NEWS July 12, 2022

Changers Hub and Sting initiate a partnership to give young tech-entrepreneurs a chance to put their ideas to the test

Stockholm, July 11th 2022 – The innovation movement Changers Hub, together with leading Nordic accelerator Sting, are proud to announce that they will launch a program aiming to help young tech-entrepreneurs in their early stages, test their ideas and guide those first important steps in the direction of a successful business.

Changers Test Drive is a program where entrepreneurs between the ages of 16 and 29 who want to test their ideas and put them into practice, get support and tools in how to. Twelve carefully selected teams will be coached by the Sting coaches and participate in several workshops along the topics of ‘Test your idea + evaluate the result’, ‘How to attract consumers’, ‘Build a winning team’ and ‘Getting financed.’

“It’s incredibly meaningful, to get the chance to help young creatives take their ideas and put them into action. Our expertise is primarily in tech startups and pushing these smaller businesses to grow. Our competence and experience in combination with Changers Hub’s community will certainly be exciting to follow. I am excited to be part of this collaboration and cannot wait to see innovation flourish. – “ said Jonas Lindqvist, coach at Sting.

“We continue to see a tremendous interest in tech innovation. We currently offer courses in front-end but this year we are extending that offer with the intention to support and help develop innovation in the early stage within tech. Our community is sharp, and they are great problem-solvers and have great analyzing skills. As a community, it’s our responsibility to nurture that drive and create space and resources for these individuals. We are stoked to contribute to the ecosystem of innovation, and to do this in collaboration with Sting.” Said Neda Khezerian at Changers Hub.

The program is targeting members of the Changers Hub Community and is going to be a 6-week program, starting September 29^th this year.

Please submit your application no later than August 31^st.

Follow link to apply:

https://www.changershub.se/academy-course/changers-test-drive/

About Changers Hub

Changers Hub is an innovation lab, founded in Alby with the vision to democratize success amongst young adults. Today, Changers Hub has three locations; Alby, Kista and Hjällbo with over 1800 people in the network. Since started, young adults have been mentored in their entrepreneurship in the sub divisions, including tech, creative leading, cultural art and sports. Our way of working makes it possible for the young entrepreneur, through community to establish a strategy from idea to execution. It’s all based on an ecosystem equipping our members and cooperative members with rare competence, tools, inspirations, networking, and knowledge.

About Sting

Named the World’s Best Accelerator, Sting has helped build and expand startups since 2002. Access to experienced coaches, industry leaders and mentors, investment network, startup community and alumni are some of the benefits startups in the Sting program get to utilize once enrolled in the program.

Sting has helped over 370 small startups grow into successful businesses since they started, Airmee, Sellpy, Karma, Yubiko and Sizzle just to mention a few.

Marknadsföring och sälj September 10, 2013

Marketing strategy should go hand-in-hand with product development

3 PR challenges and 3 tips on how to get your startup out there.

This is an interview by Elia Mörling taken from Swedish Startup Space.

Editor note: Elia caught up with Jill Lindström from STING to chat about product marketing and gave a few tips for startups too!

Hi Jill Lindström! Who are you and what do you do?

I do marketing and communications at the business accelerator STING in Stockholm. I coach and work with our startups when they want to bounce around PR ideas or discuss other communication matters.

Why do you do it?

I do it because it’s incredibly fun to work with entrepreneurs. I learn a ton from them and if I can contribute and help them and their businesses move forward, that’s a great feeling.

What are the most common PR/marketing problems faced by startups?

I’d say a common problem is that many young startups spend pretty much all their time developing their product or service so that there is no marketing or PR being done at all. Your brand, marketing strategy and communication plan should be developed alongside your product. PR takes a lot of work and you need to invest both time and effort to get your story out there.

Another issue is that entrepreneurs often are incredibly passionate about their product, but journalists may not share their excitement. A good idea is to prepare different messages for different types of audiences. And show the journalist that you took the time to research his or her interests. Share a piece of news with that journalist that you don’t give to anyone else.

Don’t get discouraged if a news release doesn’t get picked up. A lot of factors are at play and you can’t control the media.

A third common challenge for startups is to find their niche. Who are your key customers and what is the value that you offer them? What is it that they actually need? And where in the media jungle do you find them? If you try to talk about your startup with everyone, you waste both yours and the journalist’s time.

What are your top 3 tips for startups?

1. Get to know the top 5-6 journalists, bloggers and key influencers that report on news in your field. Read up on them and learn what they like to write about. How do they prefer to be contacted – email? Twitter? Phone? Target them personally when you pitch your story, don’t send out the same press release to 500 people. Also, stay in touch with your top 5 once you’ve created a relationship. Let them know how your startup progresses. No big pitches, just a simple “wanted to let you that this will happen next week… Interested?” works. Conversations are usually better than formal press releases.

2. The pitch: This is about the journalists’ readers – not about your product or company. What do the readers care about? What is value for them? In the pitch – be brief! Use bullets. Use common Swedish/English, e.g. talk the way you would talk to a regular person. Prepare clear messages that explain what you do, how you’re different and why your product is worth talking about. How will it change the readers’ lives? Also, try to avoid jargon like “award-winning unique innovation…”

3. Offer an exclusive. Don’t talk to everybody at once. Pick your top 1 journalist. If that’s a no go, call the next. Remember to adjust the news angle to suit each individual journalist. If you want, let them know that they can have the story exclusively. If you get a yes, ask what day they will publish it. Then it’s okay to contact other journalists and send out a press release to the masses the same morning the story is published.

Lastly, don’t get discouraged if a news release doesn’t get picked up. A lot of factors are at play and you can’t control the media.