Host Mika Tienhaara. Guest Matt Cowley, professional race driver.

Finland has a long history of successful race drivers. We go with pace, also in the world of business, creating successful startups. In this episode we explore the world of race driving. UK has a fantastic infrastructure and eco system for breeding talent in motor sports - a young UK talent with a fantastic merit list is Matt Cowley. He has been racing since he was 16 years young, he has won championships in UK and the Americas. Race drivers have many similarities to entrepreneurs and we explore a few of those sides in this episode.

You have to be mentally top, Matt spent time alone in the US and becoming a champion. Meditation is a key element, according to Matt. Stress is around you constantly (just like in a startup) so staying mentally fit is very important.

Being active and spending time outdoor helps, says Matt.

What about the team? It is hugely important, without the team support from day-to-day the driver cannot make it. This sounds similar to being the CEO for a startup that has to build a motivated and competent team to be able to achieve the goals and being able to execute.

With your natural gifts you can only get so far. You have to have determination, set higher goals and put in the efforts of training. For instance, in racing the reaction time can be a deciding factor on the starting grid. For entrepreneurs - have a strong hands-on mindset, don’t let things slip!

Matt has shown grit, persistence and determination, for instance starting from the back of the pack and overtaking 150 cars to get on the podium! A startup is an underdog, but with speed-to-market and good traction you can overtake the old dogs!

We see change in racing also, for instance we now have Formula-E with electrical racers. A lot of innovation happens in racing, the technology and knowledge transfer into consumer products (CARS) is of huge importance.

Matt has set his target on LE MANS 2023, the biggest GT race in the world. He is determined not only getting there, his ambition is to WIN.

This is of course requiring fund raising, Matt is looking for sponsors and investors to support him to reach his goals. He has proven to be a winner, he has the determination and the talent to make this his next successful milestone. Matt and his team are looking at raising 2 million GBP, reach out to him to get onboard!

Check out his driving and pit talks on his YouTube channel.

Concluding this episode I learnt how many similarities there are between race drivers and entrepreneurs, we just compete in different fields building our dreams.

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