Honest answers to real questions.

Smarch — short for Smart Match — is a collaboration platform that helps you shape your career by matching you with the right team. You focus on your role. Your teammates handle theirs. The goal: you get to work doing what you're good at.

Our mission: use skill-based matching to create balanced, complementary teams — so you can focus on your craft while teammates cover the other roles. Once your project is funded, you start working in your role.

Anyone 18+ who wants to build something real with others. People looking for a path back into meaningful work, people with an idea they want to develop, people who want to contribute their skills to a complementary team.

What we ask of you: honesty about your availability and commitment level, willingness to stay engaged, and commitment to help your teammates build real opportunity — not just yourself.

Yes — permanently. Smarch is a Swedish ideell förening, a nonprofit. We never take money from participants: applying, matching, meeting your team, the whole programme — free, now and later.

Three steps: create an account, complete the survey (35 questions across four phases), and submit it. We review your application and you enter the matching queue.

You can save your progress and return anytime — just make sure to submit when you're done. Write naturally; there's no corporate language filter here.

Usually somewhere between 12 and 25 minutes, depending on how much you want to write. It's split into four phases: basic information, individual dreams, collaborative reality, and practical implementation.

You can save your progress and come back anytime.

Right away you receive a confirmation email with your unique case number. Then you enter the matching queue.

Matching runs in rounds, and the queue prioritises the people who have been searching longest. How long you wait depends on who else is in the queue at the time. When it's your turn, we email you — first to confirm your availability, then with your team invitation.

No. Smarch is an independent nonprofit association, an ideell förening, and taking part is free and voluntary. It is not one of Arbetsförmedlingen's programmes and comes with no payment.

We have no agreement with Arbetsförmedlingen yet. We want them to recognise Smarch, so that taking part can count as part of your plan with them, and we are working toward that. Until it happens, their rules apply in full, and the answers below show how to take part within them.

Nothing in Smarch is a job, and you can take a job at any time. If you step back, tell your team and us — no judgment.

Yes, as long as you keep doing everything Arbetsförmedlingen asks. Apply for the jobs you are asked to apply for, and send your aktivitetsrapport (monthly activity report) every month.

If you are in one of Arbetsförmedlingen's programmes, its activities come first. You must take part in all of them and accept the activities offered, so fit Smarch around them and tell your arbetsförmedlare you are taking part.

Source: Arbetsförmedlingen: conditions in a programme

Add it as an activity of your own. The report covers the jobs you applied for and anything else you did to get closer to work, and you can add your own activities. Describe it plainly, for example: "Smarch team programme: weekly team meetings and business-plan work."

It never replaces the job applications Arbetsförmedlingen asks for. Keep proof of those applications for at least three months, as Arbetsförmedlingen requires.

Source: Arbetsförmedlingen: report your activities

Preparing is generally fine; starting is not. Your right to a-kassa ends the day you start running a business, whether or not it makes money. If you do start, tell your a-kassa the same day.

Preparing means working out whether a company could work: calculations, market research, a business plan and a budget. Starting is judged case by case. Signs an a-kassa can look at include sending quotes, marketing the business, customer contacts, registering a company name, getting F-skatt (business tax registration) or renting premises.

Talking to people to learn about a problem is research; offering them something to buy is starting. Keep those conversations clearly about learning, and ask your own a-kassa before any step you are unsure of.

Source: Akademikernas a-kassa: starting a business

Arbetsförmedlingen's starta eget-stöd (stöd till start av näringsverksamhet) is for people starting a company on their own or together with others. It pays support for 6 months, or 10 months if you have a disability. You must not have started the business before you apply, so the order matters:

1. Talk to your arbetsförmedlare about starting a company with your team.
2. Write your business plan and budget, and hand them in for assessment.
3. If Arbetsförmedlingen approves them, register the company and apply for any permits.
4. Arbetsförmedlingen then decides on the support and when you can start.

The main conditions:

• You are registered with Arbetsförmedlingen, 18 or older, unemployed or at risk of it, and have searched for work without result.
• You have no debts registered with Kronofogden (the Enforcement Authority) and no payment remarks.
• You do not already own a company or sit in one as CEO, board member or signatory. A previous company must have been closed for at least a year.
• The business must look able to support you long term, and cannot be in an industry where employers struggle to find staff.

Each of you is assessed individually. Until the support is granted, keep applying for jobs and sending your aktivitetsrapport; once it is granted and the company has started, you do not need to search for jobs during those months. During the support you are in an Arbetsförmedlingen programme and apply for payment from Försäkringskassan.

Source: Arbetsförmedlingen: starta eget-stöd

Plan the start date together: the person who still needs a decision from Arbetsförmedlingen or their a-kassa sets the pace. Registering the company early, or listing someone as owner or board member, can cost that person their income and their chance of starta eget-stöd.

That is your municipality's decision. Since 1 July 2026, people who have received försörjningsstöd (municipal financial assistance) for three months in a row must normally take part in activities, usually full-time, and October 2026 is the first month it applies.

Tell your handläggare at the municipality that you take part in Smarch, and ask whether it can be part of your activity plan.

Source: Socialstyrelsen: the activity requirement

• NyföretagarCentrum gives free advice to anyone who wants to start a business, whatever stage the idea is at, with offices covering more than 220 municipalities.
• Coompanion gives free advice to people who want to start a business together, often as a cooperative, with a focus on social, economic and environmental sustainability.
• verksamt.se is the government portal for starting a business, run by Tillväxtverket, Bolagsverket and Skatteverket.
• Arbetsförmedlingen can offer training in business plans, budgets and bookkeeping, and a mentor, when starta eget-stöd is relevant for you.

Rules change, and the official pages always win.

• Arbetsförmedlingen: Starta eget, stöd till start av näringsverksamhet
• Arbetsförmedlingen: Aktivitetsrapportera
• Arbetsförmedlingen: Villkor för din ersättning i program
• Akademikernas a-kassa: Starta eget företag
• Socialstyrelsen Kunskapsguiden: Aktivitetskravet
• Coompanion

We analyse survey responses to form balanced teams with complementary skills and aligned direction — considering skills, experience, availability and team dynamics together. The process is designed to be fair and unbiased.

The queue order is simple and honest: the people who have been searching longest go first.

Matching is done by us, but we're flexible. If you know someone who would be perfect for your team, contact us — we can add them if it responds to the team's needs. A referral feature is on our roadmap.

You stay in the queue — no need to reapply. You'll be considered in every following round, and we email you when it's your turn.

One ask: keep your availability status updated. If your situation changes, mark yourself as not available — it's a small act of respect to the other participants waiting. Silence is what harms the process.

You work with your team to build something together — and once it's funded, you start working in your role.

Your team collaborates through a structured programme paced over ~6 weeks, moving at its own speed. We recommend two team meetings per week (camera-on), plus time for tasks and deliverables between meetings.

Outcome: once your project secures funding, grants, or paying clients — you start your paid position in the role you applied for.

You choose your commitment level during the survey. Some participants are employed, some aren't, some are between roles — you decide what you can dedicate.

No, you don't need to quit your job. There will be weekly meetings to attend and tasks to complete. As your project grows and secures funding, moving to full-time paid work is a decision you make with your team when the time is right.

All meetings are camera-on, for everybody. We want to create remote work that feels like working with real people — and there's no way to do that with cameras off.

It builds trust, shows respect and engagement, and makes the best first impression on the people you're about to build with. We know it can feel hard some days — but we need you to show up, especially in the first meetings. (Unless your first meeting is in person, of course! 😊)

Yes — stepping back is always okay. But please communicate first.

Talk to your team honestly, then contact us — we may be able to find a replacement if the role is crucial. Leaving in silence is what harms the team; telling people is what makes it okay.

We believe one team at a time is enough — but there are no strict rules.

Good to know: when you're assigned to a team, you leave the matching queue. If you decline a team invitation, you go back into the queue. If you don't respond at all, you're marked unresponsive and removed from matching — so keep your availability status honest.

Yes. We're GDPR-compliant and take security seriously. All data is stored in EU regions. You control your profile information, you can export your data anytime, and you can delete your account anytime.

Learn more: Privacy Policy · GDPR rights

Yes, with one limitation. You can update your contact information, profile picture, bio, and availability status anytime.

Survey answers are locked after submission to keep matching fair. If you need to change something in your answers, use the contact form.

We're here to help — send us a message through the contact form and we'll get you back on track as quickly as possible.

Go to the password reset page, enter your email address, and follow the instructions we send you. If the email doesn't arrive, check your spam folder — or contact us.