Just Thoughts #20:

Visual Content Heavy Week with Arial footage from Kalajoki and Pride Helsinki. Also discussing cultural appropriation and a movie review.

Jul 01, 2024

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The content in this article is “handwritten” and only co-piloted with Grammarly’s spell-checking and re-phrasing for the desired tone of voice. I’m dyslectic, so using it removes my cognitive impediments.

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Reading these thoughts, you are either inspired or not. The first rule of reading these thoughts is asking yourself: Why should I think this way?

The highlight of the week: Pride Tradition

I apologize for not delivering on the value promised for Just Thoughts, as I didn’t have better thoughts shared in Just Thoughts #18. I am referring to the self-reflection section in the free introlude. Nonetheless, I’ve pursued that train of thought and decided to apply for an open position that fits my skills instead of building against my vision, like the one depicted in the First RadicL Thought. That plan is almost timeless and can be picked up anytime. It’s more of a structure and execution strategy than the exact content of the output.

As much as I can strive in dynamic environments, I may as well operate in a stable one, as unstable environments have caused stress that seeps into every facet of my life in an unwanted way. Ten years of RadicL and no monetary wealth is the only result. Suppose there is an impact to be shown. However, that can arguably not be attributed to RadicL. I would rather walk out the beachline and watch the sunset peacefully, not worrying about how to make the next paycheck.

Nonetheless, I recognize the privilege of visiting places like this (The beaches of Kalajoki, Finland). In contrast, my struggles are seemingly minor to the struggles many others go through, as I’m surrounded by opportunity. As a cisgender heterosexual white male born and raised in the Nordic country of residence, most of the societal structures work for me, not against me.

However, as tempting as it is, not doing anything is likely not a good strategy, especially considering the reality that has been circulated on the internet lately.

Finland has had a net negative growth of GDP over the past five years, which is almost as bad as my entrepreneurial career, if not worse. The way to save this nation from this continuous trend, according to the Startup Ministers Timo Ahopelto and Jyri Engeström (featured multiple times during Just Thoughts), is 100 new midsized (200M-500M in turnover), preferably profitable companies, enabled by a large capital influx, combined with favorable policies for foreign talent and capital gains.

Furthermore, new small funds (according to European standards) have been popping up in Finland like “mushrooms during the rain,” as the finish expression goes, which has led me to believe personally yet another fund operating according to traditional norms, with execution strategies only differing by stage or domain will not do the trick. We will have to create something radically different because more of the same is not doing the trick. Similarly, Slush is an event, but what makes it different is how it chooses to operate. We’re discussing something between a venture studio and an incubator that decides to operate differently.

That is why I imagined RadicL Media, combined with the notions shared in the first edition of Just Thoughts. One could create a talent-dense ecosystem that harnesses knowledge and can launch new ventures faster than the median.

The venture could be the foundation for creating 100 businesses sized at 200M-500M within ten years.

Erik Torenberg

building the Turpentine network is currently the closest equivalent, having a founder-first mentality, where this would be a “builder" first community. First, one would codify knowledge and then deploy it with specific expertise onto each project when needed. Not knowing what it would look like, I’m also beginning to think this has to go along with an STO model (Single Threaded-Owner, as coined by Amazon) regardless of the owner's specific core competencies. All the while not forgetting about mitigating bias and discrimination to remove the barriers against people this country (and the world) cannot afford to have.

As confident as I am that this is feasible, at least not the right timing for me to employ, nor may I be the correct type of “doer" as the type of hiring profile many founders favor. Not to mention, all this trying has yielded lots of learnings but an inability to cover my basic living costs. Exhausted at my situation, I can only stick to my writing. So, that's what I do.

What do you think about the thoughts in this intro? Do you think it’s the right course of action?

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