I’ve just spent a couple of days at “GoWest Nordic Venture Capital Forum” in Gothenburg, (where I live), which aims to bring together entrepreneurs, investors and all kinds of other organisations in the general startup ecosystem. Although I have attended hundreds of software conferences, I have never taken part in an event quite like this before.
I decided to go to this event because although I have a successful business selling consulting services, I’m interested in trying to broaden my offering into something more like a product. If I could come up with something to sell that scales better than my own hours then I might be able to build a bigger business which makes more of an impact.
I’ve tried a couple of product ideas but not had much success yet, so I wanted to find out how other people have built their businesses and what it looks like to become a successful entrepreneur.
Main stage
On the main stage there were several talks and interviews with “famous people” like high-up people in politics and business. The general theme was how to encourage entrepreneurship at a structural level and make the EU an easier market for startups. Although this is of course really important it didn’t feel like it was solving my particular problem so I drifted away from this stage quite quickly.
Startup pitches
I listened to half a dozen or more startups spend a few minutes each pitching their product and then answering questions from a panel of investors. This format was great for learning how real entrepreneurs present themselves and what the investors are looking for. These presentations were really slick, the products seemed half way to global success already, and all of them seemed to be solving really important problems.
There was some jargon I didn’t understand but overall it was really encouraging to see the kinds of ideas that were coming up and how the investors responded to them. I have a long way to go before I would be pitching anything like that, so it was more aspirational than directly useful for me.
Matchmaking
Before the event I could search and filter the profiles of the other attendees in order to find interesting people who I would like to meet. Then I could propose a meeting with them during the conference. I was a bit nervous about requesting meetings with people I had never met, but it seemed to be somewhat expected and the conference kept sending me emails beforehand telling me to do this so I thought I should give it a go.
I eventually used the conference’s search tools to find three entrepreneurs in a similar situation to myself, with ideas for “EdTech” products for teaching and learning. I suggested meetings in the later part of the conference when I hoped I would be feeling more confident. To my surprise they all accepted and these meetings turned out really well. It really was something everyone was doing, and I also got a fourth request from an “innovation manager” who wanted to meet me too. 20 minutes is long enough to discover the person and ideas behind the few sentences on their profile page, and the entrepreneurs I met were all very friendly. It wasn’t weird or awkward as I had feared. If I do this again I will definitely suggest more meetings.
I went to the conference not knowing anyone, and this was a good way to come away with at least a few people I feel I know a little better and can keep in touch with. It was a much better way to find interesting people to talk to than randomly walking up to other participants at the conference. I did some of that too – and everyone was friendly – but actually not as successful as the pre-planned meetings.
Exhibition area
In a software conference the exhibition area is full of companies trying to sell you something, and of course there were some of those here as well, selling legal services, marketing and so on that all startups need sooner or later. I was more interested in two other kinds of stands. Firstly startups where you could meet other entrepreneurs. You could just walk up and get them to give their pitch and show their product. It was very cool to find out all the innovative ideas and encouraging stories about how they were going to change the world. Perhaps more useful for me, they would also explain where they came from, how long it was taking, what investments they were looking for, why they were here, and what advice they had for an entrepreneur like myself. Everyone was very generous with their ideas and advice.
The other kind of stand I really appreciated was the incubators, investors and general ecosystem services for startups. The people at these stands were really knowledgeable and willing to give good advice, and not particularly to sell me anything. I found several really helpful people who could explain to me about the jargon I was hearing and what stages startups usually go through and how their particular organization fits in with all of that.
Takeaways
I’ve come away with a better idea of what I’m looking for now. Successful entrepreneurs build a team around them, usually with co-founders who co-own the business. There are support organizations which specialize in very early startups with advice on business ideas and how to package your idea into a product. Then there are incubators which will help a group of founders to get going with their product and a proof of concept. After a while, when you have something more concrete, you will probably need outside investment, and there are other organizations who can coach you and introduce you to suitable investors so you can scale up.
I had very little idea about any of this startup-support ecosystem and in particular what is available here in Gothenburg, so I was very pleased to get advice and learn who I could benefit from talking to. Several times the advice was to go down the hall a little way to a different booth to talk to them directly! This seemed to me the great power of this event – that so many complementary organizations were in the same place and it was so easy to go and meet them and find out more.
I’ve come away from this event with some concrete plans to talk to some people in various startup-support organizations, and to spend more time networking with other entrepreneurs. I don’t know if I will be able to realize my dream of building a business around a new innovative product but I feel much better informed about how that could happen.
