Leapfrogs

Franco developed his own business idea

You don't need vocational training to find a job after graduation. Franco Crudi was able to start his own business while studying.

When Franco moved from Argentina to Sweden for the Master's Programme in Urban Studies, he did not feel like an expert in anything. After completing his bachelor's degree in Argentina, he worked as an architect and contractor for various organisations.

“I have broad experience and can see things from a holistic perspective. I wanted to take advantage of that.”

Received help to revise his idea

Together with his business partner, Franco developed the business idea behind Swood Bikes. The idea evolved into a startup aiming to make it easy and sustainable for people to commute by offering bike pools – with bike service and no time limit.

To develop their idea, they received help from Drivhuset Malmö, an organisation that helps students free of charge by offering a variety of activities, workshops and guidance.

“They helped us with the idea in many ways. The people who work there have a lot of experience and great networks, and they helped us refine our business idea and how our team is organised. They also gave us tools that we could use to test our idea and challenge our perceptions. It helped me shape my vision.”

Regardless of how the company develops in the future, Franco knows what is important to him in his career.

“I want to contribute to society and the environment, no matter what is it that I do. Even if I would work at the bottom of a company, it's important for me to know that what I do matters. My vision is that in everything I do, whether it's research, studies or running my own business, the most important thing is that I keep working toward that direction.”

The scholarship helped in the company’s development

Furthermore, Drivhuset helped Franco to apply for the Leapfrogs scholarship, 33,000 SEK, in order to continue developing his idea.

“The scholarship allowed me to work on my idea full-time during the summer. It was also useful to work independently, driving the development of the company all by myself.”

“Another good thing about the scholarship was that it gave me the opportunity to meet and talk to other entrepreneurs – including those who told me about ideas that had failed. It's very valuable to be able to learn from that.”

The startup house of Malmö took the company to the next level

Today, the company works at MINC, a startup house funded by the City of Malmö, which helps new startups by, among other things, providing guidance and premises.

“At MINC, it’s a bit more professional and we work at what one might call the 'next level'. We get help to further develop our business idea, and the other entrepreneurs who work here are further along in their work.”

“The best thing here is the people you get to know. They know investors and tools that are very useful. It’s these kinds of things one learns by talking to others and asking questions.”

Not long after his graduation, Franco obtained a position as a research assistant at Erasmus University Rotterdam by presenting his master thesis. However, the work with Swood Bikes lives on.

“My business partner still lives in Sweden, and we will continue to work on the idea. You never know what will happen in the future.”