Gustav Aresund does not believe in picking one way, he wants to do it every way

Most people have heard that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Gustav Aresund disagrees.

“My whole life philosophy is built on the idea that you actually can. I want to travel, study, build companies and have fun at the same time. Why choose when you can do it all?”

Gustav, 23, grew up in Önnered outside Gothenburg. He describes his childhood as a mix of fishermen, suburban houses and people from completely different backgrounds, something that made him curious about both people and business.

Since his teens he has started companies, won the Swedish championship in wakeboarding, run a half marathon, worked in construction and studied two bachelor degrees in parallel. When the chance came to do a master at Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisbon, he turned down places at SSE and Indek at Chalmers and moved south. Today he is vice chairman of one of Europe's largest student run startup clubs.

“I have always been happiest when I get to build things. It does not have to be a company, just something that creates value for others.”

Gustav is one of eight entrepreneurs selected for Talent Venture Labs.

Together with his team he is building EduFindr.eu, a digital platform that makes it easier for students to find the right education in Europe. Today, information about programmes, admission requirements, tuition fees and living costs is often scattered across thousands of universities. EduFindr.eu gathers it in one place and helps students compare the alternatives ahead of one of the most important decisions of their lives.

But just as in his earlier ventures, he does not start with the technology. He starts with the users.

“We build close to our users. If an idea does not work we scrap it and test something else. Reality should steer the product, not the other way around.”

That attitude has followed him through his entire entrepreneurial journey. At 18 he co-founded G-Fot, a company that developed a product for the construction industry and sold more than 15,000 units across Sweden. He describes the project as a financial setback but an invaluable experience.

“We did not make the money we hoped for, but we learned more than any education could have given us.”