn’t observe just the functionality of NoPhone when analyzing the product but rather speak in terms of customer value.

The customers pay for the value the product can create for them, and this is not always directly translated with functionality. Often when we talk about technology we regard more functionality as more value. This is not the situation with NoPhone. With NoPhone you pay for simplicity, not just for having fewer functions. In this case, fewer functions is directly related to simplicity but it doesn’t mean the targeted customers get less from the product.

The value of simplicity for customers like elderly overrules having fewer functions. Also, elderly may sometimes not appreciate the value of all those other functions, they just want to call their family easy. That is what NoPhone offers better than competitors.

So by this I mean that they are not per definition paying more and get less. Maybe this can clear out some questions on the subject. But then I wonder, can we see a trend in what customers value on the electronic market?