Learn more about the startups coworking in our London office in our Startup Spotlight. Each month we will be giving you insight into the Startups based in the Rainmaking Loft. This month we are thrilled to introduce you to Takumi.
This month we sat down with Mats Stigzelius, co-founder of the Rainmaking Loft and Takumi.
I enjoy the inherent uncertainty that comes with building something new… the lows are lower and the highs are higher than you’d experience in a normal job.
What attracted you to become an entrepreneur?
I always enjoyed strategy and developing business plans. I worked in strategy consulting and private equity for a number of years and enjoyed those aspects of the work. But I always felt I wanted to turn my own ideas into reality and build my own company. I enjoy the inherent uncertainty that comes with building something new. I see it as a daily challenge to figure out the options that lay in front of the company every day, and how to chose the best path forward based on the incomplete information that those decisions need to be based on. It is an inherently rocky path - sometimes due to our own doing, sometimes due to forces beyond your control. But in either case, the lows are lower and the highs are higher than you’d experience in a normal job. And that’s what I enjoy about being en entrepreneur. That and being my own boss.
How did the idea of Takumi came about?
The original insight came from Solberg, one of my co-founder (our head of product) who observed that the inherent talent of ’smaller’ influencers on social media was a huge missed opportunity for brands and consequently for those influencers. I had observed the issue from the other side as a marketer and knew the issues from that perspective. Together, all the co-founders took these insights and learning and developed the platform idea that is Takumi today.
What were the biggest struggles in your startup/entrepreneur journey?
I don’t know if there have been any big struggles, but there have been and are many daily smaller struggles as we keep learning (things that work and don’t work) and iterating everything from product design through to user acquisition (on both sides of the platform), raising finance and raising awareness of influencer marketing as a category.
Do you have any advice for the other entrepreneurs to be?
Oh lots! But I’ll keep it short and simple here. And it’s this: choose your investors and board members as carefully as they choose you.
What are the next steps and the vision for Takumi?
Over time, we want to be helping brands and influencers connect on any social media platform, and across any geography. This will of course take some time, but that is the ultimately goal - to be the global platform connecting micro-influencers and brands.
Takumi is based at the Rainmaking Loft which you co-founded more than 2 years ago. Why did you decide to open the Loft in the first place?
We felt there was a need for a coworking space for early stage startups where they would benefit from being together with other likeminded entrepreneurs and having access to all the facilities that a larger company would have, but without any of the downside like needing to secure an office lease and manage the facilities. We wanted to make it as affordable as possible (which we achieved thanks to Tesco) so that more of the precious startup capital would be available for the startups to spend on growing their companies.
How did coworking in the Rainmaking Loft help Takumi?
I have a very happy team (at least I hope I do!) thanks to being here at the Loft. Great community, great view and good coffee. Where else would we want to be!
Visit their website: takumi.com
Want to join our coworking community? Get in touch with us at [email protected]