Author Archives: Lovisagronros

Dear classmates and professor,

A few weeks have past since the last lecture of the entrepreneurship course. I’m back in the mathematics department studying portfolio analysis and system theory. I’m completely aware of that this might appear as a totally different area of study. However, entrepreneurship recently came to my mind and I really understood what this course really has taught me.

I have learned many new practical things: how to run a company, how to finance an idea, how to develop your idea, the importance of networking, how to communicate, how to work with people from different countries, the importance of pivoting and flexibility, and the existence of challenges that can and will be present. All these things are important and they are tools to be used for becoming a great entrepreneur.

However, among all the above mentioned things, there is one thing I didn’t expect to learn. This is the new sense of entrepreneurship as its own religion. First of all, entrepreneurship exists in everything, anywhere at anytime. You can never know when new ideas will rise. They are always there – it is just a matter of noticing them or not. It is about entusiasm and belief – believing in yourself as well as in the idea and in the people around you. And it is all up to you. You can choose how to believe and why you would like to do something.  You can choose what entrepreneurship is for you – and the sky is truly the limit.

Lovisa

So last week I went and met Simon that works on the start up SPARTA and, just like the old warriors of Sparta, the goal is to create the worlds strongest arme. SPARTA’s idea is to educate and train companies sales team to enhance their sales numbers.

One interesting thing Simon said was his take on students desire to work for big companies. For example when Simon graduated the School of Economics for a couple of years ago all his classmates wanted to work for big known companies such as Google, Boston Consulting Group, Apple etc. He says that this is the reason for why it is hard for a start up to be able to hire attractive students.

I will help him by posting here to tell you guys that they are currently hiring so if you have a great love for Start ups and want to work for them you should talk to me in class. SPARTA needs programmers and also salesmen today! I will also post SPARTA by posting in the Industrial management and economy network of Sweden a job offer that Simon will write to me – I will help them find work force.

read more on www.spartasales.com

Growth Arena at Grant Thornton

Now I have been to my third entrepreneurship event and my passion for the subject is increasing for every time. We started the morning with a networking at Grant Thornton’s office and thereafter continued with four presentations. The topic that really triggered me was digitalization and how important it is for a business to keep itself updated and use new technology to stay in business. We also discussed Swedish school system and how a complex organization, like Skolverket, tries to fit in to the digital world.

Since it is of huge importance to always stay updated and observant for external changes here is my 4 tips for running a business successfully:

External analysis. The world is constantly changing – even faster than before and it is vital to stay updated. My tip is to use a person from without the organization to do the external analysis so your love for the company doesn’t impact your judgement, for example KODAK and NOKIA forgot about this.

Big data – Many companies use big data today without really knowing how or why. Collecting data is important but the most important thing is to have an idea of how the data can be used to have a positive impact on your organization. How can you get more customers? Do you need to change your products? How do your customers use your product? etc. Rather collect a small amount of data with a clear objective than collect big data without any really train of thought.

Find a problem and develop the solution. Do not go the other way around i.e do not construct a product/service and try to find a problem that your product solves. This will never feel 100% right.

Be brave and charge! It is hard do raise price later and also pricing your product is a good way of knowing if your customers appropriate your product.

I really recommend the book ”Get digital, or die trying” by Gilan and Hammarberg if some one is interesting of reading more about the digital take on.

           

Such a great start on the week! This morning I went to an early bird breakfast on Grodan which is a restaurant located down town Stockholm. The time just flew by – greatly because of all the individual stories and experiences that I got to hear about.

What did we do? 

The morning started with mingle and thereafter an introduction round. We were approximately 35 people, which apparently was a bit more than usual. Connect is a non-profit organization who´s objective is to connect entrepreneurs with competence to the available capital on the market. Connect organize these breakfast once every month and every time both new and experienced minglers are joining for personal or/and professional gain.

So what did I learn?

I learned that there exits so many people with knowledge within so many different areas. What strike me the most is the joy of entrepreneurs and their commitment to make something small grow to something bigger. Everyone at the event focused on finding people to help, or looking for others to help them. Now I truly understand the importance of networking.

How did I feel?

After a morning like this I´m very exited to start my own company. It is truly an energy boost to hear about other people leaving their jobs just to do something they believe in. As we discussed in class last week there exists so many ways to convince yourself to NOT do anything about your idea – what is needed is the inspiration of others to gain the courage to change your mind set. As Martin Luther King Jr once said:

”You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step”

A big thanks to Connect for being a platform for connecting people with ideas, capital, knowledge or some other unique contribution. I can recommend Connect´s events since I felt very welcomed and many people wanted to talk to me to get a student perspective pn their ideas. Now I understand how strong of a brand KTH is. It was especially interesting to hear about the new investments on woman entrepreneurship and talk to women within the world of entrepreneurship.

At last I would like to share a opportunity with you all. I talked to a man who is looking for a couple of students from KTH (or another similar school) who has experience within the area of programming and artificial intelligence that would like to help an start up develop an app within the health area. Anyone interested? Write a comment and I will give you his contact information.

#connectsverige.se #networking #Connectbreakfast #studentwithprogrammingskills