Nicholas Sjögren and Robin Naderi
Describe your role and what it is that you do overall and on a day-to-day basis.
Nicholas: I make sure we are building the future of influencer marketing! On a day-to-day basis I mostly focus on leadership, product development, sales, marketing, and design. I jump between strategic and operative tasks a lot and like to think of myself as the spider in the web of our company, making sure everyone works cooperatively towards the same end goal.
Robin:Well, as we are a start-up I work with all parts of the business. I mainly focus on finance, product development and understanding the requirements and interplays between all stakeholders to ensure we fulfil our goals and KPIs.
What inspired you to start your company? Is there a story there?
Nicholas: What first sparked my interest was statistics showing that influencers with less than 5000 followers generate the highest engagement rates of all influencer categories, which is a segment that is too costly to manage manually in large scale influencer campaigns. Thus, I started researching if the influencer marketing process could be automated to enable the large benefits of working with the segment. Along the way I managed to convince Robin to join me on the journey, whereby our master thesis validated the business idea.
Robin: Adding on to Nicholas answer: before we became co-founders, we saw a good match between the two of us as team members in projects at SSE. Our master thesis really validated the impact automation and data-driven decision-making can have for marketers and influencer marketing, which became a clear catalyst for me!
What excites you about your work?
Nicholas: I would say two things:
- Solving complex problems. Running a start-up is like conducting new experiments every day. I love it.
- Closing deals and putting our product in front of stakeholders. I get extremely excited while presenting our product to potential customers, partners, and investors.
Robin: Connecting all the dots between our clients, influencers, and our platform Influeri. It is exciting when our platform enables people to do their very first influencer collaboration with one of our partner brands!
You’ve recently received 12.5 MSEK in external investments. Where do you think your field is going in the next 5-10 years?
Nicholas: There is no doubt in my mind that influencer marketing will become one of the most widely used marketing strategies in the world. Consumers are becoming more and more sceptical towards traditional marketing formats, whereas influencer marketing is something people are naturally drawn to. Influeri will change the way influencer campaigns are managed and set a new gold standard for influencer marketing.
Robin: The influencer marketing market will continue to grow rapidly. I see it going towards more automation, data-driven decision-making, and AI, which will enable companies to work with smaller influencers on a larger scale and leverage closer connections between influencers and followers. This will ultimately entail higher results in influencer campaigns for companies around the world.
How did your time/education at SSE help guide you to the career journey you have embarked on?
Nicholas: It helped tremendously. SSE is an institution with world class educators teaching you to think creatively, critically, and innovatively. More than anything, SSE is a catalyst to thinking outside the box and turning ideas into reality. I’ve always been an entrepreneur at heart and knew that I would build something of my own, but SSE gave me the right tools to execute on my ideas and to communicate them to stakeholders more effectively.
Robin: It contributed greatly to my mindset, to believe in myself and pursue my ideas. The education has given me a solid foundation to stand on in my professional career and the people I have met along the way, such as alumni and fellow students, have inspired my entrepreneurial career choices.
Following your time studying, do you have any words of wisdom or advice you would like to share with our current students? Or any specific advice for international students looking at studying at SSE?
Nicholas: Dare to fail! I can’t even count how many times I have failed at different things in my life. Failing has become my main recipe for success in everything I do, whether it is entrepreneurship, studies, sports, or life in general. The most important thing is to throw yourself out there, learn and make improvements along the way.
Robin: Be present and make the most out of your time at SSE! Learn from others, make sure to help each other and have fun. You won’t regret it.