Morten Resen waived goodbye to the gig as a TV host and said hello to the life of an entrepreneur. ARYZE has asked him about his (many) mistakes, his biggest successes and how hard it is getting funding.
Morten Resen has a background from Danish radio and was a popular television presenter on a national channel from 2007 until 2016. Once he even interviewed Justin Bieber. He loved the gig, but it was tough for the body as well as the family so he quit after nine years of getting up at 03.00 to do TV from 6.30-9.00. He didn’t have a new job waiting or a major plan with his life he tells ARYZE.
“TV was hard for the body and the family as I had to get up very early to do morning television. I didn’t have a plan or a job, but unfortunately I couldn’t continue doing what I loved the most. Instead of finding something else I just quit from one day to the next.
Then I started doing a podcast. I wanted to focus on creating something new and I had this old idea about a Tripadvisor for kids. So by accident I became an entrepreneur.”
Don’t be a one-man band – get a co-founder
The podcast went from 0 downloads to 1.000.000 in 15 months as Resen founded his company GoLittle. In total Resen produced 64 podcasts and as he jokingly states they are filled with all the mistakes a new entrepreneur can make.
“I have made an abundant amount of mistakes. There are 64 podcast episodes and they hardly contain anything else, haha.
The biggest learning I got from all these mistakes was the element of time. You simply underestimate how long things take. It’s a big learning that stuff just doesn’t happen as quickly as you imagine when you jot them down on paper.
How ever, I don’t think I wanted to do anything different if I had the opportunity to start over. The mistakes I have made have taught me what I know today and I have learned from them.
I can recommend getting a co-founder if you are considering starting your own business as being a one-man band is not something I would recommend. It is pretty tough and you don’t get the most out of your ressources. There will be many things that you are not great at which takes time away from the stuff you do well. And it can be lonely.”
Morten Resen has been very open and honest about the progress of his company. And after the podcast he has moved on the vlogging. On his YouTube channel you can follow the GoLittle journey and Resen tries to show both the good and bad times.
Morten Resen wasn’t the only person to leave the TV business in 2017. His wife Marlene Landsfeldt left the same channel as Resen where she had a job off screen. She started Mambeno where families can plan their weekly meals. The success of Mambeno is something Resen is proud of as they reached 100.000 app downloads in a year.
“The biggest success has been to create products that people actually use. Especially our meal planning app is being used everyday. Tonight up to a thousand families will be cooking and using our product. To get positive feedback from families is amazing. That’s probably the biggest success. Landing deals with major businesses is also something that makes me proud of the team as well as reaching 100.000 app downloads in a year. When I started the podcast I thought there needed to be one. Now I have started a YouTube channel. It’s cool that people like it and stop you on the street, and that you can inspire others to start their own company.”
The next target for Resen is to launch in a new market. And he also needs to raise funding, which he finds hard as he can’t help to take a no personal.
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