I spend as much of my work activity on intrapreneurship (entrepreneurship in large organisations) as helping pre-revenue start-ups. The process is identical in the early stages: you put together a small team of energetic people to come up with a prototype idea, often called a Minimal Viable Product (MVP), ideally first as an introductory service offering.
Many UK entrepreneurs worry that their excellent solutions will be held back by UK regulations, or even just regulatory uncertainty in emerging areas such as Clean Technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Fortunately, help is now at hand from Estonia, the most entrepreneurial country on Earth with the most Unicorns (companies with billion-dollar valuations) per head of population
At the recent Tallinn Digital Summit, Estonian Minister of Economics and Industry Erkki Keldo wore a sweatshirt with the slogan ‘Making Illegal Things Legal’.
This is the deliberately eye-catching motto of Accelerate Estonia, his governmental innovation lab ‘shaping public policy to enable impactful businesses’.
Their value for entrepreneurs is instead of companies having to adapt their innovative products to fit the current (maybe out-dated) regulations, they change the regulations instead.
And, of course, their slogan is designed just to attract attention, it is not literal. They would never suggest anything which might attract the attention of law enforcement. They help change regulations to open up new business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) market segments.
Accelerate Estonia have a radical and practical suggestion for UK entrepreneurs: try your idea in Estonia first. They will help you address any regulatory issues there, so you can later address UK regulations, supported with successful case studies.
Accelerate Estonia have successfully executed innovative projects at eye-watering speed. Their process is simple but effective. First, they need to demonstrate that the proposal will bring clear, measurable, and substantial economic benefit to their own economy.
Then, they come up with a simple execution plan to draw out objections, the dreaded “Yes, but….” reactions. These need to be individually acknowledged and addressed.
Dealing with objections is a classic element of every sales process. Some regulators can come up with complex objections forever. The solution is to provide compelling arguments backed up by real proof.
Here are some examples of successful projects implemented by Accelerate Estonia:
1. Digital real-time logistics ecosystem – Accelerate Estonia – originally developed in the Accelerate Estonia and now adopted throughout EU.
2. Genome data use in personal medicine – Accelerate Estonia – health data is always a major concern for both consumers and regulators
3. Enabling 24/7 automated pharmacies – Accelerate Estonia – still in development, but the solution is unique. This is due to go live this year.
Accelerate Estonia is now actively looking for suitable UK projects to take to Estonia.
They have an existing relationship with Oxentia, www.oxentia.com running several events which have already identified some companies who would benefit by bringing some or all of their R&D to Estonia
They have also enlisted Ben Brabyn who has a long history of supporting entrepreneurs, particularly as CEO of incubator Level39.
Ben commented:
“If you are an ambitious start up in the UK and regulations are holding you back or obscuring your development plans, you can prove your model in Estonia. You will then have the convincing evidence you will need to shape regulation in the UK, the EU and beyond, with the help of Accelerate Estonia, in a country where the regulators are as agile and ambitious as you are!”
Finally, here is the best news of all: Accelerate Estonia offers their support to suitably qualified UK entrepreneurs for free.
Ben Brabyn has a charming and original way for entrepreneurs to find out more and also meet other like-minded people. He supports both live and virtual free ‘Walkabouts’ in the UK and elsewhere: https://amitypath.com/walkabouts/ .
Here is a recent event in Green Park, London:
I hope to meet you at one of these events and very much look forward to hearing about your plans for turning your good idea into a great business, first in Estonia.
About the Author
Mike Southon
Mike Southon is Chief Editor of Startup Mafia, busy tuning Estonians into Unicorns and helping promote them worldwide.
More details and his other articles can be found here: https://startupmafia.eu/author/mikesouthon
