The entrepreneurial journey: “They wanted to handcuff us and used all the dirty tricks. So we declined the offer”

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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.

Jimmy Engelbrecht Sørensen has always had a dream of being an entrepreneur, inspired by his uncle and grandfather who both had their own businesses. From an early age, he was fascinated by the freedom and respect that came with being self-employed.

He grew up with an understanding of the importance of financial literacy, which culminated in a university degree in economics. During his studies, he developed a particular interest in IT, and in 2017 he founded his first company focused on helping school children stay focused. Although he didn’t succeed with the business, it turned out to be the start of a life as an entrepreneur.

Read also: Blood red international market: Small Danish tech startup is among the biggest – TechSavvy

He found his new path to entrepreneurship through The Kitchen acceleratorAn accelerator is an intensive program that provides startups with mentorship, education, resources, and sometimes funding to accelerate their growth. More at Aarhus University. Here he was matched with other entrepreneurs and joined the startup Workfeed. His previous experience from a part-time job handling shift planning gave him a good understanding of the problem that Workfeed was set up to solve. And after just four months, Jimmy was brought on board as a co-founder, building the company together with his partners, Christian and Søren and Rasmus.

What has been the wildest moment in your entrepreneurial journey?

An important milestone was our funding round, where we pitched to over 80 venture capitalists and received a valuation of DKK 80 million. However, we experienced mistrust from the UK venture fundA venture fund is professional investors who scout start-ups to invest and mentor, aiming for innovation, growth, and returns. It is high risk, high reward. More that wanted to invest, who wanted full control of the company, despite only asking for 20% of the ownership.

Throughout the entire dialog, we could sense that it wasn’t a match for us. For example, they were furious that we had taken the weekend off and didn’t answer the phone, so we were left with the feeling that they thought they owned us. They wanted to handcuff us and used all the dirty tricks. They would be able to fire us and put new people in our place in case we disagreed on something, and they wanted 100% representation on the board. So we declined the offer.

Also Read: The Entrepreneur Journey: “We were fighting for survival – Should we give up and pivot, or double down and help the industry?” – TechSavvy

We then met our current investor, David Heinemeyer Hansson, who invested €1 million just as the coffers were running low. He was more relaxed and we felt a mutual trust from the start, so it was a clear match.

The investment allowed us to grow at a healthy pace without being trapped in a constant funding race. Today, we have a positive cash flow and much of the stress is gone, which has given us the opportunity to be very innovative.

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

As a former cadet in the Frogman Corps, I have always pushed myself and believed that I could handle any challenge I am faced with. But I’ve learned that it’s not necessary to work 70 hours a week.

As a new entrepreneur, there can be a lot of noise and distractions from everywhere. Everything from administrative tasks to all those who want to give advice along the way. It’s important to stay focused and not let external influences steer the direction, but to stay in the driver’s seat. So I’ve learned to limit the number of things I try to tackle at once.

Read more: IT-startup challenges the norm: Why should all software be on subscription? – TechSavvy

I have realized the importance of minimizing unnecessary stressors. Reflecting on your daily tasks and following them to the door to avoid being trapped in a stress bubble. Because if you take a step back and recognize that you only have a certain amount of cognitive bandwidth available, you realize that most things can actually wait, and then it actually becomes much easier to prioritize what’s really important.

Until noon, I work focused and efficiently and shut everything else out. Here I use the “good stress” to follow through with my daily tasks. After noon, I then allow myself to deal with all sorts of things and accept input. There’s rarely anything so urgent that it can’t wait and a regular working week can easily be combined with a high level of ambition.

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

I hope I’m in the same place and we still have no ambitions to sell the company. We want to keep Workfeed and grow the business. We are currently seven people, including three owners, and I don’t think that number will change much. We enjoy having a small team as it creates a better dynamic and makes it easier to act quickly in a dynamic market.

But even though we’re small, we’re ambitious and want to build our product and expand into new markets, especially in the US and Northern Europe. We are already getting a lot of attention from Spanish-speaking countries and the US. Today, we have offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus, but we want to be more remote and avoid too many physical meetings.

I’ve also just become a father, so it’s important for me to be able to get home earlier, which is why I’m considering working five days in winter and four in summer to change my work routine and create more time for family life.