Starting-Up Your Business

This document is proprietary & confidential information
All you need to know
STARTING UP

Idea
First steps
Business plan
Team & sharing
Using help
Product
Vision
Go to market
Money
Company
TOPICS

I have an idea
STARTING UP

I HAVE AN IDEA!
Your idea is worth zero
Everyone has an idea
Secrets don’t make businesses
Consumers pay for businesses/products
Buyers acquire businesses/products
Investors search for businesses/products

I AM UNIQUE
Did you Google your idea?
There is always someone else
No competition = no market!
No research = deal breaking

IDEA vs EXECUTION
Execution is everything
Work! Make it happen!
Do it amazingly faster, better, bigger
Stop wishing, start doing

how I start?
STARTING UP

YOU REALLY NEED
‘Hungry & foolish’ co-founders
A ‘garage’
Good use of online tools:
Promotion, Billing, Distribution
Very hard work

YOU DON’T NEED
Money
Residence (an office)
Registered company

YOUR BUCKET LIST
How to start up:
Find a great team
Form a business strategy
Use any available help
Launch the best product & get feedback
Generate traction with great marketing
Incorporate in a good ecosystem
Raise money

YOU NEED
VERY HARD WORK
Commit
Spend 10-15 hours per day
Entrepreneurship is NOT a part time job

HOW DO I START
Remember!
1. Team
2. Strategy
3. Help
4. Product
5. Traction
6. Company
7. Money

my business plan
STARTING UP

WHAT IS A PLAN?
It is your strategy on paper:
What
Where
How
Why
Who
How much

WHAT SHOULD I PLAN?
BP should answer:
What is your product?
What is your target market & customer?
How you will reach them?
Competition and how you are different?
The team & responsibilities?
How you will make money?
How much you will make/spend/need?

WHAT SHOULD I PLAN?
In plain words:
Your product
Your market
Your go to market strategy
Your competition & difference
Your team
Your revenue model
Your financials

PRODUCT
Should be a solution to a problem
What are you offering?
What are you solving?
What are the features?
How it works?

MARKET
Your entry point
What is the size?
What is the annual growth?
Who is your target user/customer?
Is it more than one?

GO TO MARKET
Your strategy to:
Generate content
Bring visitors
Make them users/subscribers
Convert them to customers
Take care of them/retain them

COMPETITION
Who else does it?
How many?
How big?
Comparison

VALUE PROPOSITION
How are you different:
Is your product better?
Is your go to market innovative?
Is your revenue model great?
Do you have a patents?
Are you disrupting the market?

ΤΕΑΜ
Who will make it happen:
Who is who
Who will do what

REVENUE MODEL
How you make money?
Pay as you go?
Free to premium?
Subscription?
Micro transactions?
Ads?

FINANCIALS
Τhe assumptions for:
Expenses
Revenue
The capital you need
Return of investment

WHAT SHOULD I PLAN?
Remember. 10-15 pages with:
1. product
2. market
3. go to market
4. competition
5. team
6. revenue
7. financials

MUST BE CLEAR
Answers example:
A web & mobile marketplace for taxis
Taxi transportation & taxi drivers
Cold sales and sms/email marketing
UBER, and we are free for all
Bob, is the CEO, Mary is the Programmer
We make money from ads
We ‘ll make $12M/year, we need $400K

THE HARD COPY
Files to prepare:
A business plan (8-10 pages is great)
An executive summary (1 page only)
A pitch (8-10 slides is great)
A profit & loss plan (1-3 sheets is OK)

REMEMBΕR
Serious investors:
Do not read huge business plans
Require that you know everything by heart

REMEMBΕR
Successful entrepreneurs:
Do not write, they execute
Update their strategy (very) often

my team
STARTING UP

ΤΕΑΜ
Your co-founders
Most important asset!
Harder to find than money!
They:
 create stuff
 adapt daily
 back you up

Product
Manager
Support
CEO
Marketing

TEAM
Core team usually is:
1 business person
1 marketing & promotion person
1 product person
 i.e. developer, designer, production

MENTORS
They fill the gaps
Work for fee or equity
Can be valuable

WHERE TO FIND THEM
‘Mix & match’ events
Pitch & share your idea
Inspire great people
Online communities
Make a profile & hunt great talents
Post on groups & forums

sharing my company
STARTING UP

COMPANY STOCKS
Sweat equity (or founders common stock)
People who work and get stock
Paid equity (or preferred stock)
Investors who give money and get stock
Pool equity (or option pool)
Future employees who get options

FOUNDERS STOCK
Work for equity. Remember:
100% of nothing or 1% of something?
Try to keep majority
Dilute when others come in
Agree on shares 1st thing!

INVESTORS STOCK
Pay for equity. Remember:
Smart ones want founders to keep majority
Expect great return or big exit
Provide more than money

OPTION POOL
Reward with equity. Remember:
Motivation for great talents
Reward on success
Pay advisors

EQUITY CAP TABLE
Best cap table share: (after many years)
Founders: 40%
Investors: 40%
Pool: 20%
40
40
20

SHARING CRITERIA
What to value per co-founder
Experience
Market Knowledge
Skills
Commitment
Theory VS execution

SHARING EXAMPLE
WHAT YOUR WEIGHT HIS/HER SCORE RESULT
Experience 1-10 1-10 ?
Market Knowledge 1-10 1-10 ?
Skills 1-10 1-10 ?
Commitment 1-10 1-10 ?
Theory VS
Execution
1-10 1-10 ?

SHARING EXAMPLE
WHAT YOUR WEIGHT HIS/HER SCORE RESULT
Experience 5 3 15
Market Knowledge 7 7 49
Skills 9 10 90
Commitment 10 3 30
Theory VS
Execution
10 7 70
254

SHARING EXAMPLE
TOLIS
BUSINESS
(i.e. the CEO)
MARY
MARKETING
(i.e. the CMO)
BOB
PROGRAMMER
(i.e. the HEAD OF
PRODUCT
Score
/Share
520 254 370 1.144
45,5% 22,2% 32,3% 100%
* % of your company

REWARDING MENTORS
Work Idea Stage Startup
Stage
Growth
Stage
Consulting
(Skype, Meetings, E-mails)
0,25% 0,15% 0,10%
Introductions
(Hiring, Investors, Suppliers, Customers)
0,50% 0,40% 0,30%
Execution
(Training, Research, Strategy)
1.00% 0,80% 0,60%
* % of your company

REWARDING BROKERS
Success Idea Stage Startup
Stage
Growth
Stage
Fund Raising
(Suggest, Negotiate, Raise)
5% 3% 1%
Mergers & Acquisitions
(Suggest, Negotiate, Exit)
7% 4% 2%
Sales
(Suggest, Negotiate, Deal)
20% 10% 5%
* % of the amount raised/gained

IF THEY LEAVE WHAT?
Get stock as you go
Vesting agreement
Example, Mary gets:
 22% total
 Vested 5% per month
 So she vests her stock step by step

available help
STARTING UP

HELP IS HERE!
Mentors
Accelerators
Workplaces
Events

BE PICKY
Check & compare:
Credentials
Terms
Costs
Extras

MENTORS
They advise you on things:
Business & Product
Finance
Legal
Marketing
Networking
Fund raising

ACCELERATORS
They train you on things:
Business & Product
Finance
Legal
Marketing
Networking
Fund raising

WORKING PLACES
They provide:
Office
Virtual secretary
Meeting rooms

EVENTS
Valuable for:
Mix & match (networking)
Workshops
Pitching your business
Learning

MORE HELP
News sites & newsletters
Associations
Online communities

i have a great product
STARTING UP

PRODUCT
A good product/site/app:
Solves a problem
Must-have VS good-to-have
Is VERY easy to use!

PRODUCT
Α good product:
Starts simple
Innovates with time
Adds new features continuously
Pivots when needed
Stays simple

PRODUCT vs BUSINESS
But It’s about the business:
Innovative product
+
Innovative marketing
Disruptive business model

my vision is
STARTING UP

REACH YOUR VISION
Going there:
Think big
Start lean
Under promise, over deliver
Focus!
Disrupt
Scale fast
Fail fast

LEARN TO FAIL!
failure> failure> failure> failure>
success

STARTUP SCORES
6
3
1
6 startups die
3 Break even
1 Get's big

SHOULD I GROW BIG?
Organic growth=
Make users, customers, revenue, profits
Increase your business valuation
Sell stocks later at a high price (IPO)

SHOULD I SELL?
Merger & acquisition exit=
Satisfy your buyer’s need
 Product/distribution channel/patent/user base
Accept highest offer

go to market
STARTING UP

GO TO MARKET IS
Your strategy to:
Generate content
Bring visitors
Make them users/subscribers

GO TO MARKET
‘Chicken or egg’ problem:
You need content to attract users
You need users to make content

GO TO MARKET IS NOT
Following the hype:
Social media noise
Local media interviews
Presentations at geek events

GO TO MARKET IS NOT
Wishful thinking:
If just 1% of the market..
I would buy it..
People would love to use us..

GO TO MARKET IS NOT
Wishful thinking:
But we have a great product!!

Traditional channels
Events
Expos
TV ads & shows
Radio ads & sponsorships
Press ads & advertorials
Outdoor
Direct marketing
Online channels
Google ads
Web ads
Social ads
Social media
Email marketing
Newsletters
Mobile marketing
Blog advertorials
Affiliate marketing
OPTIONS

GOALS vs CHANNELS
Bring visitors
Traditional & online
Online mostly
Traditional & online

GOALS vs CHANNELS
Bring visitors
Advertorial & Facebook ads
Newsletter with special offer
Direct email & sms reminders

Poor marketing
Email spam
Generic advertising
People will add content
People will come to us
Social media marketing
Events
Sales
Press releases
Public relations
Better marketing
LinkedIn InMails
Google keyword ads
Crawl craigslist content
Copy Twitter profiles
Social mentions + ads
One to one meetings
Cold sales to CEOs
Motivate our influencers
Media exclusivities
DO IT RIGHT!

MARKETING BUDGET
How much?
Marketing services> one-off payment
 Design, Consulting, Development, Production
Marketing budget> per month payments!
 Traditional & online ads, social media

I want money
STARTING UP

RAISE MONEY WHEN
You can, not when you need
Be sure first to achieve:
1. Proof of concept (use)
2. Traction (users)
3. Market validation (clients)

RAISE MONEY ΤΟ
Support your cash flow
Grow
Buy others
Scale

FUND RAISING STEPS
Steps to take:
1. Build a team
2. Launch your product
3. Start marketing
4. Generate traction
Ready to meet investors

FUND RAISING TOOLΚΙΤ
Tools you need:
1. The 1 page Executive Summary
2. The 10-15 slides Pitch
3. The 5 years profit & loss plan
Start your fund raising campaign

HOW MUCH I NEED?
Calculate ALL expenses
Salaries
Professional services
Marketing
Travel & accommodation
Up to the ‘making money’ point

RAISING EARLY STAGE
$10.000 - $500.000
Friends, fools, family
Angel investors
Seed funds
Startup contests!

RAISING LATER STAGE
$500.000 - $BILLIONS
Venture capital funds
Private equity funds
IPO

INVESTORS
Ask for:
Equity for their money (%)
Expect:
Profits every year (based on their %)
Their % value:
Angel investors: 3X-10X
Venture capital funds: 10X+

INVESTORS GET EQUITY
Equity now:
Pre money valuation (company’s worth)
 i.e. your company worth's 1.000.000
Post money valuation (value after money)
 Your raise 100.000
 Now your company worth's 1.100.000
 Investor gets 9%

INVESTORS GET EQUITY
Equity later:
Loan converted to equity later
 i.e. your company worth's now 1.000.000 or 0
 Your raise 100.000 now
Investor gets % based on future valuation
 In 1 year your company worth's 10.000.000
 Investor gets 1% 1 year later

Raising in EU
-Poor valuation
-Equity now
-I.P. stays here
-Bureaucracy
-Corporate costs
-Bad mentality
-Taxation
-Founders guarantee
Raising in the USA
+Great valuation
+Equity later
+I.P. in USA
+No bureaucracy
+Low cost
+Risk taking mentality
+No Taxation
+No guarantee
+Ecosystem
-Relocation & VISA
COMPARISON

Investors
- Due diligence
- Equity
+ Smart money
+ No capital return
COMPARISON
Bank loan
- Interest
- Capital return
- ‘Dumb’ money
+ Νo equity
+ Easier to get

I need a company
STARTING UP

COMPANY
You need a registration:
To issue invoices
To split equity
To sell physical products

COMPANY
You don’t need a registration:
To work for your idea
To sign any agreements
To register brands & patents
To raise, spend, make money

INCORPORATING
Think global, act local:
Head Quarters in a great ecosystem
Patents & intellectual property in HQ
Executive team in HQ
Sales team hired as contractors
Development team hire in local company

INCORPORATING
MANAGEMENT: USA
SALES: EVERYWHERE
PRODUCTION: LOCAL

INCORPORATING
HQ: USA
SALES: EVERYWHERE
MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTION: LOCAL

INCORPORATING
HQs. Remember:
Where investors feel safer?
Where is your market?
Where is best/cheaper ecosystem?
Attorneys/accountants are not advisors

ATTORNEYS COSTS
How much it cost to:
Company registration + Bank ($1.500+)
Visa & green cards ($4.000+)
Patent filling ($3.000+)
Brand registration ($1.500+)

US corporate governance
+ Set up: Online, 2 hours
+ TAX: 0% & VAT: 9%
+ Capital: NO
+ Investors TAX: NO
+ Other TAXES: NO
+ Accountant: NO
+ Residence: NO
+ Liability: NO
+ Valuation: 10 factors
EU corporate governance
- Set up: Offline, Months
- TAX: 35% +, VAT 20%+
- Capital: YES
- Investors TAX: YES
- Other TAXES: YES plenty
- Accountant: YES
- Residence: YES
- Liability: YES, all
- Valuation: 2 factors
COMPARISON

Factors in the US
Revenue & profits
Assets
Funds raised
Market size
Competition size
Innovation
Technology
Patents
Registrations
Critical mass
Factors in EU
Revenue & profits
Assets
VALUATION

BUSINESS VALUATION
Valuation is everything!
Raising funds (pre money/post money)
Mergers & acquisitions
Selling stock & IPO

summary
STARTING UP

DON’T FORGET
How to start-up:
Find a great team
Form a business strategy
Use any available help
Launch the best product & get feedback
Generate traction with great marketing
Incorporate in a good ecosystem
Raise money

Managing Partner, aival.com
THANK YOU 
TOLIS AIVALIS
facebook.com/TolisAivalis linkedin.com/in/Aivalis @aivalis

Starting-Up Your Business

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