In September 2008, Juho-Kusti Kajander sat in a conference room. The last five years he had been working with commercialization of emerging technologies. Now, in front of him sat his friend from the military service, Matti Sivunen, who had ended up working on a project report on the future of the construction sector. Thoughts of the future of construction were remarkably similar. A common thread was found: “We could together develop the construction industry.”

The pondering on what the future of construction will be, and how technology is going to change the industry, carried on in the sauna that late night. At the same time, came the idea of writing doctoral theses.

From success to disappointment

In the summer of 2009, a public national construction innovation competition was launched in Finland. The grand prize was €50,000 funding for the implementation of a business idea for renovation. Kajander and Sivunen participated in the contest with a “Real Estate Skipper” -concept. In August, Sivunen got a call from the jury: The concept had won and the team would get the prize in front of a great crowd and media representatives in October. The jury recommended the duo to found a company to receive the reward. Otherwise, everything was clear to go and the future laid open for adventures. Matti carried the company registration papers to the registration offices on the 6th of September 2009. The company’s first address was a student flat in Kilo, Espoo.

A few months later a member of the competition jury called Matti. The beginning of the call was promising: “How are you doing, guys?” to which Matti responded “very well, thank you.” The other end answered “good to hear that, because we have bad news.” The Real Estate Skipper team’s funding application had been rejected, because one of the partner companies had not met the equity requirements of the funding instrument. The team didn’t get a cent. The following weeks were rough and the minds were filled with dark thoughts.

Another funding rejection

The duo still decided to get funding from somewhere else. Yet, the first eight funding applications got rejections. Perhaps the most telling rejection criteria was: “The proposed concept may change the current market conditions, so we will not fund this project.” Also, the hunt for venture capital failed. The first business year for the Boost powerhouse pair had passed by running the business treadmill, but Sivunen and Kajander were once again at square one.

Time to learn from the world’s leading experts

In August 2010, Kajander and Sivunen put a mental full-stop to the hosting of project development meetings, drafting of business plans and submitting funding applications. The first year had taught that it was time to seek direction rapidly, learn from the markets, and meet the experts: it was time to engage customers and to meet world’s leading experts, it was time to learn from the best. The Boost duo had learnt, that one of the gurus of business development was Professor Jean-Philippe Deschamps at IMD Lausanne Business school in Switzerland, one of rising stars in global construction was Professor Holger Wallbaum of Zurich Institute of Technology, and one of the most interesting architects was Emanuele Rey of the Technical University of Lausanne. They grew the courage of contacting them directly, and humbly enquired about the possibility of learning and exchanging ideas.

Soon they were in Switzerland. Discussions with Deschamps crystallized the ideas in particularly customer insight, the importance of direct monetary benefits to the customers, and the significance of regulation in construction innovations. Wallbaum and Rey instilled great belief in the duo and in the importance of their work and reassured of the global business opportunities for the idea’s of Kajander and Sivunen. However, the most important lesson from the trip was an understanding that only by contacting and meeting the leading experts one can find the most relevant and current knowledge, gain experience, and truly achieve a leading position on the international field. The trip was a wonderful experience for the two of them, and became a solid foundation to their collaboration. Kajander and Sivunen agreed that the starting point must be to help clients to achieve better results. Kajander were to lead the management services and Sivunen to lead the construction management. The mission would be “to develop construction”. And it is true even today.

Lessons to practice – the way to success

Boost has lived by the lessons from Switzerland and the pace has grown ever since, and it has created an internationally unique model for the construction industry. Kajander and Sivunen state that they have come this far by learning from the clients, from the most important construction innovators and company managers, real estate owners and Nobel laureates. From people who want develop and grow.