https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajaskogland/ (Raja Skogland) is an entrepreneur who believes in limitless human potential and is dedicated to empowering her peers. Since 2015, she has been helping thousands of entrepreneurs to build their networks, gain knowledge and access capital, enabling them to start and successfully grow their businesses. From 2016 to 2018, she successfully launched and managed https://hub.no/ (Hub.no), growing the online platform to more than 1,200 start-ups. She is also investing in and advising several Norwegian start-ups and entrepreneurs. In 2016, she received a Saphira Award, which honors a selection of inspiring Moroccan female entrepreneurs and leaders. In 2018, Raja she was nominated in the Nordic Start-up Awards’ “Ecosystem Hero of the Year” category. Her fields of expertise are: entrepreneurship, start-ups, business strategy, project management, marketing, sales, growth hacking, leadership, hiring, and networking.

“My gut feeling was telling me:‘Don’t go there, you don’t know them, you don’t KNOW them!’”

Raja Skogland

Worst investment ever Nordic accelerator program looks at social impact companies

Raja was attracted to investing in several start-ups that were part of one of the best accelerator programs in the Nordic countries that centered impact start-ups. She has a particular interest in supporting such start-ups to contribute to making the world a better place and putting her money into a good cause.

Thirty investors divide three companies among them

She had originally been presented with three companies to invest in that had been part of the program over a two-month period and 30 investors were eyeing the companies. So the group of investors were divided in three and Raja was involved with two of them, but she had not looked into the third start-up.

Investors grill founders in intense meetings

The investors had two months to get to know the founders, meeting them once a week and this would take the whole evening in a very intense atmosphere. During the sessions, around 7-10 investors face single founders or teams sitting in “the hot seat” and challenge them with many questions to understand their business idea, ask them about the market potential, watch how the team interacts and whether they work together, ask what they have achieved with their vision so far, ask about their leadership skills. The investors are trying to make sure they will make a good investment and the founders are earnestly trying to sell their idea, they need money, they need try to secure investment in their dreams. So it’s hard on both sides.

Business practice and cultural differences pose barrier

Raja had doubts about the two start-ups she was looking at. In fact, she had doubts about all three. Firstly, because they were not based in Nordic countries, but were in the US. Raja prefers closer contact with entrepreneurs so that she can support them and reach out to her own network while doing so. There are many differences in approach between Nordic and US companies, so it was hard to understand many of the metrics that have to be taken into account. There are cultural differences as well, in how to approach the business, the market, and the relationship with the investor.

Participating investor friend approaches

So Raja and colleagues had been doing the due diligence and getting to know the start-ups, but despite that, she remained unconvinced. Then a good friend of hers, who was also an investor, approached her and said he was really keen on investing in the third start-up. He had been working in the third group with them and had taken a lead-investor position.

Not all money is the same

As each investor group was separate, those in the other groups had to trust each other’s expertise, insight and understanding, in their reporting to the 30-strong investor group. And while they were all experienced, there were varying levels of experience. Raja says it is very important to find