6. The Story so far…
* Working since 2008
* Founded in Jan 2009
* Been through sh…
* Received FFG funding.
* Inits funding Feb 2010
* Local Angelround June 2010
* Trigger FFG funding
* Launch July 2010
* Move to UK Jan 2011
* Very happy since then.
Seedcamp Alumni
Member of 500Startups
7. Russia
WTFness
Silicon Valley
Fashion
Models
Drugs VCs
Production
We got no time
for Warstories.
Read the Blog or
my Editorial in www.theGap.at
12. What do you see now?
Europe + useless rectangle.
13. Don‘t be „local“
Don‘t restrict yourself to
useless rectangles called
borders.
Go London.
Go New York.
Go Silicon Valley.
Build international network.
14. NO GMBH.
Don‘t found a GMBH.
Don‘t waste time,
energy and money.
Don‘t risk the best
VC deals or exits.
Go directly UK LTD
or US Inc.
Pro-Tip: Hire Orrick.
15. NO STATEFUNDS.
Don‘t bind yourself
locally.
You need to iterate fast
and not fulfill „agreed“
projects or budgets.
The burn/overhead
is easy 20-40% (up to
70%) of the money
given.
And it‘s too slow money.
16. The most important thing ever…
Vesting
„Anteile auf Raten“.
eg. Founder has 20% of the
company vesting 4 years.
He leaves after 1 year -> gives
back 15% - keeps only 5%.
=> Rest of the team is not f@%ked.
All Teammembers.
Even Founders.
Especially external Experts.
Pro-Tip: „Cliff Vesting“
17. SWEAT EQUITY CONSULT MY ASS.
NO EQUITY UPFRONT!
}
„yo youngster, we connect you to VCs…“
„i am an expert. you can‘t pay enough…“
Stand up
& Run.
„hey geek, we write your business plan…“
„we solve your biggest problems with
our magic experience…“
„…if you give us 3%-10% (30%?) of your company now
and pay us 5k a month retainer and then we‘ll see.“
ONLY WORK WITH SUCCESS BASED DEAL
OR WITH A INVESTMENT DOWNSIDE FOR THEM
OR DON‘T.
18. The Startup Game…
is not about
getting investors.
it is about getting
customers, users and
traction.
i w USD
1M ave
Pro-Tip:
If i
ill…
h
First build something
worth growing & investing.
Then worry about investors.
19. „Sorry, we don‘t fundraise.“
Too early fundraising takes time from building something
awesome and gives you only the feedback of
„come back when you built something awesome“.
Get in investors contact. Build network. Build product.
Pro-Tip: Cherrypick Angels matching your product if you can.
Don‘t worry about investors
because investors don‘t worry about you.
Run making your validations and proofs and
investors will run after you.
20. Lean Startup is right.
Don‘t write a 40 pages
Business Plan. Good
Presentation is enough
Fit your business concept
and financial model on a
napkin.
Discover & Validate with
your clients.
http://steveblank.com
http://lean.st
21. The sad truth:
You suck in listening…
…when talking about your
startup.
Don‘t sell but learn.
Pro-Tip:
Get customer feedback.
from Customers.
(Less likely than you think…)
22. About your product…
Building solutions is easy.
Finding the core of it hard.
Because understanding the
problems is hard.
What is really the core
of what you do?
If you strip off everything
what would you leave?
23. When your product rocks.
Accelerate.
Don‘t apply for getting
the money.
Apply for getting
the best network
worldwide. - It‘s worth it.
Whitebear
Go to the worldwide best ones, Yard.
nowhere else.
Pro-Tip: If you can‘t get in, search the best Angels
(for your business domain) worldwide yourself.
24. Small but important tip:
How to network.
Archive your contacts.
* who, what,
* where, when
Follow up quickly
with call to actions.
Interlink your network
as often as possible.
Ask for intros.
Network is always for free.
25. Most important if you need help…
Vesting,Bizdev & Legal -> Tamas Locher (Garmz)
Fundraising -> Chris Kahler (Qriously)
UK LTDs & Lean.st -> Lukas Fittl (efficientcloud)
Social / Communication -> Luca Hammer (work.io)
Product -> me.
Ask another entrepreneur not consultants.
26. Dear Startup Europe:
Sorry for being
over-time.
Thanks for listening.
@andreasklinger
ak@garmz.com
27. Only team counts.
Good teams:
* take a ok concept make a
great company
i in team. * leave a shit concept and
make a new company
Bad teams:
* take a great concept and
make nothing.
Invest in Teams.
28. of your company. Metrics 3:
Awesomeness
Revenue
Metrics 2:
Traction/Traffic
Metrics 1:
Learnings
x
you are here.
Lessons Learned - Andreas Klinger
