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Do Finns just suck at branding?
Roope Ripatti & Lilya Lagerbohm
July 08, 2024
For the next couple Founders Fuels, I’ll ask for some guest contributions for the newsletter. First up, my good friend Lily Lagerbohm on branding:
If you were challenged to make $4M in 6 months by selling rocks that fit in a pocket (yes, rocks, from nature), what would you do?
Seriously, think about it for a second. You want to become a millionaire in 6 months with rocks, how will you reach that goal?
Gary Dahl, a US entrepreneur achieved the above in 1976, after selling 1 million Pet Rocks as a collectible toy for $4 per rock. His friend’s rant about their kids wanting a pet inspired Gary to package ‘pet rocks’ in a box as a joke with instructions on how to take care of it. Within a year, rocks had made him a millionaire.
That, my founder friend, is the power of branding.
Stories like this feel stupidly surreal, especially if you’re building something that can bring more value to the world than a stone can. Luckily, if stones can be sold for millions, what you’re building to fix a truly relevant issue effectively shouldn’t stay far behind. If you have something that works and that people use, the quality or value of your product won’t limit your success. Your branding power will. If a pebble from the garden can sell for seven figures, imagine what your creation of something truly useful and validated could be, when the branding is top-notch too.
This is the branding pep I wanted to share for now, but msg Roope if more practical branding tips would help and we’ll see if he’ll let me back in to continue on the topic.
All the best
- Lilya Lagerbohm
Exciting news
Mainstream recognition for the Startup Ministeriö-podcast
Arguably the 2 best VCs of Finland, Jyri Engeström and Timo Ahopelto, started a (ish) weekly podcast last April. In the podcast, the 2 hosts talk about both general startup advice as well as the significance of the technology/startup wave to the economy of Finland.
This week the podcast and Timo Ahopelto were shouted out in Helsingin Sanomat.
In the center of the article was an idea about 100, 100-million valuation companies we need to create in Finland.
I heard about this idea for the first time from Kristo Ovaska when he was sparring with our Aaltoes Board. Since then the idea has solidified and given the collective Finnish startup ecosystem one goal to stand behind.
So, this newsletter has currently 400 subscribers. If everyone reading this would start a startup company with a success rate of 10%, we would already be 40% of the way there.
So go build your startup!
Upcoming stuff
Just one event happening this week!
When I joined Aaltoes and the startup ecosystem, Roni Lahti was one of the “mentors” I had. He was finishing his bachelor’s thesis and starting a new company called Komu Homes.
I was there to see how their startup idea evolved from Google Forms for the rental industry to the one-stop shop for rental living. Having seen it firsthand, I highly recommend everyone thinking about starting their own company someday to go and listen to the story!
After the event, you can join the Ignite BBQ!
Should you still learn how to code?
This week on the Lightcone podcast (by YC), the partners talk about the effect of AI for coding.
Should you learn to code? The answer as usually, it depends.
Go learn more from below
Lightcone - 10 People + AI = Billion Dollar Company?
Last words if need be & something else?
During the summer, there are fewer events, less news, and less general interesting stuff in the startup ecosystem.
That’s why for July we are going to have longer text (like these ones) produced by me and other key startup ecosystem players. We hope that you’ll enjoy these newsletters even if it’s a bit different from the normal Founders Fuel stuff.
Take care!
-Roope