What an experience. The mobile world surely delivered – experience, connections, craziness and emotions. Since returning from the fair the entire team has been trying to get back to normal, and start closing in on our goals we set up before we got this surprise distraction.
The Mobile World Congress 2018 was a success. Our partner was super happy with us which was the most important and all our technology worked with some last-minute duct tape fixes. Secondly, we got to both try and showcase our prototype and got tonnes of leads and feedback. Thirdly, we learned all about fairs. We now know it is hard to stand up for 12 hours in dress shoes and go for drinks in the evening for the sake of “networking”.
Once home, the super intense work-period paid its price. Side effects of working too hard are tiredness, doubt and loss of motivation. This became evident the following week when the bed was harder than normal to get out of for the first time ever hard.
Entreprenör Skåne 2018
In between everything I was rewarded with “Entreprenör Skåne 2018”. One entrepreneur from each municipality in the county of Skane, me representing my home municipality Landskrona, was selected to participate in a series of seminars, talks and educative meetings with other entrepreneurs. The first meeting took place two weeks ago.
The innovation manager from Region Skåne welcomed everyone. He started by saying:
“Thank you, for doing what you are doing. Starting your own business. SMEs create 4/5 jobs in Sweden. You are essential”.
I almost cried. For 1.5 years I have been following my own path, working 60-hours a week without a salary for creating something I believe in and are convinced is needed in the world, while some were laughing, saying I should do something else or that it was a poor idea. Now, someone says thank you and invited me for dinner.
When you are down the words you don’t normally listen to float to the surface of your consciousness – “Good work Erik”, “You inspire me”, “Great idea, I want one!”… and other positive and empowering words from friends, colleagues and people in your network. Thank you all for cheering me on – these past weeks your encouragements meant a lot to me! This is a lesson to all of you why it is so important to be surrounded by people that give you energy and lift you up to new heights you did not believe you could reach.
When you are down the words you don’t normally listen to float to the surface of your consciousness – “Good work Erik”, “You inspire me”, “Great idea, I want one!”… and other positive and empowering words from friends, colleagues and people in your network. Thank you all for sharing cheering me on, these past weeks your encouragements meant a lot to me! This is a lesson to all of you why it is so important to be surrounded by people that give you energy and lift you up to new heights you did not believe you could reach.
Back to the startup – next step
After several inspiring meetings, we are entering a new stage in the startup journey – raising capital. A completely new experience for me and something I had hard imagining myself doing a year ago. While we are doing this – learning how to speak to investors, what numbers you need to get straight, and where to look, our main goal remains the same: finnish our 10-series and deliver to our much anticipating test-customers around Skåne.
When we come back in four weeks I hope that we are a little bit closer to the main goal and that you have told one of your friends one thing you appreciate with them. Remember to give energy and you will get some in return when you need it the most! Hugs to all of you.
