How I built a tech company with a business team | Suvi Kaario

Suvi Kaario shares the advice on how to build a tech company with a business team, from her experience with Hooves - bringing horse-riding into the sharing economy (basically Airbnb for horses). Find out more about finding the perfect team, getting funding, searching for outside collaborators, and launching the first app. All the precious knowledge on tech companies in one exciting video! So get off your high horse (yeah, expect a lot of those), cause Suvi has some wisdom to drop on you. Firstly, founding a team for your company. It’s like marriage, so you need to basically love the person, or pretty soon all of you will want to hoof it (yes, we did it again). Your business has to your passion. Secondly, raising money is key. Find someone who will not only give you money, but also provide know-how. Thirdly, hire carefully. Don’t be desperate when you hire. Suvi made some mistakes, which cost her dearly (and not necessarily money). In the end, there are people who shouldn’t be on the team. Finally, expect a lot of hand-holding if you have to settle on the most affordable agency. Suvi reached out to one. And there was a LOT of hand-holding (you think your mom calling once a week is annoying? Try four times a day!). While you may save money with the agency option, you may pay with time. After all this, even though their app wasn’t scalable, they got as much experience as they could, and now they know what their next app should be like. In her final words, Suvi shares some things that you need to be aware of when you want to start a tech company without a tech background, and how to sell your company to investors. In short: your passion, dare we say… unbridled enthusiasm (this is the last one, we swear), drive, and vision. So don’t be a neigh-sayer (we were lying before, this is the final one), and follow your passion - it’s what will keep you alive. Student Talks is a non-profit organization devoted to sharing ideas of the most inspiring students among us. We host events and carefully choose each student speaker based on both the content and quality of the talk, as well as the student’s public speaking abilities. Useful links: More information on Hooves: https://thehub.dk/jobs/company/hooves; https://gust.com/companies/hooves Interested in Student Talks? Our website: http://student-talks.com/ Our Facebook page:   / studenttalks2016