The entrepreneurial journey: “It could hardly be true, it felt like winning the ‘career lotto'”

Adam Feil
August 14, 2024

Adam Feil

@Adam

This post is also available in: Danish

The ecstasy coincides with the signing of the investment agreement, but it can quickly turn into a trip to the coal cellar if product development fails or the market turns.

All entrepreneurs experience big ups and downs. We focus on them in “The Entrepreneur Journey”, where every week an inspiring entrepreneur gets the opportunity to share their experiences, challenges and triumphs from startup life.

At the age of 6, Katja Meyer designed her first logo and invented a company name, but it was 20 years before she resumed her dream of becoming an entrepreneur. An entrepreneurial journey that, after 10 years, has led Katja to become a venture scout, angel investorAn angel investor is a high-net-worth individual for startups, offering funds, mentorship, and expertise. They take on risks for potential returns. More and startup advisor.

Katja’s entrepreneurial journey had several false starts, but really took off when she co-founded tech startup eachthing, now known as DataContexts, which works with data about consumer patterns. After 2.5 years of several pivots, the founders agreed that eachthing no longer matched Katja’s passion or skills.

Katja then went straight to the startup THE UPCYCL, which matches residual materials from industrial production with new value chains, where she was responsible for digital development, knowledge collaborations and soft funding. Katja has now embarked on the next phase of her entrepreneurial journey as a startup advisor at The Kitchen, Aarhus University’s Startup Hub, and as a Venture Scout and angel investor at Ada Ventures. However, she is still part of the ownership group at DataContexts and THE UPCYCL.

What has been the wildest moment in your entrepreneurial journey?

There have been many wild moments. I’ve pitched for Walmart in the US, for IKEA in Germany and closed several investments. I’ve gotten my first salary, hired my first employee and wasted my first quarter of a million dollars. But I have to say that the wildest moment was when I was notified by Ada Ventures that I had been selected as one of 10 people in Denmark for their ‘Business Angel’ program, where I will invest in startups.

I was at a pivotal point in my life, thinking a lot about what the time after THE UPCYCL would look like and whether all my startup experience could be used for something other than making startups. So when Ada Ventures was looking for investors for their Angel program, it was perfect timing.

I have to invest in 1-5 startups by May 2025, which in practice will be angel investments so that I get any profits from it myself. I thought several times that it was too good to be true and I didn’t dare to believe that they would choose me. That’s why it was extra crazy when the email ticked in on a Tuesday evening in April.

It was a wild opportunity, and I found it hard to believe at first. It was almost unbelievable that I was the one who got the privilege – it felt a bit like winning the ‘career lotto’.

At the same time, I had been interviewed for a job at The Kitchen, and that also fell into place shortly after. It marked a landmark moment in my entrepreneurial journey where my extensive experience as an entrepreneur and the work I’ve done in the ecosystem was officially recognized and appreciated. It felt like everything had come together and what I had done as an entrepreneur could now be used for something valuable for others.

What is the most important thing you’ve learned about yourself on your journey?

At first I thought I wasn’t skilled enough to be an entrepreneur, but I realized that others weren’t necessarily more skilled than me – they just started and learned along the way. As an entrepreneur, I’ve gotten really good at trusting my own ability to learn new things that I can’t yet figure out – and that translates to other aspects of life.

I’ve also learned a lot about persistence and letting go. As an entrepreneur, you make an active choice every day to keep going, even if it’s hard and risky. But you have to prioritize what’s worth fighting for. It’s important to feel and bring yourself on the journey. I’ve never invested more than I was willing to lose – neither money, time nor energy.

Where do you hope to be on your entrepreneurial journey in five years?

Maybe I’m still at The Kitchen, because I really like it and it fits well with where I am in my life. There’s a lot of autonomy, great colleagues and many exciting entrepreneurs. I develop by not just running around aimlessly, but by being able to do things thoroughly and plan far ahead – you can’t always do that as an entrepreneur.

I don’t deny that an opportunity may arise to work full-time with the startups I invest in, or that I will pursue venture investments full-time – who knows. But it would be very strange if I wasn’t part of the startup community. So I’m probably still to be found somewhere dealing with early-stage startups in one way or another.

Either way, I’m going to challenge myself, but where it will end, I have a hard time answering that. The entrepreneurial journey is not over, but it has changed track. I still struggle a lot with letting go of the identity of ‘entrepreneur’ and I wouldn’t say my entrepreneurial journey is over, but I enjoy the view from this stop.