Entrepreneurial journey told by eight students
Story written by Mark Alaton Nigrin
My journey in transforming Useless to Use-Less
Growing up, I didn’t know what I wanted to do or how my future would be shaped. I have never been attracted to doing something just because of the money. Of course financial performance is important but not everything. I am driven by impact and how to make the world slightly better than I found it. I knew I liked to build things, only to find out that it was actually my passion to do so. I feel very fortunate for finding a match between developing a company and positive change in the world.
Now let’s get to the exciting part: how did we start, how our ideas evolved over time and where do we aim to go? I believe some facts tend to be very eye-opening. In Norway 72% of clothes lie unused in wardrobes. And you don’t have to be an environmental scientist to know that unused textile triggers further consumption and carbon emissions. So our idea is predicated on elevating the circular economy and preventing textile waste. In other words, we brainstormed ways to use textile waste as a resource, for which we conducted feasibility studies. Since our establishment in 2022 we have been doing market research, incorporating the feedback and well: constantly iterate! Our most important asset is the team. We are 3 engineers studying at NTNU. Although investors prefer diverse teams, our technical background enables smoother communication and ability to develop algorithms together. Leveraging the AI models, we aim to re-design textile waste.
Of course, not everything goes perfect. Many of our ideas were questioned and criticised throughout the period. Even though negative feedback can be discouraging, I came to learn that there are 2 kinds of feedback. We love constructive feedback and always search for ways to take it into consideration and treat failures as a means to grow as our company. And then you have the naysayers… Their feedback tends to be unconstructive and useless. In the end you gotta have belief in what you do and strive for. It is not easy but when you can do it, you get up stronger and move forward. I believe the future is very promising for us. Having received funding from our home school we will be attending the Berlin startup competition and hoping to further fund our operations. As we say: Use less, because less is more.
Ciao 🙂
Story written by Edvard Fredo
I was summer vacation and I had just finished my engineering degree. What was the next step? Start to work for a big corporate business and have a stable income? I was not too sure if this is what I wanted. It was good spending some time home after an intensive exam period and seeing my family again. My mom suggested to me that I should check out the new activity lodge that just had opened this spring. This caught my interest, and I searched for it on my phone. The first link that came up was to a portrait in the local newspaper. It told the story of a middle-aged man with wife and small kids, that left his job in Oslo to pursue something he really wanted to do. This inspired me, and the rest of the night I was researching different studies until I found the Norwegian school of entrepreneurship.
This is the story of how I ended up here. After beginning my studies here, I quickly realized that I love the entrepreneurial space. From the start they were encouraging us to find entrepreneurial ventures to explore, and I started thinking of what problem I wanted to solve. That was not hard. The environmental crisis. For several years I have described myself as a person with environmental anxiety, and that not enough is being done to turn the negative trends. I already knew that the textile industry is one of the worst industries when it comes to pollution and the environment. With some quick research I figured that a huge problem in Norway was that huge amounts of clothes are being bought without being used and will at some point simply end up as landfill. That is why we made UseLess.
UseLess is currently a platform aiming to redesign clothes that simply lie in closets unused so that we can buy less new clothes and make the fashion industry more circular. We have several times changed our solution, and probably also will in the future. However, one thing is clear. Our work will improve the recycling of clothes to contribute to reaching the UN sustainability development goals. Together we can make the world a slightly better place.
Story written by Flora Godeny
I’ve always liked creating things and had a passion for fixing the environment and making the world a bit of a better place, but I’ve never really dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur. However, my ongoing university studies made me realize that this is exactly what I want to do in my life– I want to be an entrepreneur and build a business.
It’s been almost a year since I started NTNU’s program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship and I feel that is the perfect environment for young and aspiring entrepreneurs – we learn by experience, do feasibility studies, reflect on the results, test, and become part of a valuable network. I see it as the safest 2 years for us – we are prepared to be the best once we step out into the “real” world.
UseLess started as a university project, but evolved into a venture last December when I started working on it more intensively with my co-founder. I’ve always been motivated to presume something that I truly believe in, it has never been about the money but to do something for the Earth. With Useless, our goal is to find innovative solutions and provide services for textile waste recycling.
Though our focus is clear now, it wasn’t that easy and straightforward at the beginning – there’s no one good way to do a startup and we had to find ours. We shaped our idea by doing fake sales, testing, and writing up hypotheses – it was complex with many iterations. We even tested with actual customers once we had the first prototype – the feedback and insight we received were extremely valuable to further improve our business model. We also benefited from NTNU’s large social network; we had to chance to go to New York and learn from a marketplace investor. He made us understand that we had to narrow down our focus – we couldn’t do everything at once.
Even though I’m studying and working on Useless at the same time, I’ll always try to keep in mind the importance of work-life balance. We set boundaries and we don’t overwork ourselves – for us, it’s a marathon rather than a sprint. We are still at the very beginning, but I feel we are on the right track and that I’m truly doing something I’m passionate about. With many plans ahead of us, I hope to see UseLess blooming in five years’ time.
Story written by Genevieve Ladouceur
“I have no idea what I want to do now”, was the first thing that came to mind after I finished my bachelor’s degree in environmental and electrical engineering. Growing up, I had always loved creating new things and developing new ideas, but “entrepreneur” was never on my radar as a career path. There was one thing that I was certain about- I needed to have an impact on saving our environment. I have always been passionate about saving our environment and constantly thinking about ways we can reduce our carbon footprint. I realized that to pursue my passion, I needed to come up with a new way to save the environment that could be integrated into my life and others.
I discovered that my university offers a Master’s in Entrepreneurship which piqued my interest. After learning that the program was experiential learning-based, offered the latest in technology, and had an extensive network of involved alumni, I was very eager to apply. On my first day of classes, I realized that entrepreneurship just clicked for me, and I knew I was meant to be here. My classes really focused on the lean start-up model and receiving feedback. We have a pre-seed funding program called Spark where you present your idea and why it matters, and the winner gets 2500 euros. My biggest takeaway is that you have nothing to lose when it comes to pitching your idea and the only way to get better is through feedback.
I met my cofounders in my program, and we realized that we all have the same passion for saving the environment. After doing extensive research into opportunities to make industries more sustainable, we discovered that the disposal of clothes and textiles in the fashion industry is a huge concern. On average, Norwegians have 72 pieces of clothing in their closet, imagine the harm to the environment when all those clothes are eventually disposed of! We knew we wanted to make a difference in the cycle of fashion disposal and that’s how UseLess was born. UseLess is an algorithm that analyzes a piece of clothing and offers suggestions on how the clothing can be modified into something new. The designs are specially curated for each user. Once the user selects a design, our company provides the sewing pattern and a step-by-step process for how the user can alter their clothes.
Story written by Emilia Lumio
I have always enjoyed creating things. When one of my acquaintance took the risk and followed his dream to create an environmentally friendly startup, I got inspired. I decided to pursue entrepreneurship and innovation. That is when I applied to the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship to study my Master’s degree. This degree has provided me a network and a support to take the change and try my wings as being an entrepreneur.
I believe that I would not be motivated working with something just because of money. For me, being motivated towards my work and finding it meaningful is very important. One thing that I have always been very passionate about is helping the environment. Now I am a Co-Founder and a CEO of UseLess, a startup working in a clothing industry offering new redesign solutions. With this startup I am following an idea that I really believe in: I want to help the environment by reducing textile waste and extending the lifespan of clothing.
For me the most exciting part of being an entrepreneur is constantly learning something new. As an entrepreneur you have several tasks to do, some are really interesting and some boring, but all of them teaches you something. Being an entrepreneur is not easy and also I have heard a lot of people saying that it is going to be very difficult. However, I have not let that kill my motivation or my business idea. There are always people who do not support your idea or who will give you negative feedback. Of course, considering all feedback is important, but after that you can potentially shift some small things in the product and then keep pursuing your idea. You just have to believe in your idea and of course, have a good market research. At least for me, if I would fail, I would rather do it sooner than later! However, in our startup we consider entrepreneurship more as a marathon, not as a sprint. Hereby, we take care of the work-life balance and find our own ways to do things.
I believe that every entrepreneurial journey is different and you just have to create one that suits you. If you really feel strong about something, you should try it out. Just try not to get too much into your own head but consider all the feedback you can get and keep your focus on customers!
Story written by Norun Pettersen
I am a 24-year-old entrepreneur from Norway. Currently I am persuading a master’s degree in entrepreneurship at NTNU, Trondheim. As of now I am determined to carve my own path, one that doesn’t conform with the traditional corporate path. This was not always the goal as I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering. I realized that it is important for me to feel like I am participating in something meaningful, like solving world problems.
During my first meeting with my master’s studies in entrepreneurship, I experienced an
“AHA” moment that shifted my direction in life in terms of her expectations for a future career. Innovation became more appealing. It wasn’t just about chasing profits but about creating meaningful impacts. This is when I decided that I wanted to persuade a career within entrepreneurship.
When it comes to personality traits, they are believed to influence the extent to which an individual is more or less likely to be suited for entrepreneurship. I have always had a vibrant personality and believe I have a larger social battery than most of my friends. Confidence and self-assurance resonate with the Big Five Personality Dimensions that aligns with my extrovert personality. Furthermore, my assumption is that I have a high willingness for risk and scores high on openness. These are all key traits often found in entrepreneurs (Zhao & Seibert, 2006).
I could have settled into an ordinary and predictable engineering 9-to-5 job. A few years ago I was inspired by a norm-breaker who transitioned from secure to uncertain job, and I realized that this is a way to live.
When delving into current pressing world issues, some study friends and I formed a collective mission to make the textile industry greener. UseLess was formed with a goal to transform textile waste into fashionable, eco-friendly fabrics starting in the Nordic region.
As of not the journey of entrepreneurship have though us that it is anything but linear. UseLess has been formed and shaped several times through continues feedback from our surroundings. We´ve faced obstacles, criticisms but are still not giving up. The mission to have a positive impact on the textile industry remains we just need to continue with determination.
To simplify the key takeaways from our journey it can be summarized in the importance of choosing your environment, whereas I choose NTNU. Personality, passion, and perseverance are important factors to be determined, and sometimes, more original paths leads to exciting destinations.
Story written by Thomas Potthoff
Growing up, I always loved to figure out how things worked, which is why I studied engineering. Even now, when making decisions at work, I often think like an engineer. But there’s something else that drives me now: Entrepreneurship.
This change in me started at the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship. Before going there, I never thought much about being an entrepreneur. But being there, surrounded by so many innovative people with smart ideas, changed my mindset. The school provided me with all entrepreneurship-related knowledge and skills I need. It wasn’t just about learning; it was about meeting people and building networks, finding resources, and getting guidance from mentors.
Ten months ago, I finally started a company called UseLess with two close friends. A lot of people say you shouldn’t mix friendship with business. Honestly, I was scared at first. Starting a company to improve the textile waste situation where none of our team had serious is expertise in sounded risky. What if the business didn’t work? Would we still be friends? But as time passed, I saw that our friendship made us stronger as a team. We trust and understand each other, and we are complementing each other. Each of us brings some special skills into the work environment. One friend contributes with his digital expertise. I am better with people than the others and good at analysing user experiences. And the third, she is our brain for business-related stuff such as financing.
Few weeks ago, we finally received our first fundings, thanks to our pitch. The pitch is crucial for entrepreneurs which is why we spend an enormous amount of time in perfectionating it with experts. In the end, we were lucky, and some investors liked our idea. Now we can finally start developing an actual platform and start with some user acceptance testing. We know how important user testing is and
Looking back, it’s been an exciting journey a ride. Studying engineering, then starting a business, teaming up with my best friend. And one thing’s for sure: I’ve fallen in love with the world of startups. There is still a lot to come with UseLess. And if there’s time after UseLess, I’ll definitely remain in the startup environment… Stay tuned.