By Lars Henrik Hafstad Karlsson, Nord University
I am Lars Henrik Hafstad Karlsson, a third year economy student at Nord University. I have a passion for entrepreneurship and for me it’s not about if I should start a company but rather when I am going to start my first. With this as a backdrop, I started taking several courses in the entrepreneurship field as a part of my educational profile, international entrepreneurship.
I participated in 2018 Venture Cup where I went to the regional finale. With the same business idea I applied to join a trip to Boston and Babson College. I thought it was a fantastic opportunity – to travel to such a prestigious entrepreneurship school to work with my business idea. I wanted to learn and learn from the best.
Before travelling we had to do two things; read a couple of articles and prepare a five minute presentation. All participants had to some degree presented business ideas earlier, but few had done so in English. For several of us this was outside our comfort zone, including me. I was however very excited to challenge myself and prepared well in advance.
Saturday the 6th of April at 6.30 in the morning we met at the airport and were ready for departure. First we flew from Bodø to Oslo, from Oslo to Reykjavik and lastly from Reykjavik to Boston. The total travel time was about 19 hours including the waiting time. We landed in Boston in the evening and had a meal at the hotel restaurant. Already there we got our first experience with the American unfamiliar tax system. We still don’t understand it. Essentially the prices on the menu are not the same as are on the receipts.
We had a few days without a program at Babson College, but we still managed to keep busy. On Sunday most of us travelled to Wrentham Village Premium Outlets while the rest wanted to explore the city. The Outlet is a small village with different stores consisting of rather expensive designer clothing but with reduced prices. At that point the US tax system seemed even less understandable, but the shopping experience itself was delightful. Even though none of us is that interested in basketball we still made our way to watch Boston Celtics meet Orlando Magic in the NBA. It was a great experience I would recommend everyone who visit the US.
The day after, monday the 8th of April we visited Boston Consulting Group, one of the world’s largest consultancy companies. We met one of the project managers at BCG, Ezra Ok, who told us in a very interesting and engaging manner what their company did. The high point of the meet was when some founders in my travel group got consulting from Okon himself and advice on how to analyze demand, financing, competition and resources. A very meaningful meeting for everyone.