Author Archives: Sara Cedell

Okey, so I’m about to give you some real honesty. I didn’t have any expectations of this course – any at all. It was the one and only course fitting within my schedule, but that´s about it. I didn’t expect to learn anything new, I was actually convinced that the course was going to be 7,5 credits of clichés. Follow your dreams, only do things you love and you will be successful, blablabla. And then, of course, a written exam to show the teacher that you have learned all the phrases he likes. Yes, I am a bit cynic. But as a hardcore realist, the “fluffy” subjects are just not my cup of tea.

What I didn’t expect was for the course to be the exact opposite. Instead of reading books stating numerous of mindsets, we should just get ourselves out there. We were encouraged to participate in start-up events, meet up with entrepreneurs and network as if there were no tomorrow. We were encouraged to get out of our comfort zones, to do things we were afraid of and hadn’t done before. Of course it was not fun all the time – but most of the time, it actually was.

So, what was the outcome of all this? Well, even though I am still uncertain of some of the technical terms, I believe I am on my way to be a skillful networker. I am some friends richer, and certainly believe that there are plenty of people eager to give me opportunities – they just don’t know me yet, so I just need to put myself out there!

To receive useful feedback for our venture idea, I turned to some persons within my personal network. I did choose them carefully so that they represent different stakeholders of the future business.

The idea is, as presented in class, to provide an app that enable restaurant visitors to order and pay their food within the app. This is the feedback I received:

1. Employee at hotel, receptionist

“Would simplify for us in reception, since we then don’t need to spend time on transferring calls. The waiters are often occupied, resulting in guests wanting help to order food to bring to the room.”

2. Employee at hotel, chef

“My biggest concern is how this is going to synchronize with our present system. For us in the kitchen it doesn’t matter if it’s the customer himself or the waiter placing the order, but it should reach us the same way in the same “printer”.”

3. Employee at restaurant, waiter

“I like the thought of having some of the guests placing the orders themselves, especially during rush hours. The question is how to make the rest simple, like how I know where the guest that placed the order sit when to deliver their food. If there are not a proper system for this, the app would make my work harder instead of easier”.

4. Potential customer

“I don’t think I would use the app, since I prefer to order from a real person.

5. Potential customer

“Since I’m allergic it would be important for me to have some extra fields where I could put in those messages. It would also be necessary for me to see which of the dishes that I can eat.”

Conclusions

Since the persons I asked for feedback have different experiences and profession, the feedback I received was varying. Most of them where putting weight on the features and compatibility, but the most useful insight was a reminder of how important it is to continue collecting feedback from all different stakeholders throughout the developing phase as well as after. The idea of the venture project hasn’t changed due to the feedback received, but it has made the picture of the market and the challenges clearer. For the restaurants to choose to use the app, the features and number of users are most important, but for restaurant visitors to use the app we will need to encourage changes in customer behavior. The feedback was also important to set the direction of the report, since it enlightened the challenged that should be adressed.

How many of you remember the idea my friend and partner in crime Lovisa presented in her elevator pitch? She gave you Recitrack, an app collecting and keeping track of all your receipts. Imagine my surprise when I found out that my friend Patrik had been secretly working on the same idea for half a year, and asked his Facebook friends for some help a week ago!

The main idea is that when you buy something the receipt will, either by you scanning a QR-code or automatically, be sent to an app in your phone. Since my friend is in an early stage still developing both the idea and business model, I gave him some advices as a highly enthusiastic future customer.

1. In the app you should be able to categorize your receipts – and gladly name your own categories if possible
2. The app should be able to send the receipts as PDF’s or similar, while some people (I, for instance) prefer to bring the paper version in case of complaints
3. The search engine must be able to use many different filters – if it is a coffee maker, you may forget where you bought it, but remember approximately price and how old it is, etc.
4. As a user you should be able to choose which kind of receipts you want to store for a certain amount of time – a few days for certain purchase, and years for others

Did I miss some “need to have”- or “nice to have”-feature? Let me know in the comments below, and I will forward it to Patrik. 🙂

I also helped him by filling out a market research – maybe you could help him by doing the same? (Unfortunately everything is in Swedish, apologize for that!)

The group Emax is the Facebook community associated with the event for young entrepreneurs, which I have been telling you about before.

This blog post came about after an interesting lunch with Oskar Malm Wiklund, an entrepreneur highly involved in the start-up scene in Stockholm.

Oskar Malm Wiklund has been into entrepreneurship since he runned a business in high school, part of a course named “young business”. When he moved to Stockholm he got involved in “Start-up Grind”, a community arranging events for entrepreneurs. He realized that the start-up scene in Stockholm was huge with infinite with possibilities, but that it was hard for a stranger to find out about the range. The idea about the Start-up guide took shape.

The start-up guide is a book gathering answers to the questions where, what, how, whom that entrepreneurs in Stockholm face. Today you can find Start-up Guide for Stockholm, Copenhagen, Aarhus, Berlin or Lisbon – but they are planning to expand the concept to even more cities around the world.

Thanks to cooperation with incubators and start-up communities the book is sold at a lot of places to Stockholm. The biggest challenge Oskar and the Start-up Guide face today is how to reach people not yet introduced to the start-up scene – particularly students that are thinking of starting a business but haven’t taken the step yet. This is where he needed my help. As the information flow to student are quit intense, I emphasized that it is crucial whether you succeed in making an impression. The tip I gave him was to choose a time when the students are new, not yet replete of information. Therefor I suggested that they should try to get involved during the freshmen weeks, as part of some kind of challenge or competition where the freshmen need to run a one-day business. They could “sponsor” by participating as mentors, and give away copies of the book as price. This would make the students remember them and, most important, know where to turn to if they get an idea later during their studies.

I truly hope, and do believe, that the lunch was helpful for Oskar in their continued work with marketing their book. I also wish them good luck in the future, as I think that the book is a truly contribute to the Start-up Scene!

Want your own copy of the book? Find it on their webpage: http://startupguide.world/index.php

Or maybe you want to do a little sneak peek to know what you get? I’ll bring my copy to the next class. 🙂

The past Wednesday I had the opportunity to participant in an entrepreneur event with the non-profit organization Connect. The event took place at Grant Thornton’s office at Sveavägen 20.

The day started with breakfast and networking – and greetings to some of the entrepreneurs I met at the last event with Connect. I find it fascinating how someone could go from being a total stranger, to someone you give a friendly hug, just because you were at the same event recently. I am not sure if this is specifically for the ”entrepreneur bubble”, or just human behavior. Anyhow – it definitely shows the great impact networking has on your personal network!

Since they had invited six different “speed lecturers” to the event, I got to hear about different aspects you need to consider as entrepreneur or soon-to-be start-up. One of the topics I found most interesting was actually about law. The lecturer, Sten Bergström from Grant Thornton, had many years of experience and shared some of the cases he had been working with. The name of the lecture was “Entreprenörskap, kärlek och död”, which you find translated to English in the heading. There was, for example, a company owner that died of a heart-attack at the age of 45. The only heir of the company was his son – born two months after his death. Another example was when all the leaders of a concern died simultaneously, due to the tsunami 2004.

Even if these scenarios seem to be far away from our current situation, I wanted to share the experience with you. I believe it highlights the importance of legal clarity when it comes to business – and that the legal files need to cover even the events we can’t anticipate. If you have a co-founder, make sure that your responsibilities and duties are stated. If you have children, are married or just partners – make sure that the papers speak your will, in case you (god forbidden!) can’t yourself.

This post got deeper, and darker for that matter, then I planned to. I hope though that it was interesting reading! To cheer you up, here are some pictures from the event:

   

 

The idea to this post appeared during the event “Connects frukost”, which I participated in on the 5^th of September 2016. The event is gathering entrepreneurs, investors and advisors for some non-formal networking.

With a background in a non-profit organization, I’ve come upon a number of situations requiring mingling and networking. The survival of the organization was dependent on sponsorship, which mainly originated from business connections made at events.

The mission of most entrepreneur events, with networking as theme, is to combine different competencies and experiences. The exchange should, in some way, be equivalent seen to the value for the participants. My experience is though that the participants can be divided in two main groups: The ones most of the participants wish to speak to, and those who need to take actions to make an impression. As an entrepreneur with an innovation, not yet famous to the critical mass, you probably belong to the second group. Even as highly socially skilled, constantly seeking contact is exhausting. Regardless, networking events are brilliant opportunities to present your idea, make connections, and to practice your elevator pitch.

Today I want to share my personal golden rules when networking:

Golden rule # 1 – Dare to stand alone

It’s undoubtedly uncomfortable to stand alone, seeking contact when everyone else is participating in discussions. But instead of seeking your coworker or putting out your phone, try to wait it out. Sooner or later some are rounding up their conversation, giving you the opportunity to introduce yourself – or for them to approach you.

Golden rule # 2 – Think of what you can give, instead of what you can get

As passionate and driven, it is easy to see what you can get out of new business relations. More experienced networkers can easily spot those who preferably pitch and talk about their own idea for hours, rather than discuss a potential cooperation. Try to adapt an approach focusing on “what’s in it” for the person you are talking to.

Golden rule # 3 – Keep develop your elevator pitch

As any other activity, you get rusty in pitching and networking. The first pitch of the night is never as good as the following. Try to be attentive to the reaction of the other party, when does he get bored, curious, confused? Be dynamic and, when needed, change the content during the event! See it as a brilliant opportunity to “trial and error” your way to an even better pitch!

Golden rule # 4 – Don’t despair

As said before, networking and repetitively trying to sell in your idea could be exhausting. But don’t despair! Keep in mind that if at least one out of the 20, 50 or maybe 100 you talk to leads to new perspective on your idea, cooperation or a business relation, it is totally worth it! Maybe the next person you talk to is the one you really want to meet?

Golden rule # 5 – Write key words on every business card you receive

And the last – but absolutely not the least – golden rule. During or after the networking, depending on its length, make sure to write done some key words on the business cards you received. You think you will remember – but honestly, you won’t (not if you were networking diligent enough J). Topics you discussed, if you were to make contact a certain time at the year, or just something non-business related making it easier for you to take up contact later.

These were my list of (so far) collected golden rules. Maybe you have some to share with me? Let me know in the comments below!