The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

Steve Hoffmann AKA “Captain Hoff” is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, partner at Founders Fund, An LP in August Capital, and author of the book "Make Elephants Fly". Steve is also the Captain & CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading incubators and accelerators, with over 50 partners in 22 countries. Steve's trained hundreds of startup founders and corporate executives in the art of innovation. Steve discusses: His long and winding road into the world of technology accelerators and incubators The traits he believes, even in really early stage businesses, signpost a likely unicorn The toolkit of processes he's developed to ensure startups can effectively differentiate and innovate Head over to https://www.foundersspace.com for more details on Founders Space and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture  

Steve Collins is a Partner at Frontline Ventures - a VC fund investing in early stage B2B software ventures across Europe. Prior to becoming a VC, Steve founded Havok, an animation middleware company for console game development, Kore, developer of the Kore Virtual Machine, and most recently Swrve, the mobile marketing automation platform used by some of the world’s leading brands including Disney, Conde Nast and Ryanair.  Steve discusses: How and why he switched from the life an entrepreneur to being a VC  The importance of instinct and gut feel when VCs evaluate early stage investment opportunities The lessons he’s learned from founding in Europe then - within just a few months of launching - rapidly scaling 3 successful software ventures in The States The challenges of replacing - or being replaced as - a Company Founder by a "Scale-Up" CEO Steve’s enduring passion for designing and coding computer games – and the impact of online gaming innovations & technologies on other industries   Head over to http://frontline.vc for more details on Frontline Ventures and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture.

Frederic Halley is a London-based Partner at NextWorld Capital, a leading Venture Capital fund from Silicon Valley focusing on early revenue investments across the US and Europe. He has a long track record of success in the technology sector both as a senior manager/executive and as an advisor/NED.  Frederic discusses:  How and why he switched from an executive leadership career into the world of venture capital How US software scale-ups can effectively expand into Europe Which countries/regions to prioritise for your sales & biz dev strategy The ideal talent profile you need to hire to scale your business internationally The crucial differences between the European and US start-up ecosystems How to effectively scale an AI start-up Head over to https://www.nextworldcap.com for more details on NextWorld Capital's portfolio and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture.  

Jan Quant is the Co-Founder and CEO of Screendragon a UK headquartered enterprise software scale-up who, soon after inception, successfully entered the US market and have continued to expand internationally despite having zero VC funding. Jan explains How he transitioned from a financial and operational background in the music sector to becoming an enterprise software CEO Why and how UK and European software startups should quickly and effectively target US markets The importance of customer centricity – how to delight your customers and leverage customer revenues instead of VC funding to scale your business How corporate procurement practices have become increasingly sophisticated and the steps software ventures need to take to establish referenceable relationships with blue chip clients  Head over to http://www.screendragon.com for more details on Screendragon and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture.    

Neil Ryland is the CRO at Peakon - funded by EQT Ventures, Sunstone Capital, IDInvest and Tommy Ahlers – who's SaaS platform helps companies maximise their employee engagement, retention and productivity. Prior to Peakon, Neil was the Chief Revenue Officer at Huddle, one of Britain’s most successful VC funded enterprise software ventures - Neil re-located to San Francisco to spearhead Huddle’s US market entry. Neil explains: How he’s overcome a sense of “impostor syndrome” at various stages during his career Why it’s crucial, for any European enterprise software business expanding to The States, to relocate a key individual from the leadership team to establish and lead the US business His definition of the 3 stages of venture businesses: startup, growup, scaleup – and the characteristics that define success in each of those 3 phase The sales academies he’s developed at both Huddle and Peakon to replicate the approach, to training and nurturing talent, deployed by many of the world’s most successful blue chip IT companies Head over to https://peakon.com for more details on Peakon and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture.

  Alex Dunsdon has a portfolio of different roles – he’s a partner at early stage investor Saatchinvest where he’s invested in successful startups like Citymapper and also a co-founder at The Bakery who describe themselves as “a pioneer in accelerating open innovation” Alex explains:  the fundamental requirement for any enterprise software venture to demonstrate that their solution addresses clearly defined user needs how The Bakery helps start-ups solve fundamental problems for, and close multi-million dollar deals with, global blue chips how Saatchinvest assesses the DNA of CEOs pitching for investment how founder-CEOs need to evolve their behaviour and leadership style as their company grows the hype around AI: most “AI” implementations, thus far, comprise a few simple automated processes why the quality of enterprise sales talent in Europe falls so far behind the US how shocked he was by the VC mantra “growth at any cost” and why he'd be bored if he was purely a startup investor/VC! For more insights into startups and innovation check out http://www.saatchinvest.com and https://www.thebakery.com and for advice on scaling software ventures head over to http://alpinasearch.com  

Jon Prideaux is the CEO at BOKU who, on 20 November 2017, went public on AIM at an initial £125m valuation and quickly popped to £160m. Boku’s platform brings merchants and mobile operators together to transform 5 billion mobile phone subscribers into the world’s largest pool of customers. That's more users than Visa and Mastercard combined!  Jon provides the following insights: How to smoothly transition out of - or indeed into - the role of CEO How to plan and execute an IPO Why he believes company leaders need to view their IPO as an “entrance” not an “exit”! How Boku developed a consistent culture across the globe even when they acquired local businesses How Jon is motivating Boku’s senior team to drive the business forward rather than resting on their laurels after the IPO Head over to https://www.boku.com for more details on Boku and check out www.alpinasearch.com for advice on globally scaling your software venture.

Alan Vey & Annika Monari are the Co-Founders at Aventus Systems, a pioneer in blockchain technology that’s been dubbed “the bitcoin of ticketing”. They closed one of the largest cryptocurrency funding rounds outside of The States just over 12 months after Aventus was founded: their $20m “Initial Token Offering” - led by Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund - was sold out in just 7 minutes! Alan and Annika discuss:  Which types of business can best leverage blockchain technology How to go about raising a cryptocurrency funding round How a company funded with cryptocurrency engages with employees and suppliers who might prefer to receive payments in a traditional currency The differences between Ether – the cyptocurrency that was used to fund Aventus - and Bitcoin Their perspective on the Bitcoin “bubble” and how they've ensured business contacts and employees are confident about the stability, and the growth potential, of the Aventus business model For more insights into Aventus Systems head over to https://www.aventus.io and for expert advice on startups and scale-ups check out http://alpinasearch.com/market-insights/  

Luca Pagano is the CEO at BeMyEye, Europe’s leading crowdsourced in-store data as a service provider who closed a $10.5m Series C funding round in late November 2017. Previously Luca held leadership roles at Glamoo, Electronic Arts and Buongiorno. Luca discusses:  The tricky challenge of replacing both the founder-CEO and his co-CEO at BeMyEye Successfully leading Buongiorno into a diversity of mature and emerging markets and aggressively launching BeMyEye in 20 new countries As a soccer aficionado, how he recruits “passionate employees who wear the jersey with honour” Why you'll never be an exceptional company or an exceptional leader unless you understand “why” you do what you do How being a chameleon has put him in good stead when dealing with diverse business cultures and personas Head over to https://www.bemyeye.com for more details on BeMyEye and check out http://alpinasearch.com for advice on scaling your enterprise software venture.  

Tom Bradley is Head of the Ventures Team at Oxford Capital. Tom, previously a partner at both DFJ Esprit and DN Capital, has been involved with successful scale-ups like Performance Horizon, Shazam and Neteconomy. The Oxford Capital Ventures portfolio includes promising startups and scale-ups like import.io, Ultrasoc and Redsift. In this week’s episode you’ll hear about:  The mindset that the founders of European enterprise software startups must have if they are to succeed globally Tom’s key criteria for investing in enterprise software ventures Advice for pre-product and pre-revenue start-ups on how to engage with investors and VCs How European entrepreneurs can leverage US VCs to successfully break into The States Head over to https://www.oxcp.com/investments/venture-capital/ for more details on Oxford Capital's venture portfolio and check out www.alpinasearch.com for advice on globally scaling your software venture.

Wolfgang Allisat is the Chief Commercial Officer at Unbabel - "The World's Translation Layer". Unbabel - funded by the Notion Capital, Google Ventures, Faber Ventures, Matrix Partners, Schilling Capital and Caixa Capital - utilizes artificial intelligence to enable translations between companies and their customers. Wolf has previously held international sales leadership positions at a number of successful software scaleups including Omniture where he was the first international employee and grew the European business to more than 1,100 customers and 200 employees. Wolf discusses how enterprise software ventures can successfully expand their sales and marketing teams internationally including: The research and planning required to support successful overseas expansion How to recruit your initial sales hires with the characteristics to evangelise your offering and drive customer successes in new markets  How to adapt your business culture to succeed in each local market Wolf also discusses the way Unbabel have created a unique culture to resonate with the millennials they typically hire - including weekly company-wide surfing sessions! For more information on Unbabel's AI-powered translation solutions head over to https://unbabel.com and check out http://alpinasearch.com/clients/ for advice on recruiting A-players to globally scale your software/SaaS venture  

Joshua Wohle is the Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Series B funded SuperAwesome backed by Mayfair Equity Partners, IBIS TMT, Hoxton Ventures and a host of other VCs. SuperAwesome's technology powers the kids digital media ecosystem. Their products are used by hundreds of kids content companies and brands to provide kid-safe digital functionality, authentication and advertising. Joshua is a serial entrepreneur having founded several tech start-ups - since starting his 1st venture whilst at school - including Targetz: a mobile, real-time, location-based community marketplace for services.                    In today’s episode you will learn:   How Joshua launched his first startup as a 16 year old at school – even as a teenage entrepreneur he was selling to large enterprise clients like the private Swiss banks  How he was introduced to his co-founder at SuperAwesome…by an algorithm! About the need for founders and entrepreneurs to have the resilience to bounce back from failure and to dig really deep, emotionally and mentally How, as your software venture evolves, you must also evolve to ensure you’ve the skills to continue to drive the business forward How to find and engage with mentors with valuable insights to help you handle the challenges of scaling-up a business For more background on SuperAwesome, check out https://www.superawesome.tv and head over to http://alpinasearch.com for advice on scaling your software venture.

Shirin Dehghan was the Founder CEO at Arieso and is currently Chairwoman at OpenSignal. Arieso provided subscriber experience geo-location and network optimization solutions for wireless operators and service providers. Funded by Qualcomm Ventures and Oxford Capital Partners, Arieso expanded across EMEA, Asia Pacific and The Americas before being acquired by JDSU for $85m in 2013. Shirin now Chairs the board at OpenSignal, Funded by Passion Capital, O’Reilly AlphaTech and Qualcomm Ventures. OpenSignal crowd-source data on the performance and coverage of wireless networks around the world and use that data to produce independent and unbiased coverage maps for any network around the world.  Since launch, their mobile app has been downloaded over 20 million times and billions of data points have been collected in over 200 countries. In this week's episode we’re focusing on the importance of sales and marketing for technical founders and the challenges of international expansion for startups and scaleups. You will learn: The lesson that all technical founders must learn – sometimes the hard way - about the importance of creating a strong sales and marketing machine About a blueprint for international expansion for enterprise software ventures How Shirin resurrected her start-up from “near death” to achieve a 6x exit just a few years later About the need to treat VCs like customers when you’re approaching them for funding For more insights into OpenSignal check out https://opensignal.com and for advice on successfully scaling your software venture head over to http://alpinasearch.com

Rory Stirling is an early stage investor with BGF ventures who’s invested in high growth UK technology companies like NewVoiceMedia, Masabi and Reevoo. BGF Ventures invests in early-stage entrepreneurs with bold ambitions and is an influential new entrant to the VC market with a $200m debut fund. In just 2 years BGF have concluded over 18 investments building a portfolio that includes the likes of Triptease, Aimbrain and NewVoiceMedia. In this week’s episode you will learn: • Which types of company, and indeed which types of people, VC funding is most appropriate for• How to go about raising venture capital for your start-up or scale-up• How value in a technology start-up can be created - or potentially destroyed – depending on the synergy between the investors and the company’s leadership team• About the character, drive and vision required of successful enterprise technology venture founders For more insights into venture investing head over to www.bgf.co.uk/ventures/ and for advice on successfully scaling your enterprise software start-up check out alpinasearch.com/market-insights/