"If you start managing innovation teams in some sort of a regular traditional business model ... forget it. It's not going to work. It's not going to happen. You need chaos. You need structured chaos and you need freedom." - Bjorn Oste

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Bjorn Oste, Co-Founder & CEO of Good Idea Drinks, also known as "The Swedish Sugar Buster". Good Idea is a sugar and sweetener free flavored, carbonated water that helps people with normal blood sugar levels handle the blood sugar spikes following a meal.

Prior to Good Idea, he co-founded Oatly, a 100% oat-based milk, sold in over 25 countries including North America, Europe and Asia with his nutrition professor brother as a co-founder, He also co-founded Aventure AB – a research-based company specializing in the development of advanced and functional food concepts. Their purpose is to develop attractive food products with preventive properties that make it easier for people to move towards a healthier lifestyle.

It's a totally new approach and they chose the USA as their first market for obvious reasons. Lifestyle related diseases such as type 2-diabetes, obesity and CVD are sky rocketing, and they see a real need of changing the paradigm – from cure and treatment to protection and prevention by lifestyle change.

And prior to this, he co-founded Dynasoft, a world leader in specialized complex computer security systems for global banks, blue chip companies and governments.

Podcast Highlights:

The story behind being a serial entrepreneur growing multiple successful startups into global organisations
Developing a nucleus of competence
Curiosity and innovation as the key to growth
Lessons learned growing a computer security company
Being super creative about launching new products and developing a new market
An interesting observation about the impact of family life on entrepreneurship
Launching brands direct to consumers
The importance of collaboration with global experts
Expanding an idea and identifying related opportunities
Developing a product that reduces blood sugar spikes after meals
Process and strategy for taking a new product to market
Achieving 'proof of concept' as a major step to success
Authenticity and storytelling rather than the brand
Identifying your audience and communicating in a way that resonates with them

FULL SHOW NOTES