Key Takeaways from Everything About: New Work with Creandum
As promised, here are some of the key takeaways from the online session about new work, with Ines Streimelweger & Staffan Helgesson from Creandum.
Everything about is our online event series where we partner with some of Europe’s leading VC funds and talk about a certain topic that is current and of high relevance in the startup world.
This time we hosted a session with Creandum. It was tailored to early-stage and seed-stage companies, building business models related to “new work”, which have already launched their product and plan to raise a financing round in the next twelve months.
We have collected some of the insights provided by Ines & Staffan, we think every new work founder (& every founder in general), should consider having a look at.
COVID19 talks: What changed & predictions on the future
As long as people are bound to stay at home, or at least restricted in their social life, they’re missing out on these serendipitous connections one usually might have at the water cooler, which changes and complicates the whole networking process.
The underlying trend of COVID19 is that there will be more flexibility in most areas in the world of work, because people are now used to dealing with uncertainty.
Communication is more important than before, because especially now, you need to reach and engage your audience, investors, and useful business partners remotely, which needs a lot of thinking into it.
Many companies are seeing that the changes that they had envisioned to take a long time are suddenly happening super fast, because some day-to-day tasks, like in-person meetings, aren’t happening (or at least as much) and that means being able to shift the attention elsewhere.
What will the “new normal” look like: Some changes made are just too big to go back to how they used to be once this is all „over”. Remote work, for example, will still play a huge part in the work culture of tomorrow.
Stop making excuses & only seeing downsides to this whole situation. Never waste a good crisis. Challenge what you do, adapt, make changes.
The most important thing when it comes to building a product related to new work
Most VCs want companies that are here to stay and will still be here and add benefit after things are “back to normal”. Ideal is a product that offers a solution which is independent of any global pandemic the world will throw at it.
Questions you need to ask yourself (& ideally answer with YES): Are you building a feature or a company? Can you change an entire industry based on what you are building?
When building solutions in the world of new work, the ideal is to always be the first one coming up with an idea and implementing it. But, of course, even in this industry, there will always be competition. So here’s a very simple rule: Do you have to be the first one? No. The best one ? Yes.
Build something that delights your user. Don’t worry about „trends“ in the industry, and what everyone else does. Your idea (product) will only work if it is original & unique.
For investors it would be ideal to see that someone loves your product. They love nice looking and delightful solutions. Something they and the users can touch and feel.
A company’s success depends on…
How it prioritizes its tasks & the problems needing to be solved and therefore, where the main focus lies. Companies who identify & take care of the most urgent tasks & problems early on, are more successful than the ones who don’t.
How big they are thinking. Ines & Saffan have the opinion that companies can only be really successful when expanding to the US.
How to choose your customers
Make sure you select your customers. Go for the winners of tomorrow. If you sign a customer, and the customer wins, you will win with them.
If you are investing in the end user but want the company to pay, you may ask yourself: How do I get in there? Maybe think less about who pays initially, infect the organization & its employees and create pressure from underneath rather than from the top.
You already have a startup with a female- or diverse-led team and want to get ready for investment? Check out Grow F!
You are a female employee aiming to shape the world of tomorrow and want to embrace your entrepreneurial mindset? Have a look at Lead F!
