KTH Students Inspire the Innovators of Tomorrow
City of Stockholm
Technology is a big part of our daily lives. If you have an interest in it, you can work with something you enjoy while creating something that helps many people, says Marcus Påhlman, a KTH student and co-founder of the company Accord.
Accord, with more than 25,000 users, is an easy-to-use group organizing app for families that turns chores into rewards.
At a visit to KTH students from the technology program at Kärrtorp High School had the opportunity to meet with Marcus Påhlman. By sharing his experiences, he hopes to lower the threshold for high school students considering further studies or starting their own business.
Dare to try
Technology plays a crucial role in the development of society. Research from MIT shows that technological innovations have accounted for 50% of the productivity increase in the U.S. over the past 50 years. Working with something you enjoy while also creating something meaningful for society is a fantastic opportunity, says Marcus.
For high school students considering studying at university or trying a business idea, Marcus has a clear message: try! By daring to try is when you learn the most. For Marcus, being able to combine studies with entrepreneurship is something he has appreciated.
“When it comes to starting your own business, I’d like to take the pressure off the ‘getting started’ phase. There are so many ways to begin, and you can take it step by step. Plus, there are so many resources available for help. For us, KTH Innovation has been an incredible support that helped us a lot on our journey."
He continues:
"One way to get started is to start bouncing ideas off people and get feedback. But also remember to have fun and follow your vision and what you want to build. I had the chance to talk with Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, and he gave me the advice to split your focus roughly 70/30—70% on your own vision and 30% on what users ask for.”
The road to KTH
Marcus’s own journey to KTH began with an inspiring lecture by Filip Lindvall, one of the founders of Voi, when he and two other KTH students visited Nacka High School.
“It was Filip’s story about his first summer at Voi that really stuck with me and made me start seeing KTH as a place to meet like-minded people and build something of my own.”
What the students from Kärrtorp were most curious about was: “How do you start?”
“For Accord, it was Victor (Victor Fredriksson) who came to me with the idea of a family organization app. Without overthinking it, I made a design and sent it to him the same evening, and that was the starting point. It wasn’t so much about starting a company together as it was just fun to try to solve a problem.”
Text: Malin Nordin Bartlett