Ludovic Copéré

Sweden - US Entrepreneurial Forum 2004

Yesterday I was at the Sweden - US Entrepreneurial Forum 2004, which was very insightful in showing the similarities and differences in innovation, legal frameworks and capital accessibility in the two countries. Firstly, as underlined by Mario Cardullo, Counselor to the Under Secretary on Entrepreneurism and Technology, US Department of Commerce, taking the entrepreneurial initiative is by essence an individual responsibility, but it is encouraged (or hampered) by the local environment, which should ideally provide:
- A culture of failure: in this respect, we all have to learn from the USA, where (in most of the cases), failing does not blacklist the entrepreneur, but even gives him credibility in the eyes of investors as a person with guts and drive.
- An appropriate tax structure: high social taxes are in this case not discouraging creation as there are less incentive to go out of one's "comfort zone".
- An consistent training: a component quickly growing here in Sweden, both in Stockholm or Göteborg.

Looking back at the different panels, a shared redline was definitely the concept of networks:
- During the entrepreneurial training, with the close clustering of academia, industry and the support state (i.e. the so-called "Triple Helix" model).
- In the management of innovation and technology: to bridge the "valley of death" gap between funded research and commercial applications, thanks to early-stage funding capital to transform ideas into innovations. This means a rationalized and more daring government through specific programs (e.g. SBIR in the USA) as well as a smoother links between them and the entrepreneurs.
- In the legal and regulatory framework in place. For instance, an organization like the Näringslivets Regelnämnd (NNR - Board of Swedish Industry and Commerce for Better Regulation) maintains close contacts with the private and public sector in order to bring forth laws and regulations promoting entrepreneurship.
- For capital formation: importance of Business Angels Network (e.g. EBAN in Europe, BANSEA in South-East Asia...) and other formal and informal gatherings and associations to use the "catalystic" effect of risk capital the best way.

To wrap-up, some food for thought: quoting a panelist, "The space is divided in three - hunters, gatherers, and farmers". Hunters as the entrepreneurs taking the highest risks, gatherers as the investors, and farmers as the managers settling and growing the venture.

The Bootstrapper's Bible

Just released by ChangeThis, an online think-tank which aim at  giving "rational and thoughtful arguments that help people change their minds to a more productive point of view" (taken from their first manifesto): The Bootstrapper's Bible, an online (and freely available) book on how to "bootstrap", i.e. "entrepreneurs who are working their butts off to start a great business from scratch with no (or almost no) money". I've just begun reading it, but I've already found many insights on how to leverage on being both an "underdog" and a "guerilla" in the business jungle.

The book is written by Seth Godin, an americain entrepreneur and one of my favorite management author: witty, smart and engaging books on strategy and marketing (I heartily recommend Free Prize Inside, and not only for the fun cereal-box package :-) ).

Underground Entrepreneurship

Well almost. At least some inspiring advertisement such as this one I saw on the subway today from Östermalmstorg: a banner promoting entrepreneurship and innovation by advertising the services of NUTEK, the Swedish Business Development Agency - as seen on the (low-quality and unfortunately cropped) picture on the left.
It may seem anecdotal, but I really don't think we would even just consider of seeing similar initiatives back in France (correct me if I'm wrong - and I'd like to be wrong on this peculiar one).

Entrepreneurship in a Box

An excellent initiative of the Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship (SSES): the Entrepreneur's Toolbox. It's subtitled as "All you need to start and run your own business", and I got one as a lucky student out there. Among other things, it features taxation forms from Skatteverket (obviously something of a great importance here in Sweden :-) ), several Intellectual Property brochures from Patent- och Registreringsverket, bank account forms as well as information about the outreaching activities at SSES and ESBRI (Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute).

Even though jumping or not on the "entrepreneurship-bandwagon" straight after graduation still remains to be seen, I really appreciate such exposure to the actual dynamics and practical steps towards venture creation. Now, one can but wish to witness the same moves to foster entrepreneurship and innovation back in France...

Ericsson, Entrepreneurship, KTH

Ericsson is running an article in Mobility World about Charon, a great project run by several of my fellow teammates at Excitera, the Entrepreneurship Association at KTH. It is "an application competition [...], in which students develop applications running on Ericsson's Network Resource Gateway (NRG)".

Being entrepreneurial is certainly not the first and foremost thing one is taught at University. However, when one looks at the figures from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the top entrepreneurial countries often tend to be the most dynamic flexible ones: countries like Korea, Thailand, India (and of course the USA) all benefit from having a total entrepreneurial activity 2.5 to 3.5 times higher than that of Sweden (and it is even worse in France). That is why I deeply believe in outreaching initiatives like Excitera to bring together the academia with the Industrial reality and above all inspire thinking outside the box from one's undergraduate days onward.

Välkommen till verkligheten.