Edays Successes
Visualeye’s New Light Shines All the Way from Sweden to the U.S.
Matchmaking Meetings Create Better Future Prospects
Michigan Looks for Swedish Business Opportunities
Visualeye’s New Light Shines All the Way from Sweden to the U.S.
What do you do when you’re a small, new company in Sweden looking to penetrate the vast U.S. market?
Visualeyes had an innovative product set to redefine auxiliary auto lights, but needed to get their story out to consumers. And it was a story worth telling: how a race car driver invented a new light on the dark roads of northern Sweden to challenge an industry. The product, called Rayzer, moves auxiliary lights from the front of a car to the inside of the windshield where the lights’ performance and protection is dramatically increased. But a great idea doesn’t get anywhere if no one hears about it. The U.S. market is not only huge, it plays by a different set of rules than Sweden.
That’s where SACC showed its value. Through the networks’ 19 regional offices and 2,300 members, Visualeyes was able to find the right professionals to run Sales operations on both U.S. coasts, an experienced Marketing Director and The Duffy Agency to handle global branding and promotion. Visualeyes also got in touch with an American law firm to handle the legal questions that inevitably arise with a product that redefines a category. SACC even helped find staff to run Visualeyes’ trade show booth at a major auto exhibition in Las Vegas.
"For a start-up company with limited resources, having the SACC network is a dream come true", said Visualeyes CEO Lars Ericson. There’s no way we could have covered so much ground so quickly on our own.
Visualeyes put the pieces in place for a successful launch in the U.S. With the right connections, a great idea can shine through in the tough U.S. market. Even from the dark forests of northern Sweden.
“The success of Visualeyes can be directly related to our meeting at Edays. Building relationships takes time and requires consistency. However, some find their matches quickly." Kenneth Konet, tells the story of how Matchmaking helped him get in contact with Visualeyes:
When I partook in the Edays in South Sweden one of my interviews was with Mr. Lars Ericson, C.E.O. of Visualeyes AB, located in Sundsvall, Sweden. We had a 15 minute meeting and felt that each of us would have some possibilities of developing Visualeyes internationally and their unique RAYZER auxiliary lighting system for the automotive market “, says Kenneth Konet.
“The matchmaking has become the most popular conference feature, and we call it the ‘core of the conference", says Gunilla Girardo, President of SACC-USA. The Business Matchmaking Service is designed to help you find potential partners, distributors, agents, and/or consultants that meet the specific needs of your company. There is no additional fee for conference attendees to take advantage of this service. "When you sign up for Business Matchmaking, you describe your company profile and what types of contacts and advice you are seeking. From this information we help set up relevant meetings for you”, says Girardo.“
U.S. Production to Lidköping
Rockford based company Leading Edge Hydraulics signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Lidköping-based Jimec during the Edays. Production in Lidköping is expected to begin within six months.
Angel Investor to Stockholm
Doug Pennington, Executive Director, of Private Capital Network, California’s fastest growing angel investor association announced during the Edays that he plans to open an office in Stockholm in the near future. He says that his members have a positive look on international investments and are very anxious to see what’s in Sweden.
TelecomCity
At the Edays in South Sweden 2007 TelecomCity, a trade organization within telecom, were one of the co-organizers. “Despite its size, Swedish telecom has dared to take risks, which is why Sweden has been at the cutting edge so long”, says telecom guru Östen Mäkitalos, who were one of the speakers at the event. The interest for this cooperation between SACC and TelecomCity was enormous and there was no doubt the participants found it a success. 200 participants from all over the world attended the Edays event in Karlskrona and approximately 300 business matchmaking meetings were pre-scheduled.
Urban Gillström, Manager of Ericsson Enterprise AB, says “I’m impressed by the strength of innovation and the spirit of enterprise among the corporate participants in the Entrepreneurial Days “. Magnus Melander, CEO of Wbird agrees. “I have been to many events around the world but my two days in Sweden are definitely among the best. The whole event was very well-planned, focused, personal yet professional and it was also set in a wonderful surrounding”, he says.
After the Swedish edition of the Entrepreneurial Days 2007, a survey shows that an average of four leads was picked up during the business matchmaking meetings. Participants awarded the event an average grade of 4,5 on a scale of 1 to 5. In addition, the Edays attracted a lot of media attention, both locally and nationally so it was an undoubtedly a resounding success.
Swedish Patents for Export
An unplanned trip to the Entrepreneurial Days in Lidköping boosted U.S. exports for Bentech, a company from Helsingborg, Sweden, that offers customized glazing solutions.
“Attending the Entrepreneurial Days was well invested time and money. We got in contact with several potential customers and partners, and right now we’re negotiating to sell patent licenses in the United States”, says Benth Lönnberg, CEO & founder of Bentech.
Matchmaking Meetings Create Better Future Prospects
The most important feature of the Entrepreneurial Days in Lidköping was probably “the matchmaking.” During two days more than 800 meetings – significantly more than last year– were set up between Swedish and American companies with matching interests. "Results were beyond expectation”, says Joacim Timlon from Actea Consulting.
Michigan Looks for Swedish Business Opportunities
Oakland County in Michigan was represented by three delegates at the Entrepreneurial Days in Lidköping, 2006. “We’re impressed with the entrepreneurial spirit here. It’s very productive, and it will be very interesting to follow this up”.
