Author Archives: Ray Ngeno

The course started with an assignment to come up with a venture idea. The experience of having to make a pitch at the beginning of the course was inspiring and helped us to be creative. It was also meant to show us that no idea is silly and it can be actualized.

During the duration of the class we have had a mixture of lectures and invited guest lectures. The guest lectures were based a lot on the experiences that they have had or either building a company or the impact they made.  The lecture on how to raise capital was one of the most interesting. We got to learn about different ways of raising capital and their pro and cons. During the normal lectures by Serdar, i learnt especially that a business model is as important as the product you are trying to sell. If you have a bad business model and a good product it would affect your business profitability. The market target at the beginning is also important. Identify a small area and start from there and learn from the initial stages. Serdar examples was always very helpful in understanding the point he wanted to share across.

I learnt a lot on the simulations. It was like running an actual business where all the decisions you make would influence the business performance. At the end of the simulation game, COMPU had the best total performance but we learnt that decisions have to be made on facts. We did not calculate the total market size and therefore we increased too much our total capacity.

We managed to do well in the small projects, making a profit in the coffee sales challenge and raising capital for our simulation game. The venture project is the last part of the course that is currently ongoing.  Overall I managed to go out and attend start-ups events, give feedback to start-ups, make pitches, sell coffee, conduct a survey and run a virtual company.

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending an inspirational talk organised by KTH innovation. They had invited Fredrik Wester who is the CEO of Paradox Interactive as the speaker for the evening. He was to share about his entrepreneurial journey of building a company from scratch. When I first arrived the room was full and you could feel the excitement in the air. This might be due to the fact that KTH is full of nerds who are gamers.

 The talk started with the CEO talking about the history of the company.  Paradox Interactive was founded in 1998 and is based in Stockholm. It is a video game publisher and is well known for historical strategy games computer games. They are well known worldwide for games like Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron. If you don’t know about these two games, then you are definitely not a Gamer nor a nerd ;).

The CEO went on to talk about why he went into entrepreneurship and why he encourages us to join the entrepreneurial game. He talked about many the pros and cons of starting a business and how rewarding it can be if you manage to succeed. He mentioned that as an entrepreneur you have the freedom something that you can’t have if you work for a company. You also get to select your team which is key to success. You pick the people you feel you can work with efficiently and produce results. He also mentioned that the Entrepreneur owns the risk of the company. This is important as you know your strength and weaknesses.

He went further into philosophy of a business. The culture you set in the business is very important. As the leader you have to behave in the right way to foster a good culture in the company. He mentioned that flexibility and efficiency in a new venture is key. You have to learn to adapt to the market fast. In his view a business plan is the most important than the technology or solution you provide. He took an example in his company and said he puts 100% in business and 50% in developing because cash flow for the company is very important for the smooth running of the business. He also mentioned that actions are more important than ideas. If you have a good idea and do nothing, then its worthless

He proceeded to talk about leadership in a company. One of my favourite quotes from the talk was when he said that “ you as the entrepreneur are the biggest bottleneck of your organisation. You build the atmosphere and you have to lead from the front’’. He said also leadership is defined by results and not attributes. Your Rank in the organisations does not confer privilege or power but imposes responsibility. The higher the rank the more the responsibility.

At the end of the talk we had a mingle session and unfortunately I didn’t get the opportunity of talking to him because of many people who wanted to do the same. I went home thinking about 3 things, your actions, business model and leadership is key for a start-up.

In the beginning of the Entrepreneurship course i pitched an idea of a fuel consumption and traffic management app that helps you manage your commute in a sustainable way. I decided to attend yesterday a lunch lecture titled Megatrends in the transport systems organised by the Integrated Transport Research Lab(ITRL). The speaker was Dr Anna Pernestål who is a research manager at ITRL

In summary she talked about efficiency that is required in transportation, the idea of connectivity and automation. They believe that in an automated and connected shared mobility systems that can be more attractive than owning a private car.

After the presentation I approached some of the representatives from ITRL to ask about my venture idea. I managed to talk to the deputy director of ITRL about if normal commuters would want to be able to check their fuel consumption from their commute and back. He thought that the idea was good and is possible to be implemented with the existing technology in vehicles. He encouraged me to look into a Swedish company who make logging modules that are mounted on the car to record such data. He further added that the app could be used to predict the fuel consumption of a compute if the topology of the road is known and a good estimate of the stops can be obtained.

I also approached 3 master students of vehicle engineering and they gave almost the same feedback. They thought it was a great idea and could be useful in improving our driving style and better managing our travelling plans. I also approached a nurse who commutes to work every day and I asked her if she would want to know how much fuel she usually use per day.  I also asked her if she would be interested in saving her fuel from each commute. I explained to her my idea and she wasn’t so convinced. She however said she could be interested in knowing how long the fuel left in her car will last her.

Overall I received good feedback about the fuel consumption and traffic management app. I wouldn’t change the idea but could incorporate some of the proposals i received from my consultations.

This week we have learnt that invention is the novel idea with great potential while innovation is the commercialization of the novel idea. KTH innovation comes in to help students and researchers to commercialize their results and business ideas. The first time i got know about KTH innovation was five years ago when i started my studies at KTH. It wasnt until my third year at KTH that is when i actually understood what they are about and how they help aspiring entreprenuer with their expertise in commercialization and business ideas.

How do they help

KTH Innovation main goal is to help students and researchers get their ideas to the market. Their support is free, confidential and they do not claim any ownership to your ideas. Their selection process is neither strict and nor a competition where a winner is picked. Furthermore, they believe that all ideas are worth testing and evaluating.

They support in different areas of commercialization and cover start-ups, licencing and corporate collaboration.

They also collaborate a lot with other organisation that offers support to entrepreneurs and start-ups such as STING (Stockholm Innovation and Growth), THINGS and OPEN LAB.

How can they help you?

KTH innovation can help you in very many ways. They not only help with your ides but also organizes events such as workshops and motivational lectures to help you develop as a potential entrepreneur.

If you have a create idea, get in touch with them and they will guide you and offer you great feedback on your ideas. If you take it further they will assign you a business development coach who will follow up on you and lend you the support you need all the way. KTH innovation can also help you with funding, applying for grants and stipendier.

If you currently not ready with an idea follow their Facebook page and you will be updated with the current events that might be of interest to you

Happening currently’

Bicky Chakraborty, the founder of Elite Hotels has donated five million SEK to KTH. The money is to be used in entrepreneurship programs and help in promoting an entrepreneurial mindset among students and researchers at KTH.

With this new source of funds a new programme has been created by KTH Innovation called the Bicky Chakraborty Entrepreneur Program. The program offers funding, coaching, tailored courses and mentorship to accepted entrepreneurs for one year. The application is open and for more information contact KTH Innovation or check out their website.