A bit about Stark Founders – my new endeavour

Many people ask me that question. And it always takes me quite some time to explain. The one liners I have compiled with time still cause puzzled faces or the common polite nodding. Let me try again then. And this time I will take all the time in the world for this.

As you may now in the past I have held positions at KPMG, 3M, Rocket Internet, and hey even did some work for Google (more on LinkedIn). That being said in 15 years I got to know a total of 10 businesses varying in size from startup to Fortune500.

The “multitasking machine” I am, I never really limited my activities to just my corporate career. In the last 10 years actively engaged with startups as a mentor, besides that I co-founded some. To be truly successful in startups you need to dedicate fully and this obviously could not happen with a demanding full time job during the day.

Luckily my last job was with Rocket Internet which in its core is a gigantic startup factory. Having had the chance to build their technology hub in Portugal exposed me on a daily basis to tenths of high-growth ventures. In the end it was like a dream come true as I was working in an area I am really passionate about and Rocket was paying me to do it.

After 3 years at Rocket and its successful IPO it was time to do something of my own. I loved what I was doing before so why not keep doing it. This is how Stark Founders was born. I did not want to build the next incubator, accelerator or raise a fund but rather build 1 or 2 companies a year either from my own pool of ideas, or together with a founding team. And to be honest this very simple concept seem to work very well. More on successes in later posts.

Before I tell you what can we do for entrepreneurs, let me pinpoint what do we stand for:

People, Culture and Ideas

Simply said if you convince us that you are a true believer in what you do, have the capacity to make it happen and your motivation stems from the desire to make the world a better place, you are welcome to join us.

Why do we think we are special? First, we really work with entrepreneurs, shoulder to shoulder. This is very different from just providing you with a desk and free perks. We work on your business plan, and by work we mean challenge it daily until it becomes bullet proof. We help you build your MVP, platform and infrastructure, we help you set up your marketing, email, social media campaigns. We even go out with you and do the first sales together. Not to mention the many hires and face-to-face meets with experts we bring in to help you make things work. Second, we are good at all these areas because we have a partner network of proven businesses that support us professionally in every single area. You venture will be treated as if our own e.g. your product won’t be developed by interns but from a team of experienced developers with strong leader and substantial track record.

All this comes in strong contrast with existing portfolio models in incubators and other structures. We go by the motto less is more and stay focused, do one company really well.

This is all for today. Hope the read was not too long, feel free to share your opinion and comment.