Our very first batch of startups has completed 6AM Accelerator Program, and we are very excited to share their stories with you! The first in line is Metaito. Metaito a Norwegian company developing and commercializing Factsplat, an innovative service that allows users to organize the internet in their own way. Factsplat is a single starting point to access all digital tools at work, home and school. We have talked to Svenn-Helge Vatne, CEO and Co-Founder at Metaito about his experience of being a participant at 6AM Accelerator.
Why did you join 6AM Accelerator Program?
The program seemed to be an excellent opportunity to increase our growth speed and expand our professional network. As an early-stage startup with a scalable product, we saw the opportunity to introduce our product and get feedback from the experts in the program. When entering the program, our goals were to speed up the company's progress, create a sustainable business, learn the startup things we needed to know, and contact potential customers, partners, and investors.
What did you achieve during the program?
During the program, we achieved several of our product- and business-related goals. First, we decided on our business model and beachhead market. A sales strategy was also defined and implemented with help from our mentors. We are now able to adapt our value proposition to our target market more efficiently.
Halfway through the program, in December 2020, we released a brand new version of our product, Factsplat. With an improved user experience and new features, this version allowed us to expand our user base and increase daily active users by about 150%.
Also, we have started a pilot project with the "Regional Systemenhet for lønn og personal" at UNN, in Helse Nord. Several employees, who regularly use Factsplat, have reported being more focused and productive with the help of the service.
How did 6AM support you during the program?
6AM provided tailored support to Metaito during the program. Thor Richard, Vetle and Alla helped us define our goals at the beginning of this program and put a lot of effort into understanding our needs. Through regular follow-ups via phone and email, they have adapted their approach to our progress and connected us with the right people. They supported us in building mutually beneficial relationships with our advisors and contributed to our product with constructive feedback.
The Intro Week, the workshops and lectures allowed us to fill in our knowledge gaps in various business areas. Thanks to 6AM Accelerator Program, we now feel more confident in our capacity to manage the company's daily operations and overcome challenges.
Can you please share success factors, lessons learned, or mistakes that other companies in the program should avoid?
One of the most critical aspects of this program is the networking part. You learn so many new things from talking with the other entrepreneurs, lecturers and advisors, and these interactions can lead to great opportunities.
Having a strong and dedicated team is essential. You will learn a lot from the lectures, but attending the lectures and workshops as a team will help the team grow.
What are your next plans?
We are currently focusing on selling Factsplat to our target market while enabling our user base to grow organically. Getting customers and more users will allow us to be ready for our fundraising phase and attract investors. We plan to expand the team in the fall to increase the product development speed as we take on more and more customers. We aim to have a sustainable business by the end of 2022 and target the international market.
Long-term, we want to become the biggest tech company in Norway. We want to compete with the tech giants and introduce a new business model in which the user is not the product.
Photo: Metaito
From left to right: Anders Rantala Hunderi, Svenn-Helge Vatne, Clément Suberchicot