Training highlights: Tips for starting a business

What goes into starting your business? How can you generate business ideas? What about pitching? Below, we share highlights and tips from two sessions of our Self-Employment Now and in the Future training. 

Creating your business idea and brand  

In our 11 November training session Project Coordinator Veikko Miettinen focused on the key areas of business, team building and creating a business idea.  Miettinen has been an entrepreneur for 10 years and has run a business incubator even longer. Overall, he has helped around 100 start-ups during his career.  

During the session, the participants formed teams with the intent of creating an imaginary company together. This included creating a business idea and planning how tasks could be divided among the team members. The participants could utilise different digital tools during the exercise to help them plan different aspects of their business.   

What all companies need is a name. Nowadays there are many digital tools you can use in creating one. The participants tried one such tool called Namelix, an AI-based business name generator. The tool can be used for creating a name and a logo for a business. 

First, you must enter keywords related to your idea or business. Then you select the name style (i.e. compound words, alternate spelling) and you can enter more information about your brand. Namelix then generates name and logo ideas that you can then edit. It can also check the availability of domain names. You can use their website at no cost to create a logo and business name, additional features are available for purchase. 

Business case: Ouro Stories 

On 18 November Entrepreneur (PhD) Virpi Kaisto joined us to share the story behind her company, Ouro Stories. Ouro Stories is a web service for writing and sharing life stories. The users can write stories about themselves or other people, such as family members. The stories can be published privately, shared to selected people, or made available to everyone on the platform. The company has designed an app for the service but it is yet to be launched. The Ouro team is also planning on adding other features in the service, for example a voice recording/podcast option.  

Kaisto’s educational background is in Russian Language and Culture (MA) and Human Geography (PhD). Her partner Jani Partanen is an experienced programmer. Kaisto stated her strengths to be in content creation and texts. During her studies and career, she has also interviewed many people and thus knows how people tell stories. In turn, Partanen knows how to implement the technical side. Ouro Stories is a great testimony of interdisciplinary teamwork creating something new.   

We asked Virpi Kaisto to share her tips on creating a business idea. “Don’t ignore your ideas. Listen to them and talk about them with others. You must believe in yourself and your ideas,” Kaisto advises.  

From idea to reality: Creating a business plan  

If you have a business idea, and you are planning your next steps, one option could be applying to the Draft Program.  This is what Virpi Kaisto and Jani from Ouro Stories did. You can read about their experience in Finnish.  

Principal Lecturer of Entrepreneurship (PhD) Heikki Immonen, Karelia University of Applied Sciences, introduced the Draft Program which provides entrepreneurship coaching and funding. Heikki Immonen is part of the Draft Program team and has experience of working with over 700 start-ups. 

You can apply to the Draft Program in Joensuu if your team has at least one person who has studied or worked at Karelia University of Applied Sciences, University of Eastern Finland or Riveria, North Karelia Municipal Education and Training Consortium Finland. Every team must have at least two members.  

To apply for the program, you need to create a short business plan. “A business plan describes how your company will start implementing its business concept in practice.” (Suomi.fi 2024). The plan includes things such as your goals, product description, resources and customers.  

Immonen offered us some pointers on crafting a good business plan using Draft Program’s template: 

• Define customer needs. You must find out whether people are already spending money, time and effort trying to get what you provide.  

• Competition does not refer to similar products.  Your competition includes all the other means the customer can use solve the problem. Think of a competitive advantage!   

• One of the most important parts of the business plan is identifying the uncertainties in your idea. “If you can’t name any uncertainties, you don’t understand enough about your idea,” Immonen says.  

Tip: Using AI can help you in refining your idea and creating your business plan. Make sure to describe the idea as detailed as possible (target audience, market area etc.) Heikki Immonen showed the group how to use ChatGPT in improving a business plan. The prompt was a dialogue between an entrepreneur wanting to start a VR café in Joensuu and a critic who points out weaknesses in the idea.  

The art of pitching 

Those whose business plans are accepted to the Draft Program must prepare a pitch for a jury. Pitching is your opportunity to make an impact in a limited timeframe. A good pitch should start with a hook, something that grabs the attention of the customer.  Then you must define a problem that it solves while highlighting your unique value proposition. Also, make sure that you have a clear vision for your business idea.  

Our participants had the chance to practice pitching with the lead of Business Coach Heli Saario, Business Joensuu.  The participants were divided into two teams with a goal to create a business idea and then pitch it. The teams were interdisciplinary, mostly students from humanities and computing, and they had to come up with an idea based on their own skills.  

The teams had about 30 minutes to create a business idea and then plan a 2-minute pitch. The task was not an easy one, but the teams did great, especially with little to no experience. The teams managed to come up with ideas, product names and tasks for each team member.  

The important lessons from the exercise were that 1) ideas can be generated quite fast in teams, 2) presenting your ideas takes a lot of practice, 3) confidence is key.  

At first, starting a business may seem overwhelming, but dividing the process into smaller steps and utilising digital tools and support services can help a lot.  

Sources:  

Immonen, Heikki (2024) Draft Program. Presentation in CUDIS training 18.11.2024.   

Kaisto, Virpi (2024) Business case: Ouro Stories oy. Presentation in CUDIS training 18.11.2024. 

Miettinen, Veikko (2024) Business Skills and Mindset. Presentation in CUDIS training 11.11.2024.  

Saario, Heli (2024) Business model canvas & pitch deck – Business Joensuu. Presentation in CUDIS training 18.11.2024. 

Suomi.fi (2024) Business Plan. Retrieved 25.11.2024: https://www.suomi.fi/company/starting-a-business/planning-business-activities/guide/from-a-business-idea-to-engaging-in-business/business-plan