Christer Edman, entrepreneur at Innovatrs, founder of Creman,  Innovation Catalyst, certified SAP consultant, working at IBM since 2000… talks about running his 23 year old company.

Creman combines experiences from a broad range of companies with creative thinking and implements innovative solutions. They focus on people and collaboration starting with analysing the client’s current processes, methods and tools. Creman can project lead or assist if needed during the implementation phase. It was relaunched in 2010.

Innovatrs: What made you do it? Why did you take the plunge, become an entrepreneur and give up that cosy corporate job?

Christer: I have always wanted to run my own company and got an opportunity to leave IBM due to the financial crisis and I am continuing now as a Business Partner to IBM. As a driven person with a lot of ideas it was impossible for me to wait for new opportunities within IBM and I decided to leave while I am still hungry for new challenges and didn´t want to feel trapped. My knowledge has increased and the timing is right now.

Innovatrs: What was the original @ha Idea and how has it evolved?

Christer: I created Creman already in 1987 and it comes from Creative man and also my name Christer Edman. I registered the name as a trademark at the Swedish patent and registration office in 1987 after I had searched after patents on an idea related to Golf I had at that time. I was also interested in creativity and personal development reading a lot which opened my eyes to see that I could create and do whatever I wanted and feel is fun. For me it has also a lot to do with creating my own future since I have been forced to earn my own money since I was 15 years old and never got any opportunity to continue on a higher education. I have attended several evening courses for adults and always liked reading which helped me to find my own ways in life. My passion is also to help others especially teenagers and colleagues who cannot see the same opportunities as I do.

Innovatrs: What were your first steps after you fleshed out your @ha idea ? What was your first crisis or hurdle?

Christer: My self confidence and fear of failure or success combined with knowledge stopped me from continuing with my ideas. I had two children and bought a house, lost my job and started to study and then got a safe job again. With a family and mortgages to pay I couldn´t find the time to continue with the company and I wanted to spend valuable time with my children.

Innovatrs: Is this your first business? Did any past experiences or good advice help you navigate the entrepreneur’s road to masochism?

Christer: I started up the company again during the late -90´s and sold some web pages which paid for my interest in computers. A collaboration led to a very interesting job opportunity working at e.g. Ericsson as a business developer. My time for continuing with the company became limited again and I decided to focus on my cosy, corporate job.

Innovatrs: What big ol’ failures have you had in the past and how have they helped you get to where you are?

Christer: I have not had any big failures but know that my choice to start with less than 100% focus on the company forced me to limit my and the company’s possibilities. I have also learned that it is important to get help from others e.g. jobs and society when starting and to have start up capital and time to measure and evaluate if the company will be successful or not.