Dare to realize your idea
Sweden is fantastic and together with Switzerland and the Netherlands is one of the world’s most innovative countries.
It starts approx. 70,000 companies in Sweden per year, which in itself is good BUT at the same time there are an incredible number of more good ideas that are “brooding” at home in the drawers and which therefore never “get the chance” to become commercially sustainable companies. This is despite the fact that the ideas can have a great height of innovation and solve really big problems.
I have seen a lot of evidence of this during my 15 years as an advisor, strategist and sounding board for entrepreneurs in the early stages.
Have many examples of the theme but one that stands out a bit is Stina (we can call her that) who presented an idea to me in connection with a Startup forum a few years ago. Her idea of a clear problem was really good and well thought out and she had also done a market research and asked “the typical customer” if there is an interest in buying her product which was confirmed by the target group.
By asking the market, ie the “customer” about interest in the product and the willingness to buy, she also did something that too many unfortunately miss.
She also had a good plan for how the product would be realized / manufactured and also reach out and distributed to the customer, ie sold. All this made me really interested and it turned out that her idea now “lay at home in the drawer” for over five (5) years after she received confirmation that the idea could work and had good chances of being commercialized.
But WHY!? … had Stina not “made a difference” and kicked off the realization of the idea?
Her answer was clear – “I know nothing about accounting so it will be difficult why I did not dare to move on”.
Sweden is fantastic and together with Switzerland and the Netherlands is one of the world’s most innovative countries.
It starts approx. 70,000 companies in Sweden per year, which in itself is good BUT at the same time there are an incredible number of more good ideas that are “brooding” at home in the drawers and which therefore never “get the chance” to become commercially sustainable companies. This is despite the fact that the ideas can have a great height of innovation and solve really big problems.
I have seen a lot of evidence of this during my 15 years as an advisor, strategist and sounding board for entrepreneurs in the early stages.
Have many examples of the theme but one that stands out a bit is Stina (we can call her that) who presented an idea to me in connection with a Startup forum a few years ago. Her idea of a clear problem was really good and well thought out and she had also done a market research and asked “the typical customer” if there is an interest in buying her product which was confirmed by the target group.
By asking the market, ie the “customer” about interest in the product and the willingness to buy, she also did something that too many unfortunately miss.
She also had a good plan for how the product would be realized / manufactured and also reach out and distributed to the customer, ie sold.
All this made me really interested and it turned out that her idea now “lay at home in the drawer” for over five (5) years after she received confirmation that the idea could work and had good chances of being commercialized.
But WHY!? … had Stina not “made a difference” and kicked off the realization of the idea?
Her answer was clear – “I know nothing about accounting so it will be difficult why I did not dare to move on”.
She, like many other “Idea Givers, Innovators and Inventors” with a fantastic idea and thus an embryo for a Startup, unfortunately has a great deal of respect for how a company is started and therefore DARE not take the step and start.
If you do not have the entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship in the “mother’s milk” or do not have a good friend who is an entrepreneur, I can really understand this.
I myself come from Ludvika in southern Dalarna and entrepreneurship was not even one on the map. It was only when I as a young guy “cut the umbilical cord” and moved to Stockholm in the early 80’s that I started to meet entrepreneurs for real and eventually got “bloody tooth” and inspiration to start my now 30-year journey as an entrepreneur.
Of course, I also struggled with just DARE and the fear of failure, which was the big brake pad before the decision was made.
Now that I myself have started up seven companies and also tried to realize five more business ideas, I understand the great value of just DARE and also the great value of failing and MAKING WRONG.
The fear of failing in combination with the fact that you do not think you have all the necessary skills such as Stina who could not bookkeeping as one of the biggest reasons why you do not DARE to put the shovel in the ground and start up.
jojojojoj …! what many mistakes I have made over the years but… all these mistakes and the experience I gained from this are my most important assets today and have strengthened me enormously as an entrepreneur.
Imagine if you could see a mistake or failure from the positive side. “What luck that I tried for now I know what not to think and how to do to succeed”.
If you only knew how many failures the most successful entrepreneurs have behind them. They had an important and clear ability which was not to “dig themselves in” but instead learn from the failure and move on and “do the right thing” next time.
That just DARE is a key factor but it is just as important to TAKE HELP from others. You do not need to know everything, such as Stina who was afraid of accounting, something that an accounting consultant does quickly and easily for a reasonable cost.
Sweden is one of the absolute best countries to dare to start your own company in. We have a good and well-functioning Ecosystem of actors who help and support brave people to realize their ideas.
A tip is to read and get inspiration from the Swedish ideas that have managed to establish themselves and get all the way to successful international companies.
Common to all these successes is that a person or a group of people just dared to take it “from thought to action”.
So stop thinking and DARE to pick up your idea from the drawer and dare to TAKE HELP to take your idea further.
Good luck!
