Business Development & Market Validation Intern

Business Development & Market Validation Intern – Sustainable Materials About PACK AWAY PACK AWAY is a Swedish biomaterials startup developing a new generation of seaweed-based films and coatings designed to replace fossil-based plastics in packaging and other industrial applications. We are currently moving from material development toward industrial processing, customer validation and commercial scale-up. As an intern at PACK AWAY, you will not be observing from the sidelines. You will work on real commercial challenges together with our team, and your work can directly influence which markets, customers and applications the company chooses to pursue. Your mission Help PACK AWAY identify where seaweed-based materials can create the greatest commercial value. Seaweed-based films and coatings have potential applications across packaging, agriculture and several other industries. Your role will be to help us understand which applications and customer segments offer the strongest opportunities — and what companies actually need before adopting a new material. You may take ownership of one or several market areas and follow them from initial research through customer discovery, market analysis and final recommendations. This is not research that is intended to sit unused in a report. The questions you investigate are questions PACK AWAY genuinely needs answers to, and your findings can contribute directly to commercial and product-development decisions. What you will work on Depending on current priorities, you may:

• Research potential applications and markets for seaweed-based films and coatings.
• Identify attractive customer segments, market trends and emerging opportunities.
• Analyse competing materials, technologies and alternative solutions.
• Identify and approach potential customers and industrial partners.
• Conduct customer discovery interviews to understand needs, purchasing criteria and barriers to adoption.
• Assess the commercial potential of selected applications.
• Support market sizing and opportunity assessment.
• Build competitor and market landscapes.
• Map relevant companies, partners and decision-makers.
• Support development of business cases and go-to-market thinking.
• Present findings and recommendations directly to the PACK AWAY team.

Depending on your interests and background, you may also contribute to pricing discussions, partner mapping, commercial strategy and preparation for customer or partner meetings. What you will learn During the internship, you can gain practical experience in:

• B2B market research and market validation.
• Customer discovery and interviewing.
• Market sizing and opportunity assessment.
• Competitive and technology analysis.
• Identifying and qualifying potential customers.
• Commercial evaluation of new technologies.
• Business development in an early-stage deep-tech company.
• Turning technical possibilities into commercial opportunities.
• Communicating findings and recommendations to a startup team.

You will also gain insight into how a new sustainable material moves from technology development toward customers, partnerships and commercialisation. What you will leave with Our ambition is that by the end of the internship, you will have built practical experience that you can clearly demonstrate in future job applications and interviews. Depending on your project, you may have had the opportunity to:

• Own a market-validation project from initial research to final recommendation.
• Conduct real customer discovery interviews with industrial companies.
• Build a market landscape and competitor analysis.
• Assess the commercial potential of new applications.
• Identify potential customers and industrial partners.
• Translate research into concrete commercial recommendations.
• Present your conclusions directly to the PACK AWAY team.
• Work closely with founders and technical team members in an early-stage company.

Rather than only being able to say that you completed an internship, we want you to be able to explain what problem you worked on, what you discovered and what recommendations you made. Who we are looking for You might be studying Economics, Business Administration, Industrial Engineering & Management, Marketing, Entrepreneurship, or a related discipline. You do not need previous startup experience. We are primarily looking for someone who is curious, analytical and willing to take responsibility. We believe you will enjoy the role if you:

• Are interested in sustainability, circular economy, innovation and new technologies.
• Have strong analytical and research skills.
• Are comfortable approaching and speaking with companies and potential customers.
• Enjoy understanding why customers make the decisions they do.
• Can work independently and take initiative.
• Are able to turn large amounts of information into clear conclusions.
• Are comfortable working in an environment where not every question has an obvious answer.
• Have good English communication skills.

Swedish is an advantage but not required. What makes this internship different? PACK AWAY is still at an early stage, which means an intern can have unusually large influence compared with many placements in larger organisations. You will work close to the people developing both the technology and the business. You will be able to see how research, customer feedback, commercial priorities and company strategy interact in practice. You will not be given artificial student exercises. The questions you investigate are real questions the company needs to answer. We value people who are:

• Curious and willing to learn.
• Proactive and comfortable taking responsibility.
• Able to work independently.
• Comfortable with uncertainty and figuring things out.
• Interested in seeing how science, engineering and business come together in a startup.

You will receive guidance and feedback throughout the internship while also being encouraged to take increasing ownership of your work. You will have the opportunity to:

• Work with a Swedish biomaterials startup developing a new sustainable material platform.
• Contribute to real commercialisation and business-development activities.
• Work closely with researchers, engineers and entrepreneurs.
• Interact with potential customers and industrial partners.
• Take ownership of meaningful tasks and projects.
• Gain practical exposure to customer discovery, market validation and commercial strategy.
• Understand what it takes to move a new technology from research toward market and industrial production.
• Build experience relevant to a future career in business development, sustainability, deep tech, innovation or entrepreneurship.

Where possible, the internship can be structured around university requirements and learning objectives. We are happy to coordinate supervision, documentation and academic requirements with your university. Students in the region is encouraged to apply and will hold preference, however candidates working remotely within Sweden will also be considered. If you are combining the internship with ongoing studies, we are also open to discussing a practical schedule that works with your academic commitments. Pack Away is pre-revenue and therefore this internship is unpaid