The dream of starting a company is paramount in most entrepreneurs’ minds but the fear supersedes

Monday, 12 March 2012
Becoming an entrepreneur and starting ones own business is often one of the world’s top dream aspirations for many people but many still have it hard to dare take the step and many also need help to get started.

Most people think that to start their own business one must have a really smart idea, an idea one believe in and are passionate about.
“Yes, we are perhaps a little snowed on that. There are other ways. One can start as a franchisee in any serious business or buy a business from someone who has grown tired and wants to do something else in life. You do not always have your own idea,” says Mats Evergreen, Marketing Manager at New company start-up Enterprise Agency (Nyföretagarcentrum) the organisation that provide free advice for start-up in Sweden .

“If you take over a business, you can focus on developing it through innovative approaches. If you take over a company for example, you might invest in booking special meetings with clients for more personal and tailored service,” says Evergreen Branch.

But apart from that will and proper preparation, in most cases is also the initial capital to get started with your business.
“And the banks have become much better than before in this area,” says Evergreen Branch.

But if you fail to convince the bank or venture capital firm that your idea is worth investing in, there are other, more unconventional ways to go.

One of the more eccentric ways is via a site called foundedbyme.com after the American model. The site, launched a year ago, you could talk about what to do and ask for cash aid to start. Family, friends and acquaintances, but also others who believe in the idea can then set up with a contribution.

It can also be a smart way to test the market for ones idea.
Places such as the USA remain the best places to start a business because besides various way to raise capital and reach customers, the political economy there is less regulated and there is limited pressure on new entrepreneurs to start paying back huge taxes and bills or filing in too much paper works like in Sweden and most European countries.

In Sweden a company can go bankrupt just within its first year just because it had to pay all the like from accountants and lawyers even if they have not made any money because of the strict constricting laws. This is true for business that have a longer maturing cycles and which the founder or founders have limited capital and would love to run a limited liability company.

In one year, the Swedish site surpassed more than one million Krona from 3243 people who invested in 248 projects, ranging from start-up support for a hamburger chain to help a nonprofits vocal quartet to record an album.

For those who dream of becoming their own, there is a lot of information online. For example, the Swedish tax authority, SCRO and Regional Growth together with verksamt.se, site where there is advice and information as well as e-government services.
That said, business start up in Sweden could look rosy but this has to do with low skills start ups such as cleaning services and the likes. When it comes to a real start up that focuses on the international market and that takes a longer time to mature, Sweden is a very hard place to start a business. Companies or the entrepreneurs behind companies such as Sportify and Skype for example had to move abroad in order to grow, though today Sweden is taking credit for their development.

Even international media network such as Scandinavian Companies and Market magazine had to flee Sweden just because it could not sustain the constricting must talk and less support.
By Scancomark.se Team

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