DoldAdress.se

Helping a team of young entrepreneurs choose the right path as a company, strategy for B2B sales, and fundraising strategy. A super exciting company that helps thousands of people get their privacy back on the internet.

Advisory Board Member / pre seed investor

Forecastly AI

We predict tomorrow's sales today: custom AI forecasting for bakeries, restaurants, and amusement parks.
Our advanced machine learning engine transforms your historical sales data, incorporating weather patterns and key events, into precise demand forecasts. Prevent your food waste, optimize the staffing, and boost your profits.

Chief Executive Officer

Max Gouchan

Delivered over 75 talks around the world about entrepreneurship and how it really is. In my latest talk, I share the insights of how a company can succeed with the Millennial and Gen Z generations and get a huge competitive advantage.

Public Speaker

Wiral

- Discover, evaluate and test out new markets for Wiral
- Establish sales channels with international distributors, retailers, universities, and TV stations
- Develop affiliate programs and follow-up with affiliate partners
- Create and deliver sales pitches and marketing material
- Optimize sales processes and CRM system workflow
- Organize presence and represent Wiral at tradeshows

Director Of Business Development

Frank Walton

In charge of developing the B2B sales strategy and processes and B2B client portfolio from scratch. Grew the number of opticians who sold the Frank Walton glasses from 2 to 35+.

- Cold outreach to a potential optician and fashion stores across Norway through phone and email
- Created sales pitches, marketing material, and follow-up processes
- Meetings, in-store presentation and deal closing with clients across Norway
- Ensured proper in-store positioning of the brand and proper functioning of sales through frequent client follow-up
- Implemented CRM system and sales routines
- Trained staff in B2B sales

Sales Manager

ClickLift

ClickLift is a startup company working on a solution for increasing safety related to offshore lifting operations.

CEO and Co-Founder

Trolldeig

Trolldeig was a startup company in Norway which did  Apple and Samsung products repare. I was  co-founder. When we started it with 30.000 NOK, I planned a strategy of opening up a new department in Norway every 14 day. We managed to open up a new branch every 20. At the end Trolldeig repaired products in 6 cities and had an investor on board.. The company was sold after 1 year in business to a bigger company from Oslo and our investor got a good ROI.

Business Developer

Zoaring AS

Responsible for  getting new B2B clients. Worked with cold calling and cold emailing to execute meetings. And also helping  setting up a London office branch doing promotional activities.

Key Account Manager

Unge Høyre Stavanger

Vice Precident

Stavanger Europeisk Ungdom

Startups and scaleups hire me as an interim head of sales to help them with strategy, build the pipeline and closing big deals.

Last 10 years I have been involved in several startups in Norway with roles ranging from Managing Director to Sales Manager. I have a passion for sales, marketing, and customer experience.

Founder tip #1

Your first day at your startup should be spent with your potential client, getting feedback. Here is why:

Too many founders spend countless hours sitting on the attic working on their business plan, website, business cards, social media accounts, programming, developing, and making something, with a strong hope that when they release it in 3-6 months, the customers will love it and buy it.

That rarely happens, and most of the time the market says no. The harsh reality, many ideas that seem good, simply don't have a market fit/need, and get to a stage where someone goes as far as departing with their hard-earned money to pay for your service. 

On the other hand, when you start with talking to real potential customers, sharing your idea (and don't be afraid, none of your customers will steal it, they are busy with their core business), and getting real valuable feedback, can save you from months of wasted time and money.

First thing me, Troels Damgaard, and Roland Madaras did when starting Forecastly AI, even before writing one single line of code, was to call all our acquittances, friends, previous business partners and whom we knew, in the food and beverage industry, asking what they think about our idea, what they would pay for it, and if they want to sign up as a pilot customer.

This has been a critical success factor for us. First of all, we were overwhelmed with the positive response, making it easier for us to take the decision for all of us to step in full-time. 

Second, we could develop our idea with close feedback from our pilot testers, making a product that is user friendly and creates maximum value for the customer. 

One of our first pilot customers was Fjåk Sjokolade in Bergen. And last week was a huge milestone for us because this reference popped into our mailbox:

We have been using Forecastly for some months now, and they have made our staffing planning much smoother. Our managers no longer rely on spreadsheets and gut feeling. Also, the forecasts of items sold come in very handy when we are placing orders with suppliers and planning our production and delivery of chocolate from our chocolate factory. Having access to real-time forecasts just makes our day-to-day decision-making a lot easier. All in all, we are very satisfied with Forecastly as our forecasting provider. - Ian, Fjåk Sjokolade

And even after that reference, we are still getting valuable feedback from Fjåk, of what changes we should make, so that the product becomes even better for them.

So if you're thinking about starting a business, my best advice is, already from day one, to spend time with your potential customers. Dont hide on the attic. Pick up the phone, invite your potential customer for a coffee, and listen to their feedback. 

Founders, what are your thoughts?
#founders #startup #startuptips #advisoryboard #entrepreneurship

Funder tip #3 - How to find a co-founder

Starting a company is much more fun when you are not alone. Here are some tips from my personal experience on how you can find a co-founder:

Participate in a Local Startup Weekend:
Startup Weekend is an amazing event that brings together local people passionate about entrepreneurship. I've attended three times as a participant, won two, and also served as a mentor at one. The atmosphere and energy at these events are incredible. Highly recommended. Every time, there are amazing people present who care about the same things as you: startups and entrepreneurship.

Check Out Local Events at Co-working Spaces.
Attend and mingle. Spread the word about your idea, yourself, and who you're looking for. You might not meet your co-founder directly, but someone you meet might know the right person and introduce you to them.

Contact an Incubator or Accelerator Program.
If there’s one related to your industry or startup idea, ask the program leader if they can introduce you to someone within the program who shares your industry interests or passions. Remember, you're not the only one looking for a co-founder 😉

Tip from Raja Skogland:
Organize your own founder event or networking event for entrepreneurs. By doing this, you expose yourself to many people and clearly communicate your idea and who you're looking for, while facilitating opportunities for others to meet and mingle and create value.

Reach Out to Past Acquaintances.
Look through people you already know. For instance, when we formed the founding team at Forecastly, I called Troels Damgaard, whom I had known for over five years. We then needed a badass data scientist, and Troels knew Roland Madaras from years back as they had worked at the same company. Suddenly, we were all full-time building Forecastly AI. 

My favorite of all the advice is number 5. Start a company with someone you know.

What’s your advice on where and how to meet a co-founder? For those who have a co-founder, where did you meet? What’s your advice?

#Entrepreneurship #StartUpLife #AdvisoryBoard #BusinessNetworking #CoFounderSearch #startupweekend #EntrepreneurMindset

On stage in front of 150 HR leaders at Scandic Hotels. Thanks for making this happen, my agent Talerlisten.no! Thanks to Nils Apeland and team!
Some takeaways I left the audience with:

1) Don't forget to be clear about the mission of your company. Younger people want to take part in a journey, not just clock in and out and receive a paycheck.

2) Digital tools are a must. Gen Z is a digital generation. Ask a new employee if they can review how you perform manual tasks and make a case study on how your business can implement ChatGPT. This will make you look like a forward-thinking leader.

3) Take social responsibility. Millennials want leaders who take social responsibility; Gen Z expects it. For us at Forecastly AI, the whole business is centered around reducing food waste, which makes our recruitment process a lot easier.

It was also amazing to see Ida Holo live. She is a rockstar. If you want a psychologist to come and tell your business about how to make the younger generations feel more secure at work and reduce turnover, she is the right person, 100%!

#millenials #genz #leadership #recruitment #oslo #speaker #talerlisten

Founder tip #2

As an entrepreneur, I want to share a crucial piece of advice about the importance of passion in startups. 

Founders, remember: 
You need to have a genuine passion and interest in what you are doing and what you plan to start to succeed. 

I guarantee that if you start purely for the money or focus solely on financial gains, when times get tough, and they will, you must have the passion, energy, and love for what you do to continue and push forward.

From my experience, every time I started a company or was involved in a project thinking, "Oh, we'll sell this product or provide this service and become so rich so easily.. If we only get 1000 customers we will make so much money..." those projects failed. When that was the mindset.

The failed projects have always been when the focus was only on profit, and lacking any passion for the work itself. In my experience, those businesses fail quite quickly.

However, the businesses I've been involved in where I had a profound passion, for example, changing an industry to make it better by offering a product in a more innovative way, or solving a significant problem, have succeeded. 

For instance, my current project, Forecastly AI, came from my five years in the restaurant and food industry, observing significant food waste despite optimization efforts. 

This industry relies heavily on gut-feeling decisions and spreadsheets without leveraging the power of ML and AI to create accurate forecasts.

It took me three years to decide on my next startup venture, and I finally landed on creating Forecastly with my partners, Roland Madaras and Troels Damgaard. 

When you are passionate about something, you automatically wake up before your alarm goes off. 

You find yourself working nights and weekends out of sheer will, driven by the desire to solve a significant problem.

You find a solution to any problem.

For me, working on Forecastly is incredibly motivating because I know that for every bakery chain, every restaurant chain, every amusement park we sign up, we are making a substantial impact by reducing food waste significantly. 

Picking up the phone to call a customer is easy because it energizes me, I am passionate about our product, and I know every minute spent on this project positively impacts the planet.

So, if you're planning to start a project, ask yourself: Do you really have a passion for it, or are you just doing it because you think it will make you rich? 

If you are genuinely excited about it, go for it. If not, my strong advice is to wait for that next idea where you can apply your knowledge and expertise passionately.

You got to have passion for what you do.

Have you experienced doing a project and failing because there was not enough passion?

#Entrepreneurship #BusinessAdvice #StartupLife #Leadership #Innovation #AdvisoryBoard #BusinessGrowth #PassionInBusiness #StartupMentoring
#BusinessStrategy

Founder tip #4 - How many co-founders should I have if I'm starting a business?

This tip I learned from Tor Erland Fyksen, a long-time friend and mentor, whom I really look up to. 

Tor Erland Fyksen has founded several successful banks, and invested in numerous startups, and every time we meet or have a call, I learn so many things. 

One of the things he taught me, that I took with me on the journey at Forecastly AI, is to have three co-founders instead of just two.

There are many arguments for that:

1) If you have an internal conflict, and you are just two people, it can be hard to solve and create a fallout. If you are three there will always be a majority of votes. And if there is a conflict between two partners, the third can step in and mediate.

2) You will have a more diversified team and resources available from the start, fully committed to building your vision. In our case, we have Roland Madaras who does an amazing job as a CTO building our tech. Troels Damgaard as CCO is making sure we have a healthy pipeline and a consistent flow of new business, as well as taking care of the needs of existing customers, and lastly I, a potato doing everything from a-z making sure the machinery of a startup works smooth.

3) The company becomes more investable. Think about it. If you just two, and one quit, then suddenly the company is dependent 100% on one founder, which is a huge risk for investors. Most investors don't invest in one-man shows. And I understand it. If you're a one-man show, and the bus hits you the next day, the business, is gone, and so is the investment. If you are three founders and one quit, you still have a solid 2 person team building the business.

So, next time you're building a startup, think about if you can manage to find two co-founders instead of just one. The benefits are enormous. If you don't know how to find them, check my latest post on how to find a co-founder.

DoldAdress.se is another great case where I am on the advisory board, and the team of Anthon Wansland, Filip Landgren, and Olle Bergkvist who make a strong, diversified team, and have produced insane results in a few months, getting thousands of clients in a few months and successfully raising capital.

And Tor Erland Fyksen thanks for hosting me last summer when I drove my motorcycle Oslo-Barcelona.  I stopped in Luxemburg and Tor Erland and his wife showed me many beautiful places in Luxemburg, was really fun and I hugely appreciate our great conversations, and the friendship throughout the years! :)

#CoFounderCollab
#StartupAdvisors
#Entrepreneurship
#BusinessStrategy
#StartupLife

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