#16: Featuring Jakob Neua Nørgaard - Turning frustration into innovation

Episode 16 of Growing For It with Jakob Neua Nørgaard

Jakob Neua, a serial entrepreneur and founder the online real estate tool Estaldo, as well as NASDAQ-listed Penneo, discusses his journey from founding Penneo in 2011 to its IPO in 2020. Initially, Penneo aimed to digitize contract signing, facing challenges with government approval. Despite initial struggles, Penneo gained traction and was approved for digital signing of annual reports. Neua left Penneo in 2017 and co-founded Estaldo, a digital platform for selling homes, which offers significant cost savings. Neua emphasizes the importance of balancing work and personal life, sharing his experience of quitting Penneo to prioritize family. He also highlights the challenges of Denmark's taxation on unrealized gains post-IPO. Jakob Neua discusses his experience on a Danish TV show where he and his co-founder pitched their company. Despite extensive preparation, they forgot to mention the amount of money they were seeking. The show lasted three hours, and they received bids from investors. Jakob emphasizes the importance of deep preparation and transparency. He also shared insights on Estaldo, and his pride in moving from a single-parent household to a stable family life. Jakob advises understanding personality types to improve team communication and business success. The conversation concludes with reflections on balancing personal and professional life.

Key take-aways:

1. Prioritize Family: Always put being a good parent and spouse first, even if it means stepping back from a successful business.
2. Embrace Change: If something stops being fun or meaningful, don't be afraid to quit and pursue new opportunities.
3. Solve Real Problems: Build businesses that address genuine pain points, like Penneo's digital signature solution and Estaldo's simplified home selling platform.
4. Prepare Thoroughly: Whether pitching on TV or meeting investors, deep preparation and understanding of your business is crucial.
5. Maintain High Ethical Standards: Always treat people fairly, be transparent, and take responsibility for other people's investments and trust.

If you wanna learn more about our "Elite Founders Fundraising" program, DM us on our socials listed here:

Mikkel on LinkedIn: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/mili

Travis on LinkedIn: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/trali

Mikkel on Insta: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/mikkel

Travis on Insta: https://growing-for-it.captivate.fm/travis

Also be sure to check out Jakob on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakobneua/

Thanks to our sponsors:

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State Energy

Vestermark Consult

Chapters:

1. [0:00 - 7:00] Early Entrepreneurial Sparks
2. [7:00 - 12:00] The McDonald's Mindset
3. [12:00 - 20:00] Digital Magazine Adventures
4. [20:00 - 28:00] Web Development Struggles
5. [28:00 - 40:00] Penneo's Origin Story
6. [40:00 - 52:00] Digital Signature Revolution
7. [52:00 - 62:00] Government Approval Battle
8. [62:00 - 72:00] Preparing for IPO
9. [72:00 - 82:00] The Emotional Rollercoaster of Going Public
10. [82:00 - 88:00] Family First: Stepping Back from Penneo
11. [88:00 - 94:00] Estaldo: Reimagining Real Estate
12. [94:00 - 98:00] Danish Shark Tank Experience
13. [98:00 - 100:00] Entrepreneurial Philosophy and Lessons