Ask HN: Stockholm Startups?

[dsimard]

I recently moved to Stockholm for my wife's job. I'd like to work at a startup, and I've heard that there's supposed to be a decent community for that here (not like the valley, but better than most places). However, I'm starting from zero, with no network of people to talk to. I'm learning how easy it is to feel lost in a new country.

So, does anybody know of any good startups here? Or any communities I should try to get involved with?

[RyanMcGreal]

I thought this was going to be about startups whose owners had grown to love the tyrannical VC funders who were ruining their lives.

[lukego]

The Erlang community has historically spawned a lot of interesting startups in Stockholm (Bluetail, Synapse, Kreditor, tail-f, Mobile Arts, ...). There are pub nights.

[enra]

Check out http://www.arcticstartup.com/ and our index of Swedish startups http://www.arcticindex.com/companies?search[country_id]=1

[willmacdonald]

I'd love to find to startup or developer communities here too. Do you speak Swedish ? I'd feel a bit awkward going to some meeting and being one of the few people who don't speak Swedish. I moved to Stockholm a couple of years ago but haven't had a chance to do any searching yet, busy with babies.

[sbt]

You really don't need to speak a scandinavian language in scandinavia. People speak english almost as well as the dutch, and they don't mind switching to english at all.

[dsimard]

I'm learning fast, but it'll be a while before I'm really comfortable with it. Every time I think I'm getting good somebody will say something that sounds to me like a long unparsable stream of borka-borka like the swedish chef and I'll get all depressed about my progress for a couple of days. :)

Rumor has it that most of this kind of work is done in English, which would help. I haven't been able to verify that yet though.

Anyway, maybe we can help each other out. Email me if you feel like it. It's a gmail account and I'm "davesimard".

[willmacdonald]

I am self employed, and 99% my clients are in UK, so I speak English all day. When I'm at home I need to to speak English with my children so they learn some English. I have trouble finding any time to learn Swedish.

[mmelin]

People usually don't have a problem with switching to English if there are non-Swedes present, but otherwise Swedish is used. Some people have difficulty sticking to English but a helpful reminder usually does the trick.

[thirdusername]

It might be interesting to know that it's not entirely unusual for people to learn Swedish but stick to speaking English making English optional for the locals. I know of at least two people in my small city of Skövde that does that because they are more comfortable with speaking English (one is Icelandic and the other German). There was also a mainstream TV show a few years back (maybe it's still running?) about home improvment where the lead designer did the same and I'm not sure it was even subtitled.

[mmelin]

One big thing that's happening soon is 24 hour business camp in late October. The event is already full (120 participants) but there will probably be an after-party the weekend after the event where you can build your network. edit: link for that is http://www.24hbc.com/

Mattias Swenson of Bloglovin maintains a Ning network at http://swedishstartups.ning.com/ - it's not extremely active but if you sign up for a membership you'll get emails when new stuff happens, mostly in Stockholm but also in the rest of Sweden.

I'm in Stockholm, feel free to drop me an email (contact info in profile) if you'd like to chat or have any questions. Welcome and gear up for the coming winter ;)

[dsimard]

Start a business in 24 hours? Interesting... does that actually work for people?

Anyway, thanks for the links!

[mmelin]

Yeah, people build a first version of their app, not a whole business in the 24 hours. I participated in the first iteration as well, which was back in January. Check out the list of projects after the informal vote: http://www.24hourbusinesscamp.com/2009/01/vote-for-your-favo...

[erikstarck]

My own little humble database of Swedish startups is at http://www.sweden100.com Drop me an email if you feel like meeting up, my contact details are on the about-page on the blog.

[tuukkah]

Spotify R&D is in Stockholm, they have users and are in the headlines, I hear they use Debian in their backend, and they let paying customers access their DRM service using third-party clients too. Draw your own conclusions.

[unwind]

Not a startup recommendation, but if you're not aware of http://www.thelocal.se/, you probably should be. :)

It's a news site in English, and has what seems to be a quite lively forum section, which might be a good place to ask, too.

[JohanLange]

HI - freelancers/entrepreneurs meet at www.2lance.net - online and meetings, there's and Internation community, an entrepreneur community at ning.com and a few more...

Niclas Carlsson runs "founders alliance" with an amazing bunch of startups.

Just to start the seach - welcome to Shining Stockholm!

Johan Lange

[aik]

With the exception of Stockholm, where in Sweden would be a good place to find startups?

[enra]

I think Malmö(in Southern Sweden) is next to Stockholm.

[mmelin]

Definitely, since Malmö and Copenhagen are almost the same city nowadays.

[Feeble]

What are your skills? What type of business areas are you interested in?

[dsimard]

A little bit of everything I guess. I'm a developer for sure, but I'm a generalist at heart which is why a small start-up sounds appealing to me.

As for specific skills, lately I've been defaulting to Python. I've been going through all the SICP lectures too which is re-exciting me about lisp, but I'm not too optimistic about finding a job using that.

As for business areas, I'm feeling pretty open-minded right now.

[appl3star]

checkout jameslist.com - they are in stockholm ...

[berntb]

Other people have give good answers. Here are a couple of things you might want to do the first few years.

Education is free in Sweden. Check for if your background allows you to get into university courses. (The evening/distance courses are generally for older people that already works. Good contacts.)

You have checked for user groups of your favorite development environement(s)?

Disclaimer: I left the area for a nice job, a few years back. :-)