Andreas has discovered the flaws of his often-quoted favorite cognitive bias, and Julia has a take on the balancing between fixed and growth mindset. They end up speaking about mindset, and how it can be applied to entrepreneurship, as well as the importance of learning and share their stories on how they learn (which is not so different after all). Company of the week: Pocketklubben Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Produced by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars...

Julia has been onboarding new board members at SSE Ventures, and Andreas has been obsessed with the chaos at OpenAI and their unique governance. They end up speaking about exactly what has happened at OpenAI and why, what lessons startup founders can get about governance from the entire saga, and what they themselves appreciate from a board of directors. Company of the week: Scrive Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas just had a long discussion about product-market fit (PMF) with a founder the other day and Julia is upset that the concept is always explained so badly.  They end up speaking about how to do things that don’t scale to be able to do things that scale, what the early signs of product-market fit are, and the unit economics and metrics behind it, such as LTV, CAC, Churn, Retention, GRR, NRR and more.  Company of the week: Relate Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by...

Andreas is in New York on a visit and has been thinking about WeWorks recent bankruptcy, and Julia has been learning more about the different types of Chapter bankruptcies that exists both in the US and Sweden. They end up speaking about where WeWork went wrong but also what they got right, as well as what actually happens when a company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and why it doesn’t always mean the company is shutting down. Company of the week: Places Hosted by Julia Delin &...

Julia is constantly thrown back to the profit vs. growth discussion in the VC industry and Andreas has been listening in on coaching at SSE Business Lab where coaches give different advice to different startups. How do you know which to focus on? Or can you do both? They end up speaking about raising a larger round vs. a smaller round in this market, why profitability is only important for VCs when it’s a matter of life and death, and if valuations REALLY matter.  Company of the week:...

Julia has been digging deep into the documents behind Almi Invest Stockholm losing the public procurement for their next fund, and Andreas has thought a lot about the consequences this might have on the Stockholm startup ecosystem. They end up speaking about how this affects founders fundraising, what implications this might have on the entire ecosystem and what they think Almi Invest Stockholm need to do to save themselves. Alumni company of the week: Circulate The prompt:...

Julia has been hearing the term “free cash flow” over and over again, and Andreas has been digging deep into different B2B sales motions.  They end up speaking about different B2B sales strategies, how to run a sales meeting to make sure you get the sale and walk the talk by improvising how a sales meeting between a seller and a potential buyer might sound.  Alumni company of the week: Ripe Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars...

Andreas has been talking about SSE launching a center for wellbeing, welfare and happiness, and Julia believes the current market puts entrepreneurs at an even bigger risk of being mentally and physically exhausted.  They end up speaking about the stigma of mental health in the startup sector, their own experiences struggling with mental health issues, and what entrepreneurs can do to mitigate and manage stress. Alumni company of the week: Lägereld Other resources mentioned: the Hugging...

Julia has recently become an expert on Qualified Employee Stock Options and Andreas shares an old anecdote of why options brings back difficult memories for him. They end up speaking about the ins and outs of the new QESO program, why saying it’s risk free isn’t completely true, but also why options can be great for both employees and employers. Alumni company of the week: Kaspian Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Andreas is the in-house expert on everything sustainability-related at SSE Business Lab, and Julia has a newfound interest in biodiversity after attending Climate Week in New York. They end up speaking about why the greatest challenges within climate are also the greatest opportunities to build startups around, what the EU Taxonomy really is and how biodiversity can become the next big impact wave. Alumni company of the week: Water in Sight Resources mentioned: Third Derivative, Inflation...

Andreas just met with Cherry VC and talked about their term sheet, which is available on their website, and Julia has been digging into the nitty gritty of Pale Blue Dot’s open term sheet guide. They end up explaining the most important terms in a term sheet, what you can expect, and what the market standard is. They also fight about whether liquidation preferences should be provided to investors and if founder vesting really should reset when a VC invests. Alumni company of week:...

Andreas just met with Cherry VC and talked about their term sheet, which is available on their website, and Julia has been digging into the nitty gritty of Pale Blue Dot’s open term sheet guide. They end up explaining the most important terms in a term sheet, what you can expect, and what the market standard is. They also fight about whether liquidation preferences should be provided to investors and if founder vesting really should reset when a VC invests. Alumni company of week:...

Julia has been preparing for TechBBQ for weeks and Andreas has not been preparing at all. Still, they ended up having a lot of good stories to tell from the second biggest tech conference in the Nordics that was held on September 13-14. They end up speaking about how to make the most out of a tech conference like this, how to handle the content overload and why after parties with VCs always seem to get cringey. Alumni company of the week: Sustainergies Other resources mentioned: Sam...

Julia has received a suggestion to talk about how to quickly validate an idea, and Andreas is thrilled to do a full on deep-dive into minimum viable products. They end up speaking about when it makes sense for a minimal product to be viable vs lovable, and share anecdotes from when they were running their companies and launched MVPs. Alumni company of the week: Beachhallen Tropical AB Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars...

Julia recently met a founder who was leaving his startup and wondered whether he could sell his shares, and Andreas is excited to speak about a topic someone has requested. They end up speaking about selling secondaries, everything from how it works, who typically sells and buys and how the price is set, to what potential risks there are and why Sebastian Siemiatkowski might not be a fan of secondaries. Alumni company of the week: Stiksen Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas...

Both Julia and Andreas have been prepping the startups for the Demo Day that SSE Business Lab hosts today, which includes weeks of pitch training for some of the startups going on stage.  They end up speaking about the magic of a 3-minute pitch, different techniques to start off your pitch with a crisp “why” and then they put their own advice to the test as they live-pitch some Chat-GPT-generated ideas.  Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible...

Andreas and Julia have both been seeing many different ideas pass them by in their days at the SSE Business Lab. They reminisce about the different ideas that have popped up over and over again, which usually (unfortunately) never succeed. They end up speaking about the hurdles of building a P2P clothing rental service, a travel recommendation site, and an app to split the check - and why all of these ideas are great but most likely bound to fail.  Alumni company of the week: Trion Hosted...

Julia has been reading about how the economic downturn will affect the VC industry and Andreas has been wondering since 2019 when this shift was going to come. They end up revisiting Zero Interest Rate Police as an explanation of how we got here, and speak about how VCs will need to change to adapt to the new climate. Company of the week: Prion Other resources mentioned: a16z’ AI glossary: https://a16z.com/ai-glossary/ Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor...

Julia was asked how it’s possible that Uber made its first ever profitable quarter and Andreas has been reading tweets (or posts on X, as it’s called these days) asking how Memmo could possibly be going into bankruptcy. They end up speaking about marketplaces and the dynamics of the old Venture Capital-financed startups, and why some (like Uber) have managed to turn it around as less capital is available in the market and why some (like Memmo) haven’t been as lucky.  Company of the week:...

Andreas has made of list of the most common questions that the team has been asked by the SSE Business Lab member startups recently and Julia is quizzed on pivots. They end up speaking about when to get your first board, how much a founder can pay themselves in salary, their favorite startup books and how to know it’s time to pivot.  Alumni company of the week: Washaway Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson Edited by Victor Ganguly Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

Julia is excited about fundraising season starting soon and Andreas has a new rule for when the clock starts ticking for a startup, i.e. from what point in time you need to run fast if you want to impress an investor. They end up speaking about the rules of fundraising and why it’s inspired by the Pitbull song Feel This Moment. They cover when you should start fundraising (which is much sooner than you think), who is the right investor for you (and how to approach them - hint: you don’t...

Julia has been signing a few of those so called convertible note agreements for the fund investments with SSE Ventures and Andreas has seen a few other versions of convertible notes fly by at the office.  They end up speaking about when a convertible note is better to use than an equity round, what terms and benchmarks are for a pre-seed convertible and why the NICE (Neat Instrument for Convertible Equity) is the new WISE (Warrants for Investment in Startup Equity).  Company of the week:...

Julia has seen a post circulating on Linkedin of examples of “uninvestable captables”. Andreas is curious if these cap tables really are as broken as they appear. They end up speaking about what to do if you end up with a broken cap table, what to do to mitigate it happening from the start — and if these examples of “broken cap table” really are that bad. The discussion includes what dead equity is, when option plans make sense, and benchmarks for vesting and cliffs. Company of the week:...

Andreas has learned how AI models and neural networks actually work and Julia is all about how both individuals and startups could think about using AI. They end up speaking about how to categorize different types of AI companies, what use cases they’ve found for AI themselves, and why AI models have such a hard time generating human hands. Company of the week: Just Football / InchByInch Other resources mentioned: Museum of Failure, Microsoft for Startups Hosted by Julia Delin &...

Andreas has had a philosophical conversation about what kind of founder you have to be to start a VC-backable startup and Julia gives the investor’s view on what it takes to build a VC case. They end up speaking about the characteristics of a VC case, what VCs want to see in a deck for a VC-backable startup, and what other alternatives to VC funding there are out there. Company of the week: Guestit Other resources mentioned: Almi, DBT Capital, Ark Kapital,  Seedrs, @soren_ivarsen on...