2. PANEL
• Flexible presentation, Q&A, and panelists
• Gabriel Gruber, Founder and CEO, Properati
• Pedro J. Escudero Diez, CEO, Banco Espirito Santo (Spain)
• Pablo Larguia, Founder, Red Innova
• Pavel Ezekiev, Partner, Neveq
• Jamie Ridyard, CEO, Mixed BagVentures, UK
3. THE DIFFICULT STAGE
"After enlightenment, the laundry" - Zen Buddhist proverb
• Start up? Check. Establish brand? Check.What next?
• Strategies for growth
• Planning the exit
• Observations:A Bulgarian business in the USA
4. STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH
"the harder I work, the luckier I get" - Sam Goldwyn
• Revenue v Earnings, funded or organic growth
• Strategies: increased penetration, more competences
(exploit brand), going global, acquisitions
• How much is luck?
5. EXIT
• When to start planning exit?
• Problems: maintaining revenue, management focus
• What initiates exit? Investors, management,
competition, market timing?
6. WHY AM I HERE?
• Jamie Ridyard - Cambridge - London Business School
• APT, London - CEO, Co-owner (sold 3 years ago)
• Green.TV, London - Director, shareholder
• Mixed Bag Ventures - CEO, Founder. Idea lab and incubator.
Assets in automatic image curation, digital food preparation,
elderly planning, work enabling platforms.Also Help finding
investors and buyers
• FinAnalytica, Sofia (a Neveq portfolio company) - Director
7. A BULGARIAN IN NEWYORK
• New competitor to my business
• Focused on technical competence
• Unfamiliar with foreign practices
• Hired 'outside' talent (via investors or directly)
• Problems first, then success
• Luck, hard work, perseverance
