Startup Syndrome

It’s the last episode of Startup Syndrome (for now, at least). Julia and Andreas have been going back and forth on whether to continue recording each week, but have decided to quit for now. They end up speaking about how to know it’s time to leave your startup or give up on it and try something else, and how to time-box a startup journey to make sure you quit while you’re ahead. We want to hear from you. Do you have any input on what future episodes should be about? How often you want to hear from us? Let us know! Email julia.delin@hhs.se or andreas.johansson@hhs.se. Alumni company of the week: Klarna Other resources mentioned: The Time-Boxed Startup: https://www.workingtheorys.com/p/time-boxed-startup Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Carl Andersson Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Julia has been speaking with a few companies recently where the founders are in exit talks, and Andreas has been looking into different types of exits and haw to strategize as a founder. They end up speaking about why some exits are more common than others, examples of exits they’ve seen first hand, and why some exits are not the ones generating headlines in the media. Alumni company of the week: Budbee Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas has been thinking about the different growth hacks he’s seen throughout the years from both SSE Business Lab companies but also other well-known startups, and Julia has been wondering if these growth hacks can be split into different categories. They end up speaking about which growth hacks they’ve seen work in practice, some examples of companies who’ve implemented these hacks, and why they think these specific hacks worked so well. Alumni company of the week: Intraction Studio Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas and Julia has been listening in on the Activate workshops recently and were inspired by the Go-to-market workshop by Rasmus Savander to talk about the Product-Market-Model-Channel fit. They end up speaking about different ways you can make sure you have coherence across these different parameters and how the fit between them can drive your business in the right direction. Resources mentioned: An image of the model and some background https://brianbalfour.com/essays/product-channel-fit-for-growth Alumni company of the week: Napper Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Produced by MTW Studios Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas has recently been through the recruiting process of new colleagues to SSE Business Lab and Julia reminisces about her time recruiting and managing Andreas (phew!).  They end up speaking about what to look for when recruiting people to a very small team, how you learn to become a great leader, and how to manage people in the fast-paced environment a startup is. Alumni company of the week: Ledarskapsjouren Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Carl Andersson Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas has previously gotten the request to talk about the success stories they’ve seen at SSE Business Lab, and Julia has recently gotten a similar request - but to talk about the failures. They end up choosing the former topic to be a bit more positive, and speak about some of the more successful companies the’ve seen during their time, discussing what those teams did well. Alumni company of the week: Inex One Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Julia has been thinking back on a course she took about the pros and cons of diversity in teams, and Andreas recently hosted a workshop about what aspects are important for co-founders to discuss and align on in early startups. They end up speaking about SSE Business Lab’s diversity criteria, why they care about diversity and why startup founders should, as well as how many of the discussions about diversity could benefit from some nuance. Alumni company of the week: The Ode To Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas has been getting a lot of questions about Shareholders’ Agreements lately, and Julia has been looking into the fine print of the Startup Tools’ Shareholders’ Agreement template. They end up speaking about the different clauses that are good to be aware of in the SHA, why cliff and vesting is so important, and what changes they would like to see in the Startup Tools’ template. Alumni company of the week: OMIT Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas has been thinking about all of the different ways he’s seen startups fail, and Julia has finally read about the “Onion Theory of Risk” which Andreas has been nagging about. They end up speaking about the different risk factors contributing to startup failure, examples of startups they’ve seen falling prey to these risks, and what you can do to mitigate them. Alumni company of the week: Charlie Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Julia has been thinking about how to sell before you build after hearing Harald Mix’s comment at Breakit Funding Day where he spoke about how they built Northvolt and H2 Green Steel, and Andreas has dug deeper into when it does NOT work. They end up speaking about how much you need to build before you start selling, what you should never focus on before you start selling and when “sell before you build” doesn’t really apply. Alumni company of the week: Fleetm8 Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård