The end – Day 139/139

Posted on June 28, 2010 | 4 comments

WARNING: The reader should be aware that some content in this blog entry may refer to episodes and events they are yet to see.

If you followed the TV series Lost, you probably have an opinion about the final episode. If you haven’t seen it, you can adopt this opinion: it sucked. In my opinion it sucked most because all the mysteries that should have climaxed in the finale just fell flat on their asses.

Through an untrained eye it would seem this project had the same faith.

So, as you can guess, the seed funding round for FinderBase failed. I didn’t become a millionaire even on paper. The overall benefit of this project is the difference between where we are now and where we would be without it. I have a hard time seeing the failure from the multitude of small successes that this project has caused.

But the end is a new beginning.

It is impossible to put in words the huge positive personal impact that this project has had on me. Instead, I’ve arranged a birthday party tomorrow at 5 pm Finnish time at our apartment.

Everyone is welcome.

Please register on the Facebook event page.

See you tomorrow!

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Second to last – Day 138/139

Posted on June 27, 2010 | 3 comments

After several months of writing, this is where I’ve come.

It seems like it’s all over but not everything is done.

On Tuesday I’ll be thirty, not that anyone would care,

since age is just a number, I had chosen mine to share.

Although I aimed at millions, I didn’t get a dime.

What I got was dreams and passion and had a great time.

I learned a lot about myself and what’s important in life,

it’s not money and possessions but others including  your wife.

This story has soon its ending but it’s not the last you’ll hear of me.

I’ll be back with new ideas that I’m sure you’d love to see.

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What is benefit? – Day 137/139

Posted on June 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

Here’s a story that I heard:

A bright young man is on the edge of adulthood. At home, he has been encouraged to do the right things. Study hard and get a good profession and high status in the community. Instead of going to study medicine or engineering he has chosen to become a musician. He is faced by his grandmother:

Grandma: What is the benefit of that way of life?

The man: Grandma, what is benefit?

That is a really simple and extremely relevant question but good answers to it are difficult to find. Perhaps it would be easier to argue what benefit isn’t.

The word benefit has its origin in latin, good (bene) and help/service (facio). In our current society the word benefit has been almost exclusively reserved for money. And as we know, money is almost exclusively used in the service of good.

Money is never good only by itself. And although it is said that money doesn’t bring happiness, we could argue that money is good when it actually does bring happiness. That gets us to my favorite definition of benefit: “Whatever promotes personal happiness”.

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Love or duty – Day 136/139

Posted on June 25, 2010 | Leave a comment

Under the last four months I’ve been preaching about doing only the stuff that makes sense to yourself. Now, I have to admit I haven’t been entirely accurate about this.

There are two positive exceptions to doing stuff you hate.

  1. Duty. Sometimes things just don’t make sense to you and still you have to do them. I spent several hours yesterday and today trying to compensate for a school work I failed earlier this spring. I don’t usually fail at school so the humiliation doubled the torture of having to do it again. Good stuff for building your character, when you think your character needs some building.
  2. Love. Doing things out of love is probably the best way to do them. The best part here is that you can never go wrong with doing something just for others. I wouldn’t have managed my school work if it wasn’t for my wife who helped me to do it. She didn’t like it either but still did it just out of love. Small things can have a big impact.

So when duty calls, get it over with. When love calls, answer it.

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The way the cookie crumbles – Day 135/139

Posted on June 24, 2010 | Leave a comment

The seed funding round for FinderBase was finally launched yesterday. Most of my active readers have received the investor letter. If you haven’t but would like to see it, just contact me directly.

So it all comes down to this.

Due to the tight schedule of this project, the funding round will be closed already next Monday at 4 pm Finnish time. This weekend is the Midsummer so I bet people have better things to worry about than our investment round.

At this point we have about 20,000 € worth of commitments to invest so we’re at least 80,000 € short to make this happen. It all comes down to the last day of my project on Monday. However, if we do get investments during the weekend, I’m happy to report the updated status here.

Happy Midsummer everyone!

Have fun and do things you like most.

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Posted on June 24, 2010

Seeing is believing – Day 134/139

Posted on June 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

Today’s guest blogger is Ville Taajamaa, business development and internationalization manager at FinderBase.

There is an old story about three blind wise men trying to make sense of an elephant. They started each from their own corners and felt their way through. Then the arguing started:

  • Elephant is an animal with a big long nose said one
  • no, elephant is an animal with bulky legs said the other
  • no, you are both wrong, elephant is an animal with huge ears.

There was no resolution although everyone was right.

My China is this elephant.

My China is a nation that puts great value to people, education, learning, working hard and strong family and friendship ties. Not to forget the best food in the world. The next steps in both the local and the global path for China are evident:

  1. The environment has to last also to our grand children’s children.
  2. The difference between the quality of life in cities and in rural areas needs to be diminished.

To tackle these challenges, China differs from other BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China) nations in one crucial perspective. China is centralistic. Once something is decided, it can be implemented with a speed that leaves you gasping for air.

FinderBase could be one blind wise man to the elephant.

FinderBase has a great opportunity to offer valuable platform to the Chinese audience. China is a community that cares. There is an actual need for a service that connects people with their lost valuables to those who care and want to help.

With one word the market can be described as big. In China people are honest and always eager to help. FinderBase can offer technological and service-based value by connecting both urban and rural areas and helping people to find each other.

Let’s make the world a better place!

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5 leadership lessons from Napoleon – Day 133/139

Posted on June 22, 2010 | 1 comment
I recently familiarized myself with undoubtedly one of the great leaders of the written history: Napoleon Bonaparte.
What could a 21st century entrepreneur learn from him?
That question in mind I borrowed a few quotes from Napoleon.
1. If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.
This idea seems strongly counterintuitive but depends a lot on what kind of a success you’re after. The hint of truth that I see here is the fact that delivering nothing is actually a bit overrated. A half-assed effort on making things happen often looks worse than completely dismissing the task. But I have to agree that there is great power just in the promise itself. Aiming high is the key.
2. Ability is nothing without opportunity.
Being an entrepreneur, you will work with people with enormous amounts of skills and abilities. I feel the entrepreneur should be the least able person of the team. But the entrepreneur is the person who shows the opportunity and directs the ability to where it’s needed.
3. When small men attempt great enterprises, they always end by reducing them to the level of their mediocrity.
This sounds like saying don’t try anything big cause you’ll fail. But I will argue there’s a bigger truth underneath. The greatness of the entrepreneurial team is dependent on the amount of balls they have on their effort. The factual evidence seems to indicate that most teams eventually “get real” on their vision. Reality is what brings great ideas to mediocrity. But there is an easy way out and that is not accepting the reality. A good reason to do something is that people tell you it can’t be done.
4. There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.
This is a fact. Still few people act accordingly. Irrelevant things and chores keep stealing the time of people. People work without knowing why. No money in the world can buy back your wasted time. It should be criminal to make people do work that they wouldn’t do gladly even without pay.
5. To do all that one is able to do, is to be a man; to do all that one would like to do, is to be a god.
So true. God was an entrepreneur.

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Ask me anything – Day 132/139

Posted on June 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

Now that the project is close to its end, it’s interesting to see what questions people have on their minds regarding this blog. To do this I’ve picked some search engine terms that have been used to get to this website.

Money wanted. A lot of it and fast.

  • make money in one day
  • how to make a million dollars from nothing
  • making a million from 50,000
  • easy way to make a million
  • how to make a million fast
  • how to make 42 million
  • billion before 30

This is the most common thing people keep searching. How to make money? My answer to this question is simple: Stop wanting to make money and start doing what brings you most joy. Money will come. Even in millions.

What are the odds?

  • odds of making a million
  • do most people ever make a million

The odds for making a lot of money are indeed quite slim. To increase your odds you should step up and start doing things with potential. That potential doesn’t even need to be financial. Doing anything well enough will pay out in the end.

Could the money be saved?

  • how to save a million before 30
  • work hard to make a million
  • investments before 30

Saving any sum of money by investing is indeed possible. Whether it’s at all feasible is another question. By actively investing in the stock market you will spend your time studying numbers. Invest in things that you like and ones that you can positively affect yourself.

But what should I do then?

  • does wanting something make any difference
  • simple idea makes millions
  • the secret of success is hard work and fun

Here’s a bunch of good advice. You have to want something. You have to want something simple that others can understand and help you with. And more important than working hard towards it, you must have fun doing it – otherwise you’ll quit before soon.

Finally, there is the question of starter money.

  • getting investment money for an idea
  • how to do business with agel (sic)
  • business angels project
  • funding doesn’t grow on trees

I would consider this the type of money where wanting it helps. You don’t want it for yourself but for a bigger purpose. If you’re able to communicate that purpose, you will have no trouble getting money, whether it’s from angels or somewhere else. Funding does grow on trees.

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The prince of entrepreneurship – Day 131/139

Posted on June 20, 2010 | Leave a comment

Yesterday, the eyes of the world were targeted on a royal wedding. Sweden got a new royalty but could it be that they got something more than that?

The monarchy is not a corporation.

This statement was given by the king of Sweden in a television interview. Although the comparison seems a bit abstract there is some logic behind it. Monarchy is not considered to be producing anything. It makes no profit, only losses. Still, it has an enormous marketing budget and a bunch of employees.

But as a corporation in a monopoly, the monarchy isn’t exactly looking for internal change. Monarchy embraces tradition, not innovation.

So what happens if you turn an entrepreneur into a monarch?

This is something we should ask the new prince himself. Or just wait and see for ourselves. In an interview he has already stated that he wants to step up and promote health and entrepreneurship.

If we define the concept of entrepreneur as creative innovator and successful manager of risk then this poses a challenge for our new prince. After all he is now more like an ambassador of Sweden than a royal entrepreneur. But if he successfully manages to promote an entrepreneurial atmosphere inside the monarchy, we should probably establish a similar role here in Finland: “the prince of  entrepreneurship“.

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