How to build successful tech startup

Nea Harjanne is one of the driving forces of tech startup business Nomi.Shop which is an e-commerce shopping service that creates a personal product service for each customer. Nomi.Shop is a fully personalised platform where you answer picture-based questions about your style and you are shown a whole range of clothing that matches your style.

Nea was always frustrated when shopping online as she found that she was always having to work hard to find clothes that matched her style and saw this as a great opportunity when she discovered that there were many others with same problem.

What are the differences between the Finnish and Australian Start up Process?

As Nea is in Finland and there are 4 young women on this tech startup business I had to ask how this has been as an experience. She said it has been very supportive environment. In Finland you can apply for a government grant that helps you to concentrate solely on the business without having to worry too much about funding. You also get free services where you can ask any questions you might have and receive quality advice.  On top of this you have eco-systems like Start up Sauna – a free working space for start-ups, incubator programs and accelerate programs that you can join and learn from.

The only downside Nea mentions is that if you are aiming to reach a large number of potential customers Finland is a small market so you need to be looking internationally early on for example finding angel investors and opportunities to grow.

I advised that unfortunately here in Australia there are no government grants for start-ups as I was looking for one when I started my business. It is only when you have an already established business that you can apply for funding if you need to.  People use their own money or investors to grow their business. In Australian this is known as a side hustle – people start entrepreneur journeys while working rather than have the comfort of having their own business with support from the government.

Start-Up Businesses at a young age

Nea had smaller business when she was much younger so this is not her first experience of entrepreneur life. Her family is full of female entrepreneurs hence she had a number of close role models when she was growing up. Her parents knew that she would take the same career path at some point and they have been supportive of both daughters who are involved in Nomi.Shop

Not having kids, a mortgage or a husband allows her to be more of a risk taker as she does not need to think about the future too much. Being very young means that you do not have savings, you need to use all that you have. On top of this people are doubting you more. It only makes us hungrier for the success Nea concludes.

Why was Nomi.Shop started while it was still in the planning and testing phase?

Nea explains that they wanted to make sure that they were offering the right solution to their customers problems hence they started while on Beta testing. Nea explains her belief that many Start-Ups make a mistake at this point:

Lots of Start-Ups build something that customers do not need or want, they build it because they think is great idea. When they bring the product to market the customer thinks it is nice but they do not really need it.

-Nea Harjanne

Hence Nomi.Shop wanted to start with the Beta version to get feedback from their customers and test the platform to make sure they go this right from the start. They do not think that a demo group would really have worked given that honest feedback from users would be good enough.

Nea said they have lived by the saying:

If you are not terrified by the launch and the product that you are putting out then it is already too late

Nomi.Shop tech startup business is already available for use, they even have an affiliate deal with ASOS.  The long-term aim is that you can do all your shopping through Nomi.Shop without having to visit any other websites. I can only see that sky is limit for this business as it grows.

You can follow Nomi.Shop in

Website: https://www.nomi.shop/
Instagram: @nomi.style

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