Beyond Startups: Karla Still on Rethinking Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship doesn't look the same for everyone. From high-growth startups to mission-driven organizations, there are many ways to create value and make an impact. Foundations of Entrepreneurship introduces students to this diversity through research, guest speakers, and critical discussions that challenge conventional startup thinking.

Karla Still, a Master's student in Sustainable Entrepreneurship at Aalto University, is currently building an organization that helps people donate more effectively to high-impact charities. Although Foundations of Entrepreneurship was a compulsory course in her program, it quickly became much more than a requirement. Through founder stories, academic research, and conversations about different entrepreneurial paths, the course encouraged her to reflect on her own motivations and what kind of founder she wants to become.

We spoke with Karla about the ideas that challenged her assumptions, the research that changed the way she thinks about entrepreneurship, and why understanding different approaches to building organizations matters.

Can you tell us a little about yourself, what you're studying at Aalto, and what motivated you to take Foundations of Entrepreneurship?

This was my first course in Aalto when I started studying Sustainable Entrepreneurship. The course was compulsory for me, but I would gladly have taken it anyway.

The course explores both the "bright" and "dark" sides of entrepreneurship. Was there a discussion or insight that challenged your existing assumptions?

Many! The course had guest lecturers from many different kinds of companies or organizations. Especially, researchers provided spicy takes. Theodore Khoury had been studying/researching entrepreneurship in the global south, and his summaries of, e.g., challenges in copying US-centric design thinking and Silicon Valley startup mentality to e.g. Uganda were fascinating. I also enjoyed learning about entrepreneurship in refugee camps. Or the struggles of entrepreneurs in Palestine in the occupied regions. But also how entrepreneurship is upskilling people who started doing currency trading in the informal markets in Lebanon, while UBER is deskilling its "entrepreneurs" in Delhi, India. Fascinating!! 

Juha Makkonen, CEO and founder of Sharetribe also criticised start-ups based on venture funding heavily. Making bold claims about how the  mission and values always get screwed due to profit maximisation. I hadn't learned about steward-ownership, which Sharetribe is based on and it was really fascinating. 

Can you share an example of a startup tool, method, or framework from the course that changed the way you approach problems or opportunities?

In addition to guest lectures we were familiarized with some of the literature on entrepreneurship. I especially enjoyed two papers: 

Lounsbury & Lynn, Cultural Entrepreneurship: Stories, Legitimacy, and the Acquisition of Resources (2001). Explored the role of storytelling in new ventures which lack a track record. To be successful as a founder of a new initiative, you will need people to trust you to offer resources, be it their time, networks or money. In the very beginning, you will lack any evidence that the venture will be successful, and this can create a chicken-and-egg problem, which I believe I would've come across as well in my entrepreneurial journey. But to combat that, successful founders are skilfull in creating compelling stories of what their venture is and can become. When thinking of it, it seems to describe the little I had seen of startups so far quite well. Yet, I had thought this "dreaming" is nothing i need to bother doing, because presenting facts and as accurate of predictions as possible is enough. But what if you don't have those predictions? When those with capital are not experts in your area or when your idea seems too unlikely to work? Welcome storytelling. 

Fauchart & Gruber, Darwinians, Communitarians, and Missionaries: The Role of Founder Identity in Entrepreneurship, (2011). I liked this paper because of how it attempted to group different founders based on their identities. While it was relatively easy to figure out which Identity I relate to out of those presented (the missionary), it brought interesting discussions with classmates, learning how others think differently. 

As someone passionate about sustainability and creating a positive impact, how has the course influenced the way you think about entrepreneurship as a way to address societal challenges?

The course offered a great space to reflect on my own interests, passion and fit for different types of entrepreneurship. What motivates me, what resonates? What should I consider which I haven't before? This reflection was encouraged during the class and assignments. The aforementioned guest lecture about steward-ownership was especially interesting and is something I continued to reflect on long after the course. Something that also was very valuable, as the course is in the first period of the year, was getting to know the startup/ entrepreneurial ecosystem in Aalto.