Everyone Funding Startups

Image via CrunchBase Michael Robertson is a tech entrepreneur with almost 20 years under his belt from various initiatives, for example  mp3tunes and mp3.com that he listed in the largest Internet IPO of all time. Michael joined us on our podcast to talk about his learning points from his journey. We talked about how Michael got started, his learning experiences through courtrooms and the humbling process of a failure, but also how the context and response to his initiatives has developed through various occurrences. We also touched on the bias toward government driven initiatives and non-profits as automatically providing value to society. Is that really the case? You can read up on Michael and follow him on his website. Listen to the episode here. Here are some quotes from the episode: What I see in the US, is a real bias that anything Government directed or charitable is good for society. That is a concept that people do not grasp. They think that non-profits are making our societies better.. and the for-profits those are greedy companies. And I think that in a lot of instances, the opposite is actually true. Quite often you see online people who say, you know here is the right formula and here’s what you have to do, and you have to go get this board of advisors and then do this and then do this… and you know, it’s just not that way. I remind people that the music companies sued the first mp3 player as well.

Telework or distance working has become prominent in today’s organizations. Luis Martins knows this well, and has been enabling solutions for today’s challenges to enable a more sustainable working paradigm. Luis has just launched a spin-off from TWO, called TWO Work that specializes on telework solutions. Some implications could be better functioning work environments, but also better balances between work and life. You can follow TWO Work in our community or on their websites. Listen to the episode here. Here are some quotes from the episode: Is the traditional work organization dead? Usually they don’t have the skills to create a productivity-oriented telework environment. There is the need to actually create systems, to actually create logic behind the telework that they already do. But right now they are ruled by technological standards and technological metrics. Also I think that the possibilities of telework also in the social sense are huge. After all of this, what matters are people.

Image via Wikipedia In this episode of the Grow VC Everyone Funding Startups podcast we talked about the European startup environment, with Tony Dhillon. Tony works in European Operations and is committed to building a more sustainable and nurturing landscape for startups. Listen to the episode for some thoughts on the recent initiatives by governments, the startup context in Europe and the changing attitudes relating to entrepreneurship. Listen to the episode here. Here are some quotes from the episode: The ethos is changing. Yes, there should be tax incentives, but that’s not the primary goal. [On the European culture shift] It’s very much the American sense of ‘get things done’ and ‘go do things’, rather than waiting for other individuals to come up with great ideas. One of the most important things that I realized from a lot of entrepreneurs and startups, is that that they have big ambitions. // Actually all of them are thinking global

Entrepreneur, investor, author and Berkeley professor Naeem Zafar joined us for a talk on entrepreneurship. Naeem has definitely been engulfed in the startup world for a long time, living in the Valley for over two decades and having worked with startups in many contexts, currently even teaching entrepreneurship. We discussed what’s currently cooking in Silicon Valley, things to watch out for, all the way to how education will change to keep up with the rapid development of the 21st century. We also talked about some of the biggest learning from over twenty years engulfed in the startup context. More on Naaem on his website. Listen to the episode here. Here are some quotes from the episode: [Talking to his mentor] He said “Ok you’re all excited. Where is your team?” I said “Team? What team? I don’t need a team.” Then he started laughing. He said: “Go and come back to me when you’ve assembled a team. People who are willing to follow you wherever you may go.” Because people only hear information, which they know where to put. If they can’t figure this out, they put it nowhere.. Having the right life partner plays a bigger role than people admit or talk about. The VC model, kind of broke.

  I was joined by Falk Wolsky, the founder and CTO of SociallyPay. SociallyPay aims to create the simplest way to pay, with a single click of a button by leveraging social networks.  Falk talked about his 12 year career as an entrepreneur, the largest learning points and how trains can be a great source of focus and lead to great initiatives. We also talked about simplicity in the modern era and how the sense of urgency is constantly present with startups, that may only have a single year to develop their initiatives to a competitive level. With the constant escalating pace, you may well only have one year. Listen to the episode here. Here are some quotes from the episode: The “Aha” moment was in the train. As many “aha” moments in trains to me. Don’t trust everyone, but connect with everyone. 100 Million on Twitter, 500 Million on Facebook. It’s enough to build a company. It’s not interesting who is not on the social media networks, it’s interesting who is on the social media networks. Facebook is not a social network, it’s more a changing platform.

I was joined by Michelle Darné, founder of the House 001. Michelle has a tremendous background in the media business, from several decades and has played a variety of roles. Some bumps and bruises along the way also help bring perspective to whatever she pursues and set priorities in order. The House helps entrepreneurs with marketing and packaging of their great visions, in order to make their messages appealing and effective. Michelle and the House are also part of GrowVC’s Pilot Program, and as we discuss in the podcast, there are many exciting things to look forward to with this partnership. There are many valuable points we discussed in the episode, ranging from the importance of angels in your career, as well as diligence, to how attached you get to the ventures you build as an entrepreneur. Listen to the episode here. Some quotes from the episode: Like I built this great big huge monster. You know, once you build it, you have to drive it and you have to feed it every day. I found that, you know there is a way to live out our dreams and still live a balanced life. It’s really important to not take deals, just because they’re on the table. It’s amazing when you start to walk away from the table, and be confident with being able to do that, how many more deals present themselves.

Image via Wikipedia Launching our US operations has been a focus for us, ever since the start of our service. We are pleased to announce, that we already have a local team in place. We talked with Jouko about our US operations and what we are looking to build. Especially as a large part of our members are based in the US, but looking for global activity, it is an exciting development for our community. We have been building our partner network and already have prominent actors in the US, from important areas such as from Silicon Valley, where we too will have a strong presence. Valto and Jouko are starting their trip to the US and spending a couple of weeks there. If you want to get in touch with them, send us a message. But remember, we have people on the ground, so we are not going anywhere. Listen to the episode on the player below. Here are some niblets; Somebody said to us, that we are a little bit like American Idol or the Idol competition in any country. That basically we give the opportunity to everyone to become a start. We also in a certain way have the same model to make decisions, that people are voting. The community is building GrowVC itself. And it’s definitely an important part of our open concept. We see that this is the way to build this type of service. That actually those people who are building it and those people who can use this service, and get benefits, that they are also able to participate in this work. To make it possible and to make it successful. [People] don’t ask anymore, if this kind of model is needed.

Development Capital Networks produces the WBT Innovation Marketplace, in order to connect the dots between investors, licensees and entrepreneurs. This year the WBT is organized the 22 and 23 March, in Arlington, Texas. Jouko from GrowVC will join a panel on the future of venture capital in the event – we’re looking forward to it! We were joined by Amanda Radovic, the executive director of the WBT Innovation Marketplace. Having a very international perspective with activities all over the country and even outside the US, we explored the relationship between different regions and even countries. The relationship between Texas and Mexico is particularly interesting, as well as the relationship to Latin America. Listen to the episode on the player below. Some quotes from the episode: This years theme is very much focused on open innovation. Really opening those doors, sharing what these unmet needs are and having the startups and spin-outs, the universities and the federal labs really demonstrate their capabilities to partner, to license technologies and to work with the VC community. You kind of wonder, well how does an activity like mentoring a company lead to economic development? But, it’s all part of an ecosystem.

KallioLaw is a Certified Partner in the GrowVC network. Jukka Kallio, joined us to talk about challenges startups face in the legal arena and the importance of paying attention to these challenges. We talked about things of a practical relevance, from where you should utilize a legal counsel, in what form and what characteristics legal representatives should hold when dealing with startups. Law is a fascinating topic, so we went further to talk about how Jukka sees the development of the legal field, with the call for openness and transparency in many different industries, seen in the recent years. There is a harmonization going on, and with it comes opportunities and challenges for the field as a whole. Listen to the episode on the player below. Some quotes from the episode: You should really understand that the jurisdictions are different and you should understand where you are doing business. .. so I think we pretty well understand the life-cycle of the companies, except the last part which is the insolvency cases..

Best bits from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona!   A lot of changes have occurred since the MWC was set up. Jouko joined me after spending the week in Barcelona and reported on the congress. How has the field developed and what should startups take into account with the changing ecosystems and shifting landscape? What does Jouko state about the Microsoft-Nokia ecosystem and its future? We talked about global developments too, where the US and Asia are pushing the envelope in terms of the entire mobile field. Where on the globe are the largest areas of opportunities in the mobile area? Where does the open source development fit into this progress? Listen to the podcast on the player below. “In that way I would say, that it’s hard to say anything really significant and new in Europe in mobile, compared to what the situation was in the 90’s.”

Bill Attinger, founder and CEO of ActSeed and mentor to thousands of entrepreneurs in their community, joined us for a chat to discuss some common denominators in entrepreneurship and how value is driven on a global scale. With many shared values between Grow VC and ActSeed, it is easy to identify and relate to many of the point brought up in our own operations. Listen to the episode for topical points on starting up ventures, creating and sustaining value, the “Let’s just talk about it” – syndrome and many other subjects that are relevant for startups and their stakeholders alike. Listen to the episode in the player below. Here are some quotes from the episode: Actseed aims to solve the real problems of what we call, ‘unnecessary failure’ We have a real, I think a real misunderstanding, a common global misunderstanding of what entrepreneurship is and we think it all comes from a few spots: Silicon Valley, that it’s Google, that it’s Microsoft in its day or Apple. You can’t create the perfect template about how to create the perfect business. That’s kind of what makes it exciting, because you will never create the universal template. The attention economy works for a select few, whereas the wallet economy works for all of us.

First of all, the teams to come out of Startupbootcamp are just amazing! We’re delighted to see the program expand, to see the impact it can make on a larger scale! We talked with Ciprian Borodescu from the startup Webcrumbz and about their experiences from graduating from the bootcamp and taking their startup further. Listen to the episode on the player below. It was an exciting discussion on many levels. 

An experienced technical team going in to the bootcamp program, stepping outside  their comfort zones and examining the full panorama of the startup life cycle. One can just imagine an expert in the technical field going out to the streets of Copenhagen, selling a product even before it is developed. Unthinkable! The teams experiences from the program seem vast, from what Ciprian shared with us, from serving as an eye-opener on some levels and shifting their focus away from developing a product or more features, to focusing on the customers needs and feedback.

What has the China team in store for us in the local setting in China? Well, exciting things it seems. With the Chinese New Year starting next week, the team will introduce some exciting initiatives for the market. I was joined by Mikko Puhakka, one of our partners in China, for an interesting gaze into the gigantic market with all of its potential. The sheer volume of this market is just unbelievable. And the energy available. Imagine a country that sets the restrictions of investments made from China to outside the country, to $200 M per individual yearly. Like Mikko commented, sometimes when you hear the numbers, it sounds more like a joke. Listen to the episode to some updates on what’s going on in China and what to expect from the near future. Also hear how having too much interest from partners and startups can actually serve as a bottleneck. Does that sound familiar to you? Listen to the episode in the player (in list view). Here’s some quotes from the episode: So we’re talking about an ecosystem of.. 20 000 to 30 thousand companies and maybe a million to two million people involved with those startups. So obviously you need to have things that are different from the traditional type of advisory or investment formula, cause you just can’t handle those kind of numbers otherwise. How do you choose? Who do you work with? Someone has a fund of $1 B the other one has a fund of $1.5B, they both have great reputations..

Today we talked with Joushua Persky founder and CEO of Twisplays. How does broadcasting tweets on LED screens appear? Displays meet Twitter. How about LED displays meet Facebook or FourSquare? With the economy rough, Joshua took the plunge into entrepreneurship and eventually came up with the idea for Twisplays. We talked about the learning experience, the importance of keeping your eyes open and adapting to where the market takes you. Also about the rewards of paving your own road. Read more on Twisplays on their website or on Technology Inc. Twisplays will be attending ISE Amsterdam Conference 1-3 February. If you’re nearby, check them out! Listen to the episode in the player below. Quotes from the episode: One of the great things about MIT is to be creative and think for ourselves, invent new things and be entrepreneurial. I for some reason always thought I’d be an entrepreneur, but I kept in the closet for many years. When the recession hit in 2008, I was caught a bit off guard. The banks that I had previously worked for or hoped to work for, were disappearing right and left. I’d like to be the Mayor of Social Media Signage It’s great to finally be the founder and CEO, even if I’m a fledgling little startup. I wish I had done this a long time ago.

Talking with Clarke Nobiletti, it becomes apparent how important it is to get close to your market and customers as quick as possible. Their innovative approach to doing this, must have taken a lot of guts and finding out that your customers, aren’t who you anticipated. Well that’s just invaluable to any startup entrepreneur. We talked about the need for humility and keeping a learning approach to what you do, in order to create something of value for your customers, rather than re-creating some other working service. They have just launched a specified domain for snow related activities, check it out here. Listen to the episode in the player below (if you can find it). Here’s some quotes from the episode: They offered us a job in New York to be their marketing department in New York. So we told them to kind of slow down and we would be back in a year for these tour operators to market through Rollinglobe. We had no idea, that we would ever completely to an e-commerce model. For six months, we worked with about ten really, really patient beta testers and tour operators that we really liked and built this booking engine from scratch. So that was probably the best learning experience and also one of the most frustrating six months that I think we have all had. As people started to see the success, the different startups around the world and in New York. People are starting to realize that it’s not the media, it’s not the advertising, it’s not Wall Street that you have to go to for the opportunity. It’s having your own startup and you can do it in your own way.