7 key topics for getting funding for your early stage start-up - experience of Prototron
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Transcript of 7 key topics for getting funding for your early stage start-up - experience of Prototron
Siim Lepisk 5. August 2014 at Startup Ideation Bootcamp at Arengufond
7 key topics for getting funded
In 2012, Swedbank, Tallinn Technical University and Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol founded Prototron fund to support building the first prototypes that could get client feedback to conquer the World. We help talented entrepreneurs to get their product to market, by granting our alumni with money and 6 months of business development services in Tehnopol Startup Incubator.
We build success stories
We focus on
*For ICT projects we support systems with complex algorithms
ICT*
Electronics
Mechatronics
Greentech
50-100 ideas collected via www.prototron.ee pre-evaluation committee selects top 20 ideas
and provides feedback to all teams
Tehnopol coaching for top 20 teams
Best 9-10 teams pitching to expert
committee
Expert committee funds
2-3 teams
We finance 2-3 rounds /year
Since 2012, we have: ● Gathered 500+ ideas ● Had 6 rounds of funding ● Given out 180 000+ EUR for 14 teams. All those start-ups are strongly growing. Our alumni have generated 500 000+ EUR revenue and raised 1 500 000+ EUR capital
We’ve already shown great results
1. Team 2. Product 3. Market 4. How to earn money 5. Timing 6. Advantage 7. Proven first steps
Key elements of getting funded
● At least 2 roles covered: business + tech ● What have achieved so far? ● Have worked together? ● Commitment? ● Passion on the topic?
1. Team
Team: rather good example ABC – MBA, thesis defended on the subject, currently working at XXX Ltd as a Business Development Manager. XYZ – MSc in Business Information Technology, currently working at RBS as a developer. Team has worked together full time at RBS since 2010 and on the product since 2012.
● Clear value proposal ● Concise ● Can be visualized ● Validated by third party
2. Product description
Product description: to be improved Easy to use, shared and collaborative environment for project teams for efficiently planning, controlling and monitoring project work at the field. ● Too vague ● Where’s your value?
Product description: good examples Deekit is developing a multi-platform app to help managers in growing IT companies to increase their productivity by enhancing the visual communication between teams and individuals with a real-time team collaboration whiteboard
• Precise value proposal – what/who/how
Browserbite is an automatic cross browser testing tool to check your website on 45+ mobile devices and browsers
Who are your clients? Segmentation – only one segment or many segments? ● Human, corporates, public sector ● Age ● Gender ● Income (higher / lower) ● Where they live (Estonia, Europe, Asia) ● Education level ● ….
3. Market description
● Value proposition? ● What’s improved after your product/service? ● Are you able to generate more revenue to your clients
(preferred) or improve efficiencies?
● Where do you sell? (who buys) ● How do you sell?
You can’t always have the right answer: the business model could quickly change in pivoting process, if the ‘market’ requires other kind of product/service
4. How to earn money?
● Why is your product important today? ● Are customers ready to pay for your product? ● How can you prove that?
5. Timing: actuality of the idea
● Why you, not 100 others? ● How is your idea different from the competitors product/
service?
● How do you protect intellectual property? ● How will you scale? ● Is your team exceptionally experienced in that?
6. Strategic advantage
● Show progress ● Validated assumptions ● Anyone willing to pay? ● LOI – Letter of Intent from clients/vendors
7. Proven first steps
Start talking to your customers! October 15th
Siim Lepisk, [email protected]