Year: 2015

Interesting reads from the past week

While browsing social media I could see a chunk of my friends consume very similar content. That is why I am now aggregating all the good reads from past week and hopefully you will discover something  interesting for you too.

Looking forward to some more suggestions to add. Just drop me a line in the comments.

If you enjoy these short reads please subscribe for my blog updates.

See you soon!

 

PUBLISHED ON Posted on in Categories Fundraising, Mentoring, News, SaaS
Tags , , , ,

What not to do in your pitch deck

I get about 1-2 pitch decks a day and it is a matter of great discipline to walk over all the slides and keep your attention span. So before I move on – please keep in mind that investors do not spend hours re-reading your deck. It is more like a one time fast-paced read to understand what you want to do, if it is going to fly, does it fulfill their investment hypothesis and if someone will buy this for $$$. And may be a re-check of a certain slide plus validating some numbers.

Now let’s define what is a pitch deck. You have an idea and have done research. You have a team of friends and/or colleagues who you trust and believe will lead this to success. I hope you also did market validation before quitting your job. Then you put this in 10 slides and include your business model, financial projections, roadmap, competitor landscape. The latter will be repeatedly revised afterwards and highly likely will steer your product in a new direction. So – this is the uncertainty part and investors know it.

Bottom line: make it clear what you want to do and why it should matter for a particular investor.

Now here comes the promised short list of things you should not do in your pitch deck:

  • DO NOT clutter your slides with tons of text and information. Sorry, I just get overwhelmed with different fonts and pics and all the things YOU consider important. You will spot if your slides are too informative if people start asking questions to which you have stated the answers earlier.
  • DO NOT identify huge market and reserve a cut of it while not establishing a link to why this market might belong to you one day.
  • DO NOT miss out what you will do with investors money and how much you need.
  • DO NOT forget your roadmap. This will usually make it clear for an investor if you are realistic about what you do.
  • DO NOT render your competitors impotent. Respect them.
  • DO NOT throw in the face of your investor answers like “You have not read this and that in my deck” when asked about things you apparently have mentioned somewhere. First, it is not polite, second, we do sometimes validate what you say, sometimes we just did not see. We are humans after all.

Looking forward to some more suggestions to add. Just drop me a line in the comments.

If you enjoy these short reads please subscribe for my blog updates.

See you soon!

PUBLISHED ON Posted on in Categories Mentoring, Stark Founders
Tags ,

Blogs I love to read

Some friends asked me which blogs do I follow so here is a list with a short commentary:

  • AVC – Fred Wilson needs no introduction. His blog spreads across many topics and is a good read to stay in touch with trends. He sometime surprises with some very personal posts so in a way his blog has a human fabric that sets it apart from the other techie blogs that I read. Here is one of his latest pieces: Mobile Web Is Top Of Funnel, Mobile App Is Bottom Of Funnel.
  • Tomasz Tunguz – is a source of invaluable amount of metrics and insights about SaaS businesses. Here is one of the articles I found particularly useful lately: The Importance Of Payback Period For SaaS Startups.
  • Both Sides of the Table – similarly to Fred, Mark Suster is a person who left his fingerprint all over the VC industry. Here is one a bit older article that gives a taste of his working practices: How the Hell do I Prioritize Work, Blog & Find Balance? I am a trainee on this front and still struggling with the work life thing.
  • Yankee Sabra Limey – Gil Dibner writes rarely but when he does it, he produces great reads. Here is a piece I look at from time to time: VC SUMMER INTERNSHIP – NOW WHAT?
  • a16z – if someone has tons to say, this is Andreessen Horowitz. It is a bit unfortunate that you get most updates through Twitter rather than his blog but his newsletters compensate by aggregating a good list of tech, industry and futuristic articles.

Hope you like the list and looking forward your suggestion for some more I should follow. Just drop me a line in the comments.

If you enjoy these short reads please subscribe for my blog updates.

See you soon!

PUBLISHED ON Posted on in Categories News
Tags

First Techstars Demo Day in Berlin

The first Techstars demo day in Berlin was something! I know it is Sunday, I will be quick I promise. 🙂

Techstars Demo Day 2015

Hosted in Hebbel-Theater in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district Jens Lapinski and his team presented their first batch of startups. The gorgeous Art Nouveau styled building was built in 1907/1908 and was the early and unique work of the famous architect Oskar Kaufmann. It was the breakthrough that shot him to fame. Let’s wish the same to the first Techstars batch!

The startups pitched in 2 batches of 5 and the presentations all looked super well done – for me this means crisp, elaborated and well timed. Founders walked to the stage accompanied by the thundering tunes of charging music pieces and presented with a sleek looking deck of slides outlining market opportunities, user growth, expansion plans. The best part though is that at least 2 of the companies have secured funding during the programme – 1x Seed and 1x Series A. You could feel that some founders are still fundraising and pretty nervous. Yet, I am confident that more news is coming soon.  I have seen the products of these companies 3 months ago and am amazed by the progress they have achieved.

Jens has closed the demo session with some kind words to all involved but I would like to share one of his slides summarising the Techstars values.

Techstars principles

 

Powerful message – nothing to add!

That was not all though. The event moved on in the Factory Berlin and continued with networking first and last but not least – an afterparty .

It was a well spent day 🙂

Good luck to all teams, and keep sending me updates. Looking forward to hear from you!

If you enjoy these short reads please subscribe for my blog updates.

Have a great rest of the weekend.

PUBLISHED ON Posted on in Categories Ecosystems, Events, Fundraising, Mentoring, Stark Founders
Tags , , , , ,

Impressions from Lange Nacht der Startups 2015

Lange Nacht der Startups

Organised by Deutsche Telekom and marketed as Europe´s biggest event for startups, the Long Startup Night managed to attract a huge crowd of visitors and enthusiastic selection of startups. Spread across 2 big halls you could try a ton of products, engage with founders and corporate representatives, taste some free (but not only) food or just wander around and snatch merchandise.

If I have to summarise in 30 seconds it will be like:

  • The event was full. There was a queue of people waiting for someone to get out in order to get in.
  • Many ideas, startups of all size and in all verticals. Participants varied from startups having a prototype to startups having raised substantial rounds to companies that are known brands or blue chip.
  • Plenty of pitches and interaction during the whole event.
  • Food startups are the new trend. I could see (and smell) food everywhere.

Bottom line: Deutsche Telekom did a really good job. 

Tim Höttges Opening Speech
Opening Speech from Tim Höttges, CEO of Deutsche Telekom

Other trend that I could spot and is of personal interest is that finally we have companies pushing beacons to the forefront. I could spot the proximity platform BeaconInside and discovery app HYPH. Special thanks goes to Marko Barleben, CEO of HYPH, for having the patience to explain me all in detail. Twice. In sum, it is no longer only Sensorberg making the beacon headlines in Berlin.

Another company I spotted a second time in just 2 days is ILOCKIT. These guys know how to protect your bike and I could see their demo the other day at the September Berlin Tech Meetup co-organized by Gabriel Matuschka.

There were guys that really nailed it though. Palmetto allows you to grow microalgae on the walls of an office building!! Let me remind you that microalgae could be used as fuel or food. And all this in a sustainable way.

Now last but not least please give your support for LUUV – they can fix your shaking hands when filming. Their Kickstarter campaign kicks in on 22nd September so sign up for the newsletter NOW and they will keep you posted.

If you enjoy these short reads please subscribe for my blog updates.

See you soon!

 

PUBLISHED ON Posted on in Categories Ecosystems, Events
Tags , , , , ,