The strategy how Drivhuset focusses on Tech
Of course we’re engaged with this buzz word. For a legitimate reason: Teddy Andersson.
We are a creative meeting space for entrepreneurs of Malmö and students of the university. We’re welcoming any individual who strives to enter the entrepreneurial field. And lately, we’ve focussed on some specific topics. One of them is TECH.
Malmö is a great place for such a focus. With start-ups just some meters down the street at Minc, we’re very much surrounded by tech entrepreneurs without even noticing them. And some future tech leaders may be sitting in the class rooms of Orkanen. Malmö University has always had the faculty Technology and Society. With studies such as Computer Science and Internet of Things, this combination fuels the system with more people who are interested in tech. Not saying that I fully understand what’s going on in these classes, but I have the systemic understanding.
By providing studies in this field, young and motivated individuals may intend sooner or later to become entrepreneurs. Instead of following a linear career path (graduate > study > be employed in a corporate), they choose the rollercoaster ride of entrepreneurship. And those selected individuals may end up for some guidance and coaching at Drivhuset. Because we help them wit their loops. To find ideas that are customer-centric enough to be ready for the market. And if they managed to enjoy the first moments of their roller coaster ride, we send them to enjoy the last bits by themselves. Potentially they end up at accelerators such as Fast Track Malmö or THINK accelerate, which both focus on tech.
But one of these tech geniuses we do not want to see leaving. Teddy. The Drivhuset team gave him the delightful name of the ‘IT guy’. Despite the fact he did not fix the printer yet, we’re very happy to have Teddy on board.
Teddy, why is Tech your thing?
It’s the future. It’s everywhere around us. Something that enables us to be more free and to reach further. One example is Google. Before, it was the library and you would go there to get info. But now the libraries of the world are in one place, in a smart device in your hand. Now, we personally need to know what to search for. But there will be a transition in a near future that tech will guess it’s way through what you need. You don’t need to know what you’re searching for. You just need to know the context. You could have a conversation with the device. It’s good. And I don’t think AI and machine learning is a threat. It may a threat if it would be misused, but talking about human kind and machines, it’s brilliant. Historically, we’ve been doing automation for forever. Since the industrial revolution we automate to make more time to ourselves. It frees our times. And people should not be in the factory to do basic work. People have the opportunity to do so much more with their times.
Most interesting right now though is that I don’t even know how I was getting into tech. I was born with tech around me and I loved taking things apart. How does it work? How can that button respond when I press it. It was like magical stuff I wanted to understand.
And what are you planning for your time with Drivhuset?
Planning to evolve as a person to help others with same path as an entrepreneur. I want to get them started so that they learn in the process. And I get experience in learning them. It’s also a challenge to go outside my comfort zone, away from programming into more practical things, like networking and coaching. I definitely learn more about how to communicate and interact with different types of personalities and see them grow.
And I’m planning to end the circle. If you walk a path and someone is walking the same path, you can close the circle and help them to reach further in their journey. And at the same time move further on my own journey.
If a tech geek is reading this right now, what message do you want to convey?
Build. Explore. And do what feels good, not what you need to do. Repeat.
Editor: Kim Gerlach
Interview props and copyright go to Kim Gerlach. Fempreneur herself, she is working at Drivhuset to support the start-up ecosystem and share her previous experiences with other entrepreneurs. She blogs about sustainability and fashion and is always up for some fun collaborations.
