About

What is a meth·od·ol·o·gist?

A methodologist is one who studies methodology – a methodology is the system of methods and principles used in a particular discipline tech entrepreneurship.

“Official” bio

Tor Grønsund is the founder of Lingo, a web media incubator based in Oslo, Norway, and an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Oslo. Previously, Tor was lucky enough to work at both sides of the table across startups, digital strategy and venture financing. His work on startup innovation methods has been adopted by organizations and universities globally, including Stanford and UC Berkeley. Tor now spends his spare time writing a book to share the stories of famous Nordic tech-startup founders.

Get in touch on torgronsund [at] gmail [dot] com or on Twitter @tor.

The longer, more personable story

I grew up in an entrepreneurial home in southern Norway and was fortunate enough to be exposed to the world of computers and ventures at an early age.

At 13 years old I started my first “business” re-packaging and selling basketball cards to students in the schoolyard. Operating from my parents’ basement we were ultimately four guys – all avid collectors of basketball cards – stuffed with tape, scissors, and wrapping paper. Customers were happy and the shop went pretty well. At least well enough for the school management to shut us down – because the students’ parents were complaining over their kids asking for even more pocket money. This would inspire me in many ways.

Over the following years I had stints as paperboy, chaperone, shop employee, and waiter alongside playing football (that is soccer). The dot-com bug hit me at 18 years old. Consequently, I went study Information science and Informatics to learn how to build my own Internet products. I never had the patience of a coder though. Instead, I’d develop a passion for all things agile methodologies and new media.

From carefully studying web startups I discovered that they did not only use agile principles such as beta releases and rapid prototyping to better manage software development processes, but also to create demand for their products.

So I took on a MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship to learn about taking technology to market. I quickly found, however, that traditional management books weren’t too helpful in the rapidly changing Internet startup world. Neither did software development books say much about marketing.

In 2006 during my master thesis I then discovered the Business Model Ontology. Today known as the Business Model Canvas, this was a new way of thinking systematically about business planning and ideas. What the canvas missed, however, was a methodology – “a how” for “the what”.

As soon as I got to know Startup Lessons Learned my ideas eventually lead into the Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas mashup. Some of it which I have been honored to see being adopted by universities globally, including Stanford and UC Berkeley.

Since, I’ve devoted my career to learn from entrepreneurs and thought leaders in the field of innovation. Through various capacities in tech startups, venture finance, and strategy consulting, I’ve been fortunate enough to see the  world of entrepreneurship from both sides of the table.

Alongside working as intern at a software startup, I was fortunate enough to study entrepreneurship in Boston at the time social networking was about to hit the tipping point. The following summer I was installer with a wireless Internet provider, which was a great job where I learned a lot from meeting with customers every day.

Back at the university dorm room a couple of months later, I co-founded a wireless sharing company along with my brother Pål to address lessons learned from this job. The company, Unplugd Networks turned private routers into public hotspots, enabling users to seamlessly share their wireless Internet connections. It turned out, however, that major Internet providers weren’t too happy about us “reselling” their wireless signals. So, when all is said and done that led into providing market analysis for management consulting and private equity firms.

I then had a couple of stints in search business consulting with FAST, an enterprise search technology company acquired by Microsoft, and M&A assessment at Schibsted, a leading Nordic media corporation. After getting a glimpse at corporate venturing at these great companies, I decided to continue my entrepreneurial pursuits.

Following, I joined as one of first employee at as one of the first employees at Ignitas, a strategic advisory and early-stage investment company, where I was fortunate enough to be involved with Internet ventures ranging from Internet software, social networking, online media, and mobile advertising alongside helping corporations improve their efforts in digital venturing.

Today I run Lingo, a web media incubator based in Oslo, Norway. We’re a small team of passionate people who believe in challenging the status quo by making new product and service innovations accessible, affordable, and simple to use.

I also teach entrepreneurship at the University of Oslo, where I’ve been “un-teaching” the business plan and building a real-life course based on The Lean Startup, Business Model Canvas, and Customer Development principles since 2010.

In my teaching, speaking and workshop engagements I use a “lego-like” approach combining the Business Model Canvas, Lean Startup, Customer Development, Disruptive Innovation, Blue Ocean Strategy, Open Innovation, and design thinking into practical, tailored innovation practices.

I wrap up with one of my favorite quotes: “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.” -Zig Ziglar

Get in touch

Feel free to drop me a line on torgronsund [at] gmail [dot] com or follow me on Twitter.