Meet Emma, our New Key Partner Manager & Sales Coach

“From the first time I ever heard about Ignite Sweden, I loved it. With my interest in sales and startups, this is exactly what startups need. And what the world needs,” says Emma. “It feels great to now be part of the team. I feel that I can be myself and my colleagues are great!”

Emma has previously worked as a business coach for Ideon Innovation, an incubator located in Lund in Southern Sweden that is closely connected to research at Lund University. “It was a very stimulating job,” she affirms.

Impressed by Sweden Innovation Days

One of the things that Emma finds more interesting about working for Ignite and SISP is the international flavour of the organization.

“It is very stimulating to meet people, startups and corporates from around the world. I have already had meetings in all continents except Australia,” tells Emma.

Emma was part of the team behind the matchmaking sessions that we held at Sweden Innovation Days, where 79 leading international corporations met 248 startups from 10 countries in nearly 500 curated matchmaking meetings.

“It was a huge and very well organized event. The more I think about it and talk to different stakeholders, the more I realize that Sweden Innovations Days is a brand with great potential.”

After the event, Emma has been in contact with many of the participating corporations. 60 percent of the meetings have led to further discussions between the companies and even a couple of pilot collaborations have already been initiated.

“They are quite impressed by the event and consider it as time well spent. They are in general also quite clear on what they are looking for and which startups they want to deepen the dialogue with and why. They mean business!” she explains.

An entrepreneur with a passion for sales

Emma is also an entrepreneur herself and runs her own consultancy with focus on B2B sales.

“We are experts on sales for trusted advisors such as architects, accountants and lawyers. We also had a collaboration with Lund University and the B2B sales research they conducted,” says Emma.

Last but not least, she shares her best tip to startups trying to sell their innovation to potential corporate clients.

“In one word, you must have patience. Startups’ time horizon might be three months while corporates may live in a world where they think twelve months or more is the expected sales cycle and decision-making process,” she concludes.

Welcome to the team, Emma!