Growing a tech company from a humble start to international success has many similarities with reaching world-class in sports. Elite skier Karolina Hedenström is determined to become the best and has a plan to succeed. She is well on her way, finishing Ski Classics in the top 5 overall this year and winning the youth bib the last two seasons. She generously shares her story of how she has become one of the world’s very best in just seven years, with a clear goal and focusing on the process – while at the same time having fun and living a sustainable life.
Karolina Hedenström first met the Spintop family this spring, during the annual summit with all portfolio companies in Stockholm, where founders and team members from companies Spintop are supporting, gather for a day of inspiration and networking.
“For me skiing was kind of a fluke. It might as well have been something else, like orienteering, running or really anything else. It was just a coincidence that skiing turned out to be the thing for me. From the beginning I just thought that the practice was fun to participate in, but after a while I realized that it became more and more fun the more time I gave.
Training to become the best in a sport is very similar to the everyday life and challenges of founders building their dreams. During her session at the portfolio summit with Spintop and the teams leading the Spintop portfolio companies everyone exchanged approaches and learnings.
“Something I have seen is that if you want to be the best you have to keep your head in the game being, keep up the excitement to challenge yourself to keep evolving. I also realized that I can not be perfect all the time. I will do everything very well, but it is not possible to do everything perfectly all the time. As of right now, I am focusing on practicing the stuff that is difficult for me and that can be really frustrating. But I know that in the long run, that is what I need.”
“You are reflected by the people around you”
Karolina Hedenström’s skiing career started relatively late. She was first skiing as a hobby at her local ski club in Östersund, but was quickly asked if she wanted to start to compete. At first she was hesitant and did not see herself as a competitive person at all.
“I was a teenager and my initial response was that I was too old to start skiing professionally. But the team coach convinced me to join them for a couple of training sessions and a weekend camp, and I was hooked immediately. The atmosphere was so welcoming and supportive at the long distance races. I strongly believe that you are reflected by the people around you and the people a lot of the people i meet were dedicated and ambitious.”
Her engagement with skiing quickly grew and in high school she practiced whenever she could, before school in the morning and between classes. During her senior year skiing took most of her time and focus.
“In retrospect it wasn’t sustainable. I had two training sessions per day and would study in between, maybe in the car on the way to a competition or when there was a minute to spare. I couldn’t have kept that up for many years. In order to be able to continue to compete for many years and become the best, I have realized I have to become more sustainable in my approach.”
Kick back and laugh together once in awhile
Karolina Hedenström now competes in Ski Classics, which is a tournament with long distance races. During the coming season they will ski 663 kilometers in 14 races over a total of ten event weekends in six different countries. The season traditionally starts in
Bad Gastein, Austria, in mid-December 2024 and ends in Finnsnes, Norway at the end of March 2025. After high school Karolina has studied Sports Medicine at the Mid University and is now pursuing a master’s degree.
“It is good for me to have something outside of skiing to focus on that is mentally stimulating. And in the last couple of years, I also realized that in order to be sustainable I need to have fun. I need to enjoy what I am doing and also try to remind myself and my team to kick back and laugh together once in a while. This does not mean we aren’t serious about our training, but it becomes easier to endure the moments that are dreadful if you can have a good laugh together.”
Her goal is to reach the top in the coming two or three years.
“My last couple of seasons have been really successful and it is important not to lean back and stop striving to improve. This year I have changed my approach and I am pacing my energy to last the whole season. I put a lot of thought into planning my year and identifying the obstacles ahead and the things that I am not very good at. If you are aware of strengths and weaknesses, but also the things that could be difficult or that might go wrong, you are in a better position to prevent or manage these. Which I think is similar to building a company, it is impossible to succeed without challenging yourself.”
Karolina and her team spend one weekend together every month during the pre-season and the rest of the time their training is individually set up.
“During the weekends we are together we follow the exact same schedule and do everything together.These days set our mutual ambition and how to improve by challenging each other to go beyond our comfort zone. In between these camps, we can individualize our training and work on what we believe is the most essential to succeed as individuals. This year, my personal aim is to improve one step towards the top.”
Continued collaboration with Spintop
As a part of Karolina’s continued collaboration with Spintop Ventures she will hold regular check-ins with the Spintop family during the fall and winter offering key people from Spintop’s portfolio company ”The Training Session of the Month”.
“Hopefully this can be inspirational in setting individual goals and motivating activity in an including for increased health. It was really inspiring for me to meet the teams in the spring, I learned so much from them during the day together.”
Follow Karolina Hedenström’s journey here.
Fotograf: Christian Ekstrand, @crellephotography