Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with David Kofoed Wind, Co-Founder of Eduflow, located in Copenhagen, Denmark.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Eduflow is a platform for building and running online courses. Companies use this for onboarding, sales, and customer training. Universities use it to run their courses.

Tell us about yourself

I was doing a Ph.D. in machine learning back in 2015. Since I really love teaching, I got permission to run my own course on data science. The course got really popular, and I ended up with more students than I could manage.

To reduce the time I needed to spend on grading, I started working on a tool called Peergrade - a way for my students to grade each other's work. That way, I could save time, and they could learn more in the process. This tool became popular internally, and I ended up selling a license to my department. I found two co-founders (one was my high school classmate and the other I found on LinkedIn), and we started building a company around it.

We took some angel investments, applied, got into Y Combinator, and raised a seed round for Peergrade in 2017. In 2019, we decided to launch a new product (Eduflow) and focus all of our attention there instead. Many factors played into this decision, including feedback from our customers and the size of the market.

In the end, we are a product company. Building great products is what we care about and are good at. It is incredibly motivating to talk to new users and see their jaws drop when they notice how much better than the competitors we are.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

One of my most significant achievements was getting into YC in 2017. Many companies are accepted to Y Combinator each year, but getting that validation meant a lot to me. I am a technical founder with no previous business experience - so having the YC brand was a huge brand booster.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

When running a small business, there are just so many boring things to take care of. Bookkeeping, accounting, finances, making contracts, support, and legal stuff. Having to deal with all of that while trying to make an innovative new product and trying to distribute it is a lot of work.

While being a business owner brings a high level of flexibility - you are the boss, after all - it also brings a different type of inflexibility. Since I am the CEO, I am the person responsible for everything. While I can take any day off that I want, I am also never really off.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. Get some user validation as early as you can. Read "The Mom Test" to learn how to interview potential users, and try to see if you can sell your product before it is ready. I see too many people spending way too long building the wrong thing - probably because they are afraid to test it with real people.
  2. Remember to think about the market you are going to sell into. It is much easier to be competitive than to be in a non-existent market. If your solution is too novel, there is a good chance the market you are going after doesn't exist yet. People like to praise new and innovative ideas, but sometimes it is much easier to make money in a market where demand is already established.
  3. Get out there and sell your product. People have a bad tendency (I did, too) to delegate the job of selling too early. If you can't sell your product, then nobody else can. And if your biggest challenge is not having any revenue, then that should be your primary responsibility.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.eduflow.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/utdiscant
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/utdiscant/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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