Our alumni Realfagshjelpen has started a whole new company during 6AM Accelerator program and called it EdYou. We have interviewed Jakob Erikstad, CEO and Co-Founder at EdYou, and asked him about his experience at the accelerator program and the new company.
Why did you join 6AM Accelerator Program?
Tom Jensen pitched 6AM Accelerator Program as a great way to receive coaching and courses on relevant topics to accelerate our growth potential.
What did you achieve during the program?
We reached several important milestones. Most crucially, pilot customers and soft funding.
Where does your company stand today (employees, customers, partners, investment, soft funding, etc.)?
We are currently planning for the fall: the team will most likely consist of three full-time employees, two senior part-time employees and several junior part-time employees (students). We have recieved 1 mNOK grant from Forskningsrådet (Forny) and 150 kNOK from Innovation Norway. Also, we have two pilots in the early phase with Akademiet Utdanning and Digital Norway.
How did 6AM support you during the program?
Generally, coaching and courses for early-stage startups were very useful. During the program, we took our company's concept and made it into a new startup, and 6AM's help was especially valuable for us.
What is the story behind EdYou?
In Realfagshjelpen, we saw how effective individually tailored training could be. In EdYou, we want to exploit this huge potential of smart data use to support the learning of the individual even more! Since EdYou does something quite different from Realfagshjelpen, we chose to take this out as a new company, with other people and a different focus. At the same time, we think there can be many good collaborations between Realfagshjelpen and EdYou in the long run!
Can you please share success factors, lessons learned, or mistakes that other companies in the program should avoid?
It is not obvious from the start what the accelerator's main contribution will be, so having a continuous close dialog with 6AM is essential. The team adjusted their approach to our specific needs, which was crucial for our growth.
What are your next plans?
Create an awesome business!
EdYou team