“SSES is a great organisation because rather than being part of a predetermined program, they focus more on the needs for each individual startup.”
The Swedish Chamber of Commerce recently held Startup Summit Sweden in Amsterdam. Affinity company Just Football was invited by SSES to be introduced to the Dutch Startup Scene.
Name: Joel Fredman Klockar
Position: Co-Founder and CEO
You are attending “Startup summit Sweden – The Netherlands”. What are your expectations for that?
First of all I think it’s a fantastic initiative connecting the Swedish and The Netherlands’ startup-scenes. It’s especially relevant to those of us launching in The Netherlands as our second market. We’ve already had a lot of support with our internationalization from the Swedish government through Business Sweden who helped us research new markets as well as identifying Holland as our next step. Once we realized that The Netherlands was a promising market, Business Sweden actively supported us by setting up meetings with relevant partners, as well as assisting us during our local visits.
It’s brilliant that both the Swedish and the Dutch government are so interested in collaborating with each other and listening to startups to see how they can support us. I’m confident we will connect with some great people and build relationships at the event. In my experience there’s great value in events like these, as they give people the opportunity to meet face to face with like-inded people and discuss how to best collaborate. I’m sure we will gain learnings which make the steps into our next market even better. I also want to take this opportunity to thank SSES for inviting us to this event.
What is your connection to SSES, and how has it influenced or affected your journey?
Just Football is part of the Affinity program. SSES is a great organisation because rather than offering a predetermined program, they focus more on the needs for each individual startup. There are no mandatory workshops or meetings taking focus away from the entrepreneurs’ everyday work. SSES helped us in our prior financing round with workshops around our presentations and with introductions to some excellent angel investors.
What advice would you give those just starting out as entrepreneurs?
Be 100% committed to what you are doing, ask for feedback and support from experienced people. Find your proof of concept as fast as possible, identify business goals and build a diverse team with different competences to help you achieve them.
How would you describe your company and what is your vision?
Just Football is a location-based football app, you go to a pitch to play real football challenges against other players.
Your performance on the pitch determines how fast you progress
in your virtual career. Our users often describe it as Pokemon Go for football.
Our vision is to get more young people active and playing more football together in real life.
We do this to support integration and physical health, while being part of developing the next generation of football players.
What personality trait do you think is most important for success?
There’s a lot of different personality traits that can be successful but I would say the most important ones are;
– Being able to build a dynamic team with diverse personalities and skills.
– Being prestigeless whilst understanding that people are different and motivated by different goals.
What’s your favorite word, and your definition of it? (Swedish, English, or other)
Relevance. I try to focus on and prioritize important things that I can have a positive impact on.
What’s one trend you’re most excited about in the next 5 years?
How technology is having an impact on integration and physical health.
You find yourself suddenly walking up on stage to your own TED talk, without any preparation. What do you talk about?
As TED’s slogan is ‘ideas worth spreading’ if I’m not prepared I’d probably leave the stage to someone else 😉 But I would talk about how tech and gaming has typically been associated with children being less active, and how I believe new technology and initiatives can counteract this and help improve lives.
Would recommend other companies to join Affinity? Why?
Yes, and I see no reason for other companies to decline if they have the chance. There are no strings attached and you get help regardless of the questions we ask. On top of that, SSES keeps your case closed when meeting other organisations, startups or investors and are proactive in identifying interesting opportunities for your startup.
