Startup Syndrome

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 Strannegård

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 Face Community

Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson

Edited by Victor Ganguly

Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

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 Reduction Act, stockholmresiliencecenter.org, foraybio.com, heygen.com.

Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson

Edited by Victor Ganguly

Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

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: Bubblare.se, founded by Oskar Kalmaru

Resources mentioned:

• Cherry’s term sheet: https://medium.com/cherryventures/term-sheet-unlocked-c73f28bd15f7
• Pale Blue Dot’s term sheet: https://pbdvc.notion.site/The-Pale-blue-dot-term-sheet-guide-e5e9d27983b54a6a8cde23e7df463bef
• Julia’s column on liquidation preference shares: https://www.breakit.se/artikel/36657/dirty-term-sheets-forstor-ekosystemet-for-startups
• Wellstreet’s blog post on dirty terms: https://wellstreet.se/story/navigating-the-risks-of-dirty-term-sheets

Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson

Edited by Victor Ganguly

Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

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 Lessin on X: https://twitter.com/lessin/status/1668940929770864643

Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson

Edited by Victor Ganguly

Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

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 Strannegård

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 Johansson

Edited by Victor Ganguly

Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

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. 

Alumni company of the week: Yollibox

Hosted by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson

Edited by Victor Ganguly

Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård

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 by Julia Delin & Andreas Johansson

Edited by Victor Ganguly

Responsible publisher: Lars Strannegård