In our blog we share things we've learned about leading, advising and building ventures. Occasionally we'll tell you about our people, how we do things and what we believe in.
Coventures is a platform that provides a professional home for seasoned entrepreneurs who want to be independent but continue helping clients. It's a unique solution to a problem that has existed for years. Customers need the skills to build new companies and businesses, and experienced entrepreneurs have those skills. Coventures bridges the gap between these two groups, providing a platform where entrepreneurs can offer their expertise and help clients succeed.
We are excited to announce that Ira Wichmann has joined Coventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence. Ira has extensive experience in product design and development, eCommerce, strategy, marketing, and customer experience. She has built and led teams of professionals, designed strategies, and built products in both the UK and Finland. Wichmann's expertise lies in building product organizations from scratch, changing and improving existing product management processes, and creating data-driven product culture. Ira chose to join Coventures because she believes it provides a platform to collaborate and learn from other brilliant minds.
In this article, Juho Harmaa discusses the importance of product validation for SaaS businesses to avoid investing resources in developing a product that may not have a market demand. The process involves identifying the target market, evaluating their problems, brainstorming ideas for solutions, and evaluating the feasibility of the ideas. Juho highlights that validating the audience, problem, solution, and perceived value of the solution is critical. The article also explains different validation techniques, such as audience validation, survey validation, and competition validation, that businesses can use to test their product ideas.
Juho Harmaa has joined Coventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence. He is an experienced product, technology, and business leader with expertise in data-driven business models. He has consulted some of the best-known companies in Europe and the US on data, business transformation, and product management. Juho has a background in working in fast-growing SaaS companies and consulting for exciting startups and established companies. He enjoys working on data-driven projects around technology and strategy. Juho believes that to grow meaningful businesses, it is essential to listen to clients and understand the context and have a holistic view from within the company, especially from customers. He joined Coventures because it brings together a unique perspective and expertise, and he is amazed at the experience and spirit of the people.
To bring together the necessary components to build impactful ventures, we must look towards individuals with the right experience – seasoned entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs have used ideation, prototyping, testing, and scaling to build successful ventures. They have faced funding challenges, team-building, and navigating the competitive landscape. Thus, they have gained valuable insights into building an impactful business that addresses real-world problems. In this video Juho Vehviläinen, the co-founder of Coventures, shares his insights into entrepreneurship, and the impact an entrepreneur's mindset and skills can have on established companies. He stresses the importance of adopting a growth mindset and embracing failure as an opportunity to learn and iterate. He also highlights the importance of creating a culture of innovation and fostering an entrepreneurial spirit among employees.
Innovation has risks, but the one that succeeds can boost revenue and customer satisfaction. Companies that adopt new ideas have the edge over their competitors and likely remain in business. But lack of innovation can cause business failure. A recent survey estimates that 84% of customers want to buy from innovative companies. Organizations like Nokia, Blackberry, Circuit City, and MySpace failed because they ignored the importance of innovation in their business. How a company approaches partial or total disruption can determine its future. For example, in the last 21 years, 52% of Fortune 500 companies became bankrupt, merged, or disappeared because of innovation. An organization that is looking to retain its customers should rethink innovation. So, why do corporations fail to adopt new ideas, and what's the solution to the fear of innovation?
We are delighted to announce that Aki Soudunsaari has joined Coventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence. Aki is an energetic serial entrepreneur with a mission to improve people's health, happiness, and performance in a planet-positive way. Aki is probably best known for co-founding Naava, the world leader in green walls and biological indoor air purification. At Naava, Aki served as CEO and in various strategy and brand/marketing roles. Naava is listed in the Financial Times' Fastest Growing Companies in Europe 2020 list and has received multiple sustainability and design awards. Let's give Aki a chance to tell us more about himself and how he will use his experience to help customers grow their businesses.
Product validation is an essential phase when building a new product. Many businesses often get excited over a new product or service and rush to launch it without conducting thorough groundwork. Even though you may have a general idea of who your customers are, developing your new product or service without research can be a recipe for disaster. You will need to keep guessing what your customers want, and unfortunately, it may not be possible to fulfill their needs without first understanding your customers adequately.
