Presentation for startups and already established companies about recruiting talent for a high potential team, fund raising, and success in marketing/sales.

1. 07. Juli 2009 © 2009 twago 0
www.twago.de
Democamp Poznan
Gunnar Berning, Founder and CEO of twago.com
Things I learned building a startup in Europe
Poznan, October 22nd, 2010
- work different

2. © 2010 twago1
twago.com
twago is the EBAY for professional experts
Web & Programming
Design & Media
Company services
Customers
European
customers
 Freelancer
 Startups
 Webshops
 SME
Experts
National and
international
 Companies
 Freelancer
Verified
Internet based
marketplace for experts
Confidential Projects (NDAs)
Auth. evaluation system
Projectmanagement Tools
Escrow
Safe Payment

3. © 2010 twago2
twago.com
Within a year after start, twago is already bigger than
market leader Elance in the core markets Germany and Italy
Cust.:
Project:
Volume:
Programming
50.000 EUR
Provider:
Expertise:
Employees:
Translations
1200
Qualifications: 34 Languages
Provider:
Expertise:
Employees:
Programming
100
Cust.: Spreadshirt
Project:
Volume:
Social Media Widget
50.000 EUR
• Project volume
>0,5 Mn. EUR per month
already months after start
Provider:
• >30.000 experts
• from 115 countries worldwide
• Avg. project evaluation: 4,9
(Scale: 5 = very good, 1 = bad quality)
Customer:

4. © 2010 twago3
twago.com
All Startups have the same goal in mind
Make the most
out of your
existing budget

5. © 2010 twago4
twago.com
Teambuilding
Hire only team members which make you better, not bigger
• Hire only team members which make you better rather than
bigger
• Create entrepreneurs – make them responsible
• Enable them to take decisions!
• Keep your risk under control: Use interns and trainees
• Min. duration = 6 months
• Really good people = high salaries, compensate with equity,
significant break-even bonus
• Make a cut if it doesn’t work
• Invest your time: Coaching, coaching, coaching
• Celebrate!
Start Now

6. © 2010 twago5
twago.com
Getting Capital –
there is not a single solution for everybody
• Talk to the right target group
• Expect highly individual comments
• Start with prio B VCs or business angels
• Practice in real life, learn, adapt
• The market is setting your price, not the
VC valuation method
• Don‘t use „businessplan@earlybird.com“
• Create and show your BATNA (best
alternative to negotiated agreement)
• Everything takes (much) longer than you
think
• You can be peer to everybody

7. © 2010 twago6
twago.com
Building the product –
We eat our own food
 Product specification:
 Spec. Homepage-Design:
 Coding:
 Translations:
 Branding/Name:
 Design of Webseite:
 Design of Company Logo:
(Internally)
Germany
Russia
Switzerland
USA
Canada
Philipines
twago made use of outsourcing and offshoring:
twago successfully showed the „proof of concept“ –
Huge chance for all startups
Which experts to choose
depends on
 your requirements
expertise
Savings roughly 60%

8. © 2010 twago7
twago.com
The top 9 rules for Offshoring success
Be honest: Are you an Offshoring-Person?
Choose experts wisely
Basic understanding of different cultures
Increase communication: +50%
Make use of time zones
Use simple project management tools
Neutral code checks to get best quality
Secrets to stay secret: Use NDAs
Don‘t expect wonders9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

9. © 2010 twago8
twago.com
How we started...
• Understand your customers: Master thesis
• Be fast with a good version
• Learn from your customer as early
as possible: Observe and ask
• Trial and error
• Start with SEO yesterday
• Create reference cases (e.g. big brands)
• Communication / PR: Easy wins with data mining, adapting to news
• Focus:
• Try to become #1 in a niche, then expand
• What creates more customers: Google ads or XYZ
• Remember your key levers: optimizing your SEM-CTR from 0.75%
to 1,5% lower your customer acquisition cost by 50%

10. © 2010 twago9
twago.com
Create landing pages for your customer
160 Landing pages

11. © 2010 twago10
twago.com
Analyze, analyze, analyze:
Measure – think – change!
Key drivers
Traffic and customer behaviour
Conversion tests (A/B)

12. © 2010 twago11
twago.com
 Few words: Focus
 „Clean“
 Build trust:
Verisign Logo,
Phone number,
green bulltes
 Reduce exit-options
Improvements New DesignOld Design
Quelle: twago
Landing Page Test optimized conversion rates and reduces
user acquisition costs significantly
Landing Page A/B Test
3%* 20%*

13. © 2010 twago12
twago.com
Expect the unexpected

14. © 2010 twago13
twago.com
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or email me: Gunnar.Berning@twago.com