Alex Farcet (Q): Can you give me your background? What’s the story up to the creation of Iværksætteren.

Jesper H Andersen (A): I have a double master degree (business and languages) from Copenhagen Business School and Ecole de Management de Lyon. I started the magazine after concluding my studies.

(Q): Did you ever have a ‘corporate’ job?
(A): No. I did a half year internship with Paribas (now BNP Paribas) in Paris, this is the closest I got…

(Q): You narrowly avoided the bank world, good for you!
(A): Yes… I was not satisfied with working in a large hierarchy…

(Q): So when did you start Iværksætteren and why?
(A): The magazine was born in May 2003. I wanted to create a magazine where entrepreneurs could learn from each other’s experiences. Newspapers mostly write from the news perspective, and life style magazine are interested in how much money the entrepreneur makes, and how he/she spends it. But we were lacking a magazine to write about all the business stuff.

(Q): How did you start? What was the first issue like? Did you raise money? How did you figure out where to get it printed, how to distribute it?
(A): I was unable to get a bank loan. My personal banker didn’t believe in the magazine project and suggested I get a job fast to repay the loans I had accrued during my studies. So, realizing that no one was going to finance the project, I had to make the project self-financing. I sold the ads necessary to finance the publication of the first issues.

I was referred to a good printer through a friend who worked in this industry.  I later found a new and cheaper printer

(Q): Did you take on any staff?
(A): No – there was no money to pay them with, whatsoever. I tried to convince some design students to design the magazine in return for exposure, but no one thought this proposition worthwhile. I also had to sell the ads myself. I had gained sufficient experience to do so during a 3 month employment at a telemarketing agency, where I had learned to close a deal on the phone. This experience is one of the main reasons why I succeeded.

(Q): You wrote, edited, did the layout all by yourself?
(A): I made use of a number of freelance journalists. No-one wants to read a magazine that is written entirely by one person, so this was crucial for the quality of the magazine. But I bought a couple of books about how to layout magazines and started out with InDesign, which is actually not much harder than Word.

Most magazines look alike, so obviously everyone is stealing from one another….

After about 3 years in operation the magazine was redesigned by a pro.  Now it is being layed out in Argentina.

(Q): And today, do you have any staff?
(A): Today I employ three students part-time. But I have outsourced most of the tasks. The magazine is being layed out in Argentina, the ads are being sold by a media agency on Østerbro, and I still make heavy use of freelance writers. So I am left with editing and writing some of the articles. I enjoy writing, so I will probably keep doing this. But I hope to employ an editor within the next half year or so.

(Q): That’s impressive, Jesper.  What circulation have you reached?  And are you still mostly ad financed?
(A): We now have a circulation of 6.000 copies. We are financed by both ads and subscriptions.

(Q): One more question about Iværksætteren – are you feeling the pinch?  The newspaper / magazine business is a tough industry to survive in.
(A): Currently we are not experiencing any change in sales. Many people are being laid off these days, and I think that a proportion of these will try their luck as entrepreneurs. These are potential customers for us. Of course this is also a hard time to finance a startup if you don’t have savings, but I expect these two adverse forces to balance more or less

(Q): Morten Lund (who also had a go at the newspaper business, with less good fortune…) also said recently that this is the time when real entrepreneurs will emerge.
(A): I agree

(Q):  How do you plan the content of Iværk? Do you know already now what will be in the magazine 2-3 issues from now?
(A): We plane the themes up to one year ahead and the main articles app. 3 issues ahead. The rest is planned app. 2 months ahead – we have a long production time.

(Q): What are some upcoming themes?
(A): Education, Business Software, Internationalisation

(Q): About education, what’s your view of entrepreneurial education?  Is it possible to someone to become an entrepreneur or are they born that way? And what good education / training is there in Denmark?
(A): There is an increased focus on entrepreneurship training. I view this as a positive development. But I think it is true for all trades, that some students will excel and only need a little (or no) guidance, while others will no do as well. We have a very interesting article in the coming issue (March 09) on this subject. I think it is pretty clear from the evidence that you can enhance both interest in the subject and the entrepreneurs chances of success.

(Q): You’ve interviewed or covered dozens of entrepreneurs, who made the biggest impression on you?
(A): I think maybe Christian Normann from iCommerce (Paris)

I like those who remain humble to their own success.

(Q): What was impressive about Christian Normann?
(A): There are two ways to look at this question: A business perspective and a personal perspective. Most of the entrepreneurs we portray are impressive from a business perspective.

To mount a successful business, you need a number of qualifications
You need to understand the business you are in, you need to be able to build an organisation that works (organisational skills), and you need general social skills.

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(Q): Do you think you can spot an entrepreneur?
(A): Sometimes.  If I could, I would be in consulting helping venture capitalists spot the successes.

(Q): How would you go about that ?
(A): There are many factors in play
I am talking strictly from a personality perspective (my personal judgment, if you will) and, as I suggested, it is – alas – not infallible.

But the personality is perhaps the most important factor. I don’t know if VC’s do personality analysis, but they should. I think it widely recognised among investors that you invest in the people.

(Q): Do you think Danish entrepreneurs have any special traits that make them different from others? And does entrepreneurship in Denmark require something different?
(A): We have a small home market, so we need a global outlook from the start. This is perhaps one difference.

(Q): What about foreigners with entrepreneurial ambitions in Denmark? What advice would you give them?
(A): A foreign background should be an advantage, e.g. if you start a business where you make use of your knowledge of your home country. Some industries are of course language sensitive and may require a high level of proficiency in Danish, but generally I think that foreigners could reap the best of both worlds – a country where it is comparatively easy to start a business, and then their international mindset that will allow them to grow the company perhaps faster than their Danish counterparts.

(Q): I want to go back to your personality remark.  What kind of personality to entrepreneurs have?
(A): I am having a hard time pinpointing this. 

For starters, they are persistent. It takes years to create an overnight success.  Some of them are very creative in their way of thinking. But hard work, a systematic approach and luck can also do the trick.

Then there is another important question: What drives them. I think you must have a strong desire to succeed.

This is perhaps the main traits

(Q): Have you seen the acceptance (or even ‘worshiping’) of entrepreneurs in Denmark change since you started Iværk?  Christian Motzfeldt said to me that Denmark was a nation of sea-faring entrepreneurs but that it hadn’t always been so acceptable to be an entrepreneur.
(A): There is more focus on entrepreneurship today than there was before dotcom. But bear in mind that lots of companies were also founded before dotcom, so I don’t know about this.

(Q): How do you find your next story?  Where do you meet all the entrepreneurs you cover in Iværksætteren?
(A): Through my network, or they call us, or I hear about them in other media

(Q): Do you get chased with obviously PR type stories?
(A): Yes. I think all editors do…

(Q):  What advice would you give to an entrepreneur who wants to be covered by a magazine such as yours?  What’s the best way of approaching you?
(A): Send a personal e-mail that shortly describes your company.

(Q):That’s it?
(A): Yep.

(Q): What’s the next move for you and for Iværksetteren?
(A): We are focusing on increasing the circulation. And I hope to employ an editor to replace me before this summer. I have just launched an IT-based company (www.magenda.dk) as a joint venture with another publishing company and a software company. This will require a lot of attention in the coming months/years.

(Q): What is the IT company about?
(A): Full-service management of subscribers for other publishers

(Q): Interesting.  How is it going so far?
(A): Very well. We have developed the coolest IT system in the industry and we are experiencing great interest.

(Q): Good luck with that – we’ll have to do a follow up interview once that’s a huge success.
Jesper, thank you very much.  I’m a big fan of your magazine and I admire what the quality you put out with limited resources and lots of creativity – the mark of a true entrepreneur!
(A): Thank you, Alex