“To myself, 10 years ago” – a blog post for young startups

I was asked to give an inspirational keynote at the Venture Cup north regional finals in May, and that made me think about what I would like to have known myself, when this all started. Seeing that we don’t have time machines just yet, and I can’t get a one-on-one with junior me, I decided to share it with the VC audience instead. Here is the same talk again, but now conveniently packaged as a blog. I should say that very little of this wisdom is due to me – most is kind advice I’ve had from others over the years.

1. Choose your customers

Finding customers is a lot like online dating, with the same excitement and the same pitfalls. One thing that many get wrong is that they go for quantity over quality. They write their ads to please everyone, though most online daters would settle for as little as one soul mate. With this in mind, it must surely be better to be specific, and aim to get a few very good matches than an inbox full of dubious suggestions. It’s the same with customers. You don’t need that many, if those you have are good. My advice is to choose customers that are friendly (because if you can’t bring yourself to like them, they won’t like you either), competent (so that they recognize if you do a good job), and when you are a startup: rich. To be honest: if they can’t pay their bills and go bankrupt, then it might be the end of your company too, and that’s no good.

2. Culture beats strategy

Once you business is up and rolling, you’ll probably want to hire people so that you can offer more of whatever it is you’re doing. This means that you have to start thinking about how to motivate your new colleagues. I would say that individual bonuses are marvellous – unless you want happy, loyal, and high-performing co-workers. You can certainly get people to do things that they don’t want to do, mediocrely, if you just pay them enough. However, if you want them to do as well as they can, then focus on meaningful tasks, personal empowerment, and a welcoming and accepting environment. It doesn’t matter how many strategic documents you have – if the company culture is off, the battle is lost.

3. “Folk som fryser är idioter” (= people who feel cold are idiots)

This piece of advice is important, but luckily I had it in time. I studied Computer Science at the university, and this being a technical program, me and my classmates wore overalls more often than not. There are many things to be said in favour of this garment, but it has never been praised for its insulating properties. Me and my two classmates Lars and Marcus had had a pre-party at my place before one of the student dinners, and were waiting at a bus stop in darkest and dankest February on our way to the main event. I was shivering like mad and tried to stand in the middle of my overall, much like a penguin, I think. Lars simply remarked that “Folk som fryser är idioter” (people who freeze are idiots) and started doing Jumping Jacks. When Marcus and I were slow to catch on, he took us by our hands and tried to make us run.

What Lars said is really a profound truth, in the sense that much of what we habitually say we must do is actually something that we want to do. Like freezing is optional. You don’t have to freeze, not if you’re prepared to go down and do one hundred push-ups survival-man style. When you have a job in which you can never do enough, when it would always be better if you worked a few more hours and wrote another 10 emails, then it’s important to know the difference between want and must, and to reflect on this often.

Talk to us at the Venture Cup finals 9 June

If you have questions or just want to chat, please meet my colleagues Annica and Emilott at the Venture Cup national finals in Gothenburg 9 June. Venture Cup is a great opportunity for trying out your startup idea, and we are there to meet and help young startups. I am not able to go myself for *very nice* personal reasons, but you can always contact me via e-mail.

Good luck!

Johanna