This episode of #TBNE was filmed in the Umea, Sweden with our friends at Uminova Innovation. Rob sits down IRL with Peter Bäckström, Head of International Business Development. Peter and Rob met back in the pre-pandemic days of 2019 when Peter pitched the idea to go to NYC to develop strategic partnerships for their incubator companies. On that trip, Rob and Peter met along with Phil Delvecchio and Maria Olofsson to establish a key partnership for US GTM training and scaling. Finally, Rob was able to make it to Umea to meet with the team, and incubators, do some workshops, and of course record this pod! Check out the episode as we get into the “how” of building international relations and partnerships, what an incubator does, and some of the exciting innovations coming out of Sweden! Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.
This episode of #TBNE was filmed in the Umea, Sweden with our friends at Uminova Innovation. Rob sits down IRL with Peter Bäckström, Head of International Business Development. Peter and Rob met back in the pre-pandemic days of 2019 when Peter pitched the idea to go to NYC to develop strategic partnerships for their incubator companies.
On that trip, Rob and Peter met along with Phil Delvecchio and Maria Olofsson to establish a key partnership for US GTM training and scaling.
Finally, Rob was able to make it to Umea to meet with the team, and incubators, do some workshops, and of course record this pod!
Check out the episode as we get into the “how” of building international relations and partnerships, what an incubator does, and some of the exciting innovations coming out of Sweden!
Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review.
Connect with Peter Bäckström:
Connect with Rob:
Show Produced by: Niranjan Deshpande (Nick), Broken Frames Studio, www.brokenframesstudio.com
Creative Director: Maxim Sokolov, www.maximsokolov.com
Special offer for #BearNation listeners who are interested in trying Brilliantly Warm (https://www.brilliantly.co/), use this 10% off discount code WELCOME10.
We have teamed up with Phin, a social impact company, to give back for each episode to the communities that we serve. To learn more or get involved with Phin for your company, visit:
00:00:01:00 - 00:00:33:02
Rob Napoli
Bear Nation, how we're doing. We are back once again for another episode of the Bare Necessities podcast. And today, I am lucky enough to actually be in the north of Sweden, up in Omaha, and now we're able to do an actual in-person pod being on the road. And I'm excited to sit down and chat with somebody who I met back in 2019.
00:00:33:02 - 00:00:56:09
Rob Napoli
Right now, three years ago in New York City, Peter Backstrom. We were at an event together that you found on Eventbrite. We met sort of talking, then collaborated on a few projects, and here we are three years later, finally. Especially in 2020, I know in years to come back to New York. Never happened, obviously, for COVID and other things.
00:00:56:09 - 00:01:14:04
Rob Napoli
But I'm excited to be here and sit down with you. So thank you for hosting in this space and excited to chat about you and of innovation, the impact that it's making and some the things that you do on the international scale. So to kick things off, you say hi to Bear Nation for me.
00:01:14:15 - 00:01:34:20
Peter Backstrom
Hello. Hello, Bear Nation. So nice to finally see you in person again. Well, it's total. I mean, three years ago, we met in New York. So, I mean, having you here and, you know, it's it's so nice and so loves.
00:01:34:20 - 00:02:00:22
Rob Napoli
Me as well. I mean, and I got to fly in from from Athens. I was over in Greece for a couple of weeks. And I'm not the coming Saturday night got to experience a little gloomy nightlife and then Sunday I got to go for a nice little hike up the mountains and then along the river. So I appreciate the hospitality, but what's really cool about why I'm here, right?
00:02:01:10 - 00:02:23:13
Rob Napoli
And when we met in New York three days ago, we had big ideas to get you back to New York, to bring companies there, to bring me back bring me out here. And it really creates a strong cross-border alliance. Right. And the work that you've done, we were talking pre-show. You've been with you man of innovation for over a decade.
00:02:23:23 - 00:02:49:16
Rob Napoli
And, you know, basically your whole career has been looking at the European Union, the European Network of entrepreneurs. And how do you scale that, not just in Europe, but beyond when you got into this business, you know, you had this passion for entrepreneurship. But what was it that drew you to look outside of Sweden and outside of Europe for international connections?
00:02:49:16 - 00:03:08:06
Rob Napoli
Like what was the driving force for you to really say? You know, you're sitting up here in Omaha which most of my listeners might never have heard of. What was the attraction to the international market and how did why did that become so important as part of your your work that you've done there?
00:03:08:24 - 00:03:34:18
Peter Backstrom
I mean, first on the more personal level, I'm quite curious as a person. So I like to explore, explore new things. Yeah, I would go on the hike and I see a new hill. Yeah. I want to see what's on the other side of that hill. And if I see another hill after that, I want to see what's on the other side.
00:03:34:18 - 00:04:10:20
Peter Backstrom
Yeah. So I think that curiosity has in some way formed my career and also made me so interested in the international business and also in some way also for me it's a little bit get out of their comfort zone. Yeah, because it can be quite far away in one soundsystem, you know, in Sweden and and Germany and Central Europe.
00:04:10:20 - 00:04:49:03
Peter Backstrom
It's, it's more than a one hour flight to get there. So a little bit of a challenge for myself and okay. Internationally, and we need to take more things into account in those kind of relationships. So the language and so on. So yeah, I mean that's a big part for me that I want to keep exploring new things and and also challenge myself in the work.
00:04:49:03 - 00:05:06:09
Peter Backstrom
So even though I've been there a long time, it's still all the innovation. I still feel that, okay, there are I can still challenge myself in my role by going into new new markets, new industries and so on.
00:05:07:11 - 00:05:49:08
Rob Napoli
Yeah. So I love that because one of my key values has always been to be curious, because when you're curious, you learn. And when you learn, you grow, right? And then you grow. Is that with authenticity and intentionality and good things happen from that? So I'm always a big fan of curiosity is like a core key building block and when you got into this role, you got started in the internationalization kind of competitive space but then from there you back to kind of grow into the the European Union side of things and you are the chair on the sustainability side of things working with the European Union, what was that like being from the Nordics?
00:05:50:06 - 00:06:04:03
Rob Napoli
And we'll talk about the culture shock globally after that. But being from the Nordics and thinking about Sweden itself, there's Stockholm, there's Gothenburg, there's how I see it wrong with Malmo
00:06:04:08 - 00:06:05:07
Peter Backstrom
Malmo yes
00:06:05:23 - 00:06:36:11
Rob Napoli
Which are kind of three major hubs. But then you have Omaha at north. What was it like trying to when you were on the chair and being involved? What is it like trying to communicate with, you know, big players like Germany and France and Brussels, right, in Belgium? How did you kind of put Sweden on the map or what was that experience like for you to work with other companies and other partners in Europe to create this large network for cross-border?
00:06:36:11 - 00:07:03:14
Peter Backstrom
And and yes, I mean, even though we are not famous, it's as I said, this is something that caught me during the year, is that we have a lot of quality here, even though we are not so making so much noise and we still have very much quality of things that if we produce start ups, research and so on.
00:07:04:17 - 00:07:45:03
Peter Backstrom
So I mean, that's that's something that I think also is a door opener when people around the world, in Europe and beyond, when they look at what we actually have here, is that they are they are surprised that, okay, how how can you have such great startups, such great companies, hospitals, university and and be rather remote in their view, at least from like Central Europe or U.S.
00:07:45:03 - 00:07:52:02
Peter Backstrom
So I mean that's that's also open many conversation even though you are unknown in the world.
00:07:52:05 - 00:08:26:24
Rob Napoli
Yeah. I mean that's definitely helpful too. You know, the cool thing about up here, you said there's a lot of quality and you think of booming out there to universities over 37,000 students come to school here every year. And there's a lot of innovation in the health tech medtech space, partly because of the ecosystem that's around here. And I think that has lent a strong positioning within the larger European Union.
00:08:28:08 - 00:08:50:13
Rob Napoli
So as I'm sure it was interesting to have to have those conversations with your other countries and and kind of make some noise. But I think quality matters, right? Yeah. You know, we all know that Germany has quite a large ecosystem. France, Belgium as its small but scrappy and mighty with with some of their growth companies. What do you think?
00:08:51:00 - 00:09:14:04
Rob Napoli
You know, not just looking at Omaha, but Sweden as a as a nation for the work that you're doing in kind of Europe. Where does Sweden really stand out from an entrepreneurial standpoint? Like what do you see as like the core competencies that when you think of a Swedish company or a Swedish entrepreneur, I like, what can you hang your hat on from what you've since you've worked with so many entrepreneurs from this area.
00:09:15:13 - 00:09:50:09
Peter Backstrom
A tough question, but I think it's come back to that the most swedish entrepreneurs, at least they would like to put something good on the market that can contribute to something better. Yeah, and I think it's since we have quite a lot of research in Sweden on the many of the good startups with interesting technologies come from the research.
00:09:50:24 - 00:10:19:16
Peter Backstrom
I mean, we have technologies that really can change things. So I think that's one very important point. We look at Sweden compared to other countries. We have a special model here in Sweden where the professors and the teachers are doing all the research results themselves. Yeah. So it's a little bit more up to them to commercialize. Yeah.
00:10:20:04 - 00:10:47:13
Rob Napoli
So I mean it's a blessing and a curse, right. The heavy that the strong research I think is, is key from the work that I've done with Uminova innovation and the number of companies, a lot of them are based on strong research methodology is and published authors of papers. The negative side effect is that Swedes tend to wait too long to go to market because they need the research to tell them what to do.
00:10:47:23 - 00:11:01:04
Rob Napoli
So how do you, you know, in your role, how do you combat that? How do you help entrepreneurs say, hey, that these are great, but we need to move, right? What has that been like for you and how do you kind of go about your work.
00:11:02:17 - 00:11:36:03
Peter Backstrom
If I think that we try to put them in touch with potential clients and and their potential market in the quite early stage to to get them to realize that, okay, sometimes we need to to speed up or that they have the the market feedback quite early. So they also can like change strategy before they are start into something.
00:11:36:06 - 00:12:04:16
Peter Backstrom
If there's like start to build something and coding and you're more, less into it, the harder it will be to change your strategy or your product. So, I mean, I think that's very important what we try to encourage them to get out. Yeah, I mean, get out of the building or get out of all of Sweden for me then.
00:12:04:21 - 00:12:36:14
Peter Backstrom
Okay, you have to look at the competition. So that's also why we take them to like big trades fairs quite early. They're not therefore like selling their stuff, but they are there to discover. Yeah, yeah. And realize that, okay, I need to compete with these hundreds companies from Asia and from U.S.. Yeah, okay. Are we competitive enough with our solution.
00:12:36:14 - 00:13:00:22
Rob Napoli
So I love that because I think sometimes it's really easy to think about needing to be perfect and the research is somewhat to do, and that's step one. And then step two, I build and then step three, I launch the step four, I iterate and step five feedback and that's how it works, right? You need to push them to not be perfect.
00:13:01:03 - 00:13:15:04
Rob Napoli
If you wait for perfect, it's too late. So put good out and then evolve it along the way. And so your methodology of saying you've got to technology based.
00:13:16:23 - 00:13:58:23
Peter Backstrom
And that's kind of what some companies they are quite early internationally maybe not that they buy export directly or so but their personal network some things of maybe their research fellows from different countries that used to work in international projects. So so that's kind of start ups. I think it's quite easy to connect with some foreign entrepreneur or if you think that, okay, I would like to be a part of that.
00:13:58:23 - 00:14:24:06
Peter Backstrom
So in this ecosystem, it's quite easy to connect with them, if you like, have a specific competence or just things and you can add something to their business. They are developed in terms of your network or their past experience from sales or or whatsoever. Yeah.
00:14:24:18 - 00:14:49:04
Rob Napoli
And it's really important they can keep that. You said there is you need to be able to articulate the exchange of goods and services, the value you can speak. Hey, I'm interested. It's like, hey, I think I can help you to do this. I can benefit from you from this. And so being, you know, not like super direct in a bad way, but being kind of very clear about what you think you can provide or gain.
00:14:50:09 - 00:15:13:22
Rob Napoli
It's really quick, right? You know, if you're too much ambiguity or too much like, you know, let's network and chat. Like, seems like I don't have time. Why do you want, you know, I mean, I think that's that's a lot for I mean, similar for a lot of the Nordics. Right. And just kind of be a little bit more clear with your ask in your give.
00:15:13:22 - 00:15:47:24
Rob Napoli
And it's really easy to connect. I haven't you know, I've I've read a bunch of travel blogs and it's like, oh, it's a hard time connecting. And like now I have experienced that at all, but it's also about kind of how you interact and understanding culturally how to communicate and to ask. So I think that's really cool that, you know, and that's something I think the flipside having you having had the opportunity to travel to London and Berlin and New York and Denver and San Francisco and Minnesota and, you know, all these, you know, different places.
00:15:49:10 - 00:16:10:21
Rob Napoli
You can really help these companies understand how to communicate with what they're asking is what their goals are. How do you connect with Americans that connect with the Germans? How do you connect with the Baltics? How to connect with Southern Europe? Like what are the ways to go out and create those connections? And then having that network is huge.
00:16:11:08 - 00:16:38:01
Rob Napoli
What as we kind of close out here, what do you think have been some of their, you know, keys to your success in terms of building a network? So if somebody is like, hey, Peter, I think that you've got a great network, how have you gone about that? What what are some what advice would you give to, you know, an entrepreneur that's looking to build a network, acquiring your kind of your secrets or your tips or best practices?
00:16:38:01 - 00:17:12:03
Peter Backstrom
Well, I mean, first, I think you have to look yourself in the mirror. Okay? If you connect with people, how how would yourself would like to be treated? I mean, so I mean, that's that's the first. Okay. Do you respond to people trying to connect to you? And if you reach out to someone, okay, this is just like a cold email with the stupid questions or have you like done your homework?
00:17:12:05 - 00:17:52:10
Peter Backstrom
Yeah, this is related to what we talked about earlier. So you you really have something that can attract that. The guy on the other side that's okay. I, I have this confidence and contact you for this reason. So because, I mean like LinkedIn and it's quite easy to get friends or but so you can have a long list of people but I mean, if they are not relevant for you.
00:17:54:02 - 00:17:55:11
Peter Backstrom
It's not no use.
00:17:55:16 - 00:18:21:14
Rob Napoli
It's easy to connect. It's hard to create meaningful connection. And like you said, understanding how you want to be treated and treating others that way and just being clear, hey, this is, you know, so this love this I think this would be a great opportunity for us to have a chat about X-Y-Z when you do that and really focus on that way, it comes across as authentic and genuine, but also clear.
00:18:22:00 - 00:18:40:09
Rob Napoli
Nothing pisses me off more than some. Like, Hey Rob, great profile. I would love to get 30 minutes to pick your brain. I do. I have I don't have just 30 minutes for everybody to pick my brain. Like, why do you think I ran? What's the thing that you're trying to get? What's what's the big question? And I think that you do a great job at highlighting that.
00:18:40:09 - 00:18:49:01
Rob Napoli
And you make it easier for the entrepreneurs here to to learn that lesson. Not so much the hard way and do it there. Right.
00:18:49:20 - 00:19:26:03
Peter Backstrom
And that also means the the serendipity part of of networking. Yeah. I mean, you can plan and prospects and all that stuff, but to some extent also you need to take a chance on some contacts and I might not be the perfect match, but okay, if I give it one hour or whatever, it's might enough that this person is in contact with another person.
00:19:26:04 - 00:19:43:10
Peter Backstrom
This is the perfect contact for you and that's going to open a door or know the with this guy that you love to get in touch with. So, I mean, you need to be selective but open minded. Yeah.
00:19:43:10 - 00:20:04:16
Rob Napoli
I think that, you know, I love that you say that you have to be selective with building a network but open minded to accept serendipity to happen. Right. And I think that serendipity comes from putting good out and like being open to receive that. It reminds me of a story you told pre show where you were on a flight aware of two or where from.
00:20:05:01 - 00:20:24:03
Rob Napoli
And the person next to you is like I am a Finnish American lady and was in the sport tech space and like to hear Coy Exchange. You had a good conversation, exchange contact and that was it. And then two years later, company came through here you connect reached out back to her connected them and like they had a really good partnership and did some really cool things.
00:20:24:13 - 00:20:47:09
Rob Napoli
Like you just never know when that network ask is and it's important to keep your network fresh and maybe 30 days, 90 days a year, two years. Not everything needs to be immediate. I think it's so it's such an expectation that we meet somebody. It's like, okay, here's my give it here, my ask. And I get this a lot.
00:20:47:09 - 00:21:04:08
Rob Napoli
And I'm told all the times like, well, if you don't have an ask something strong and it's like, well, let I talk to you and I don't have an ask today. My ask is going to be in 60 days from now, six months from now. I right now I'm at a point where I'm working on a project where I'm calling in some favors from people I haven't talked to in a year.
00:21:04:08 - 00:21:27:18
Rob Napoli
And it's like I knew I was holding that favor for something, but now's the time when I want to go. Request or kind of put that goodwill out. And I think we live in such a society where it's like needs to be a mirror and understand not everything is immediate. As that understand that every connection is immediate, like build relationships for the long term and on a global scale.
00:21:28:09 - 00:21:59:23
Rob Napoli
You're not in this business for over a decade doing this and having, you know, accomplish the things you have if you didn't create the good relationships. Otherwise, you will just print out what I'm okay. We look at the next two half, five years, half decade. What do you hope to accomplish the Uminova of innovation? You yourself, what has Peter hope to accomplish in the next half decade?
00:22:00:12 - 00:22:49:19
Peter Backstrom
Yeah, well, I mean, hopefully we're we're still one of the highest ranked incubators in Sweden. I mean, that's it's been our quality mark. Yeah. That that we keep keeping the top of of of the ranking and therefore for for me working with international business, of course I want more of our companies do export. Yeah. And international business and hopefully we can create more platforms, content points, programs that help them to go faster.
00:22:49:19 - 00:23:08:18
Peter Backstrom
Yeah. Forwards when it comes to the international public. Yeah. So other countries or I mean we try to really listen to the company where they have the best fit and we, we try to support them towards that market.
00:23:09:23 - 00:23:32:20
Rob Napoli
So love that thing. That's a huge I mean I think that's all a really great opportunity. And the only thing I'll put on your list is that we finally bring the the soft landing program that we wanted to do in 2020, bring the companies over to New York so we can, you know, hook them up and have a good program, but also go out from some beers in New York.
00:23:33:01 - 00:23:40:18
Rob Napoli
I know you're coming to New York by the time this is planned. I don't know if you have already been and gone or not, but I to New York soon, which is going to be a lot of fun.
00:23:41:01 - 00:23:42:08
Peter Backstrom
00:23:43:16 - 00:23:53:06
Rob Napoli
Bear Nation. Thanks for listening to the bare necessities of entrepreneurship. If you enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe and leave us a review.