Being a great bartender equips an entrepreneur with a critical skill set necessary to run a successful business. Selling! The social intelligence combined with the ability to converse, persuade and advise keeps customers happy and coming back for more..
Martin Bergqvist, CEO and Founder of BrainNordic, bartended and lived in numerous countries across the globe before he altered his career trajectory and focused on data-driven marketing. For the last 10+ years, this has been his focus, leading to him founding the company. Brain Nordic is a SaaS company that helps publishers and consumer businesses reach their targeted audience and maximize revenue with data enrichment.
"Businesses are drowning in their own data, and it has become virtually impossible for companies who rely on information to keep up and benefit from it." Martin explains," Both publishers and advertisers struggle to stay ahead of the shifts in technology and legislation. We develop integrity-mindful software services that keep brands safe, publishers secure, and marketing more effective."
According to Forrester Research, organizations that utilize data more effectively to gain business insights are more competitive and grow, on average, more than 30% annually.
Brain Nordic aims to become the "must-have" marketing service for B2C companies. First establishing themselves in the Nordics and then heading for global expansion. The road to success is not without challenges, however.
"As a first-time entrepreneur, the learning curve has been quite steep," explains Martin. "It's a constant host of evolving challenges to navigate. Right now, our main challenges are fundraising, pitching, and building our brand. But in general, it is all about sales and explaining how our unique service innovatively solves the customers' problems."
How did you raise the money to start your business?
"We got a partner early on that remains our lead investor today, but in parallel with them, we have raised money, primarily from angel investors, in two seed rounds."
What is the most valuable lesson that you have learned?
"Establishing the right amount to raise is crucial. We set a round size of 8 MSEK and quickly understood that this was a challenging amount. Smaller investors would be interested in a 5 MSEK round, and bigger investors would participate in a 10MSEk round, but 8Msek placed us in a dead zone."
How has Pitchago helped Brain Nordic?
"Pitchago was recommended to me by the Chairman of our Board. I love software services, and I understood that it was a tool to help evaluate our status as a startup. It was perfect timing for us! To level up our business, we needed to understand what we have done right, what we have done wrong, and where the gaps are."
"First of all, the assessment revealed all the perspectives that I hadn't even thought about. It allowed me to assess the business through the eyes of an investor and understand which milestones we need to achieve and a roadmap on how to get there. We now have more aligned, impactful dialogue in a structured manner, transverse all the important business areas."
“The bonus is that Pitchago helps me create checklists of things that need to be done. I love checklists!”