social entrepreneurship without a master plan
DESCRIPTION
What happens if you start your business without a master plan? And what can we learn from it? This talk+roundtable discussion was given to a very exclusive audience of young international entrepreneurs at Copenhagen Business School.TRANSCRIPT
Social entrepreneurship without a master plan...
Mathias Vestergaard™ E-ship Day 2008
Out of curiosity...
• How many of you do not speak Danish?
Who the hell is this bald little guy?• Photographer• Writer• Webdeveloper• Boy scout• Fashion editor• Student• Quasi-famous • Author (well, trying)• Teacher• Martini-drinker• 5% New Yorker• 22 years old
Who are you?
• Have you already started a company?
Conclusion
• Find the energy– Where does it come from?– How can you capture it?– Avoid the boring
What the hell should we talk about?
• Successful entrepreneurship • Stories
– How it started... – GadeMode™– Bounded creativity– Political activism
• Random thoughts – Stress– Networking... – Tips
• Workshop after dinner...
Explaining success
Successful company
Alternative theory
• Social Construction Of Technology (SCOT)– Authors: T. Pinch & W. Bijker (articles)
• Actor-network Theory (ANT)– Authors: B. Latour, J. Law, M. Callon, A. Mol– Books: ”The Pasteurisation of France” (Latour)
Entrepreneurship
Traditionally• The brilliant idea• Business plan• Investors• ”MyBusiness Inc.”• High profit (high risk)• Scaleability • Growth, growth, growth
• Cases: Skype, Facebook, YouTube, Fortune 500…
Alternative
?• Not necessarily better…
An instance of chance...
• My personal story• Not necesarily a definite guide... • Inspiration to do something
Story #1: No master plan
• 6th grade
• It all began as play: MT Air, Tele MT, osv.
• Interest in computers
→ small computer games and programsTroelsMathias
The first job...
• First: local wine import
• Later: local restaurant
• VAT-registration was a simple necesity...
No brilliant idea...
Pros• Basically no risk• Get you started• No fixed costs• Option to change direction• No boring investor ”pitches”
and endless meetings with lawyers and accountants
Cons• Becomes personal (so you
can’t really sell your company later)
• You won’t become a billionaire!
Story #2: Do what you want to do
!WARNING:Laughter provoking content
• Boy scout... indeed...
Mathias anno 1999
A new friendship and a new interest...
Mathias Helle
Articles for ’Delfinen’
More...
• 1½ years later...• +1400 daily visits• Awards from Magasin
and Cosmopolitan• Press: Politiken, DR1
News... (and TV2 Østjylland, P4... )
GadeMode™
And the list goes on...
• 15 voluntary photographers
• Contract deliveries for Politiken and Sonday.dk
• Part-time assistant editor (best decision ever)
• Spin-off: – Articles on trends for
EMU.dk – Articles for Dansk Daily
during Copenhagen Fashion Week
– Articles and photos for Euroman
Shut up now....
Lots of practical work• Shooting photos (with a
camera borrowed from a friend)
• Writing texts• There were no comments
on the site in the beginning• Press releases
• A lot of criticism– Angry e-mails and stuff...
Is GadeMode™ actually a success?
• We’ve worked on this for 1½ years
• Where is the money (Lebowski)???
Success in social entrepreneurship
• Sounds so terribly fancy...
• What does it mean?
Ways of interacting
• Having coffee• Dinner at a restaurant• Party/getting drunk• Group work• Meeting• Starting a new project
What did we do?
• Loved the work• Followed the ”energy”– ”Is this fun?”
• Attracted volunteers• Changed direction as needed
• Problem: how to have a good idea?
• No boundaries → finger paint → ’Kaospilot’
Story #3: bounded creativity
Mathias has a girlfriend
Mathias Pernille
Mathias has a girlfriend
Mathias Pernille
Boundary 1: travel time
Pernille
HerningÅrhus
• Chanel• New York• Paris• Restauranter• Caféer• ...
Boundary 2: need $$$
Pernille
• Shoe store • Huge inventory of old shoes• Frustrating work environment• Too expensive to sell discounted products in
the physical store• Recurrent problem• Wholesale can devaluate the standard prices
Boundary 3: shoe shop
• 3 hours on the train• Need for $$$• Shoe shop with a huge inventory
• One night...
Boundaries:
• Large selection• Reduced prices• Photography on Sundays• Special technology: working offline on the
train• Quick solution – less than 20 hours
Online sale
...my third story is also a story of failure...
Unfortunately...
Story #4: political activism
Those were the stories
Thoughts on networking...
• Or... social NOTworking as someone recently called the endless hours spent on Facebook...
My three key contacts
• Teacher from primary school• My sister’s friend’s father• The guy who called me up in 2001 because he
wanted to use one of my Flash games on his website (for free)
The point is...
• You can’t really know who’ll become your most important contacts...
• ...so instead of only networking with the ’cool kids’ or ’big bosses’, I try to listen to everyone...
Blogging authenticity and collaboration
CaratGadeMode™
Paid to blog?
• Can you do that?
• Three-way (kinky...)
• Real?
• Openness
AUs
Users
What about STRESS?
• 3 out of 6 so called ”Future Leaders” do not believe that stress actually exists!
• It is pretty real!
• Meditation + running etc.
Tips & tricks to do it yourself
• Begin while you study• Do a real project• Set a reasonable and good price (difficult)• Spend on the stuff you like
My ”organization”Fun!
CVR
Folding doors
Branding strategy
Website
Boy scout
Training course
Festival
Eventuelt.org
Reviews
GadeMode™
Speeches
Articles
But where is the ”core competency”?
Thaught experiment: the perfect Wednesday
Do it!
• Maybe no one actually knows how to do a successful project... But one thing is certain: if you don’t try nothing will happen...
What’s next in my life?
• Company boards • Moving to New York, fall 2009