Startup Notes

In our fifth #FromScratch masterclass, Gloria Baeuerlein and Christian Vollmann taught our audience how to raise money.

Working as a Principal at Index Ventures in London, Gloria knows the VC industry inside out. In her role, she primarily focuses on growth stage investments across all sectors in Europe and Australia.

Being one of Germany’s most influential entrepreneurs, Christian Vollmann (CEO of nebenan.de) also invests in other founders' companies. By now, he has been involved in more than 70 startups like eDarling, trivago, StudiVZ and Researchgate. In 2017, he was voted as the German „Business Angel of the Year".

In this week's episode, recorded during our fifth #FromScratch masterclass, Gloria and Christian take a deep dive into raising capital for startups. Together with moderator Christian Miele (Partner at e.ventures), the two elaborate on techniques to determine the amount of money needed, how to structure the fundraising process, and the best practices and tactics to find and convince the right investors.

Melikshah Ünver is the CEO and Co-Founder of Taledo, a curated online recruiting platform that connects top 10% talents with the best open positions in Germany's digital startup ecosystem.

After working as a consultant and heading the Group Development sector of well-known HitFox Group in Berlin, Melikshah and his co-founders wanted to start their own venture and founded Taledo to help ambitious professionals find digital roles at market-leading companies.

In this episode, we are discussing Taledo's approach of matching applicants with the right employers, the state of the art of recruiting for startups, and the needs of ambitious talents today.

Melikshah Ünver is the CEO and Co-Founder of Taledo, a curated online recruiting platform that connects top 10% talents with the best open positions in Germany's digital startup ecosystem.

After working as a consultant and heading the Group Development sector of well-known HitFox Group in Berlin, Melikshah and his co-founders wanted to start their own venture and founded Taledo to help ambitious professionals find digital roles at market-leading companies.

In next week's episode, we'll be discussing Taledo's approach of matching applicants with the right employers, the state of the art of recruiting for startups, and the needs of ambitious talents today.

Jens Woloszczak (CEO) and Karl Sponholz (COO) are heading one of Germany’s most exciting FinTechs: Spotcap. Based in Berlin, the startup offers access to flexible finance and operates as a direct lender to small and medium-sized companies in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Backed by investors like Rocket Internet and Holtzbrinck Ventures, the company has raised more than 100m USD in funding so far and continues to grow quickly.

In this episode, we discuss with Jens and Karl challenges and best practices for internationalization, how to build a product that users love, and why it is important to fail fast.

Jens Woloszczak (CEO) and Karl Sponholz (COO) are heading one of Germany’s most exciting FinTechs: Spotcap. Based in Berlin, the startup offers access to flexible finance and operates as a direct lender to small and medium-sized companies in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Backed by investors Rocket Internet and Holtzbrinck Ventures, the company has raised more than 100m USD in funding so far and continues to grow quickly.

In next week’s episode, we’ll discuss with Jens and Karl challenges and best practices for internationalization, how to build a product that users love, and why it is important to fail fast.

Valentin Stalf is Co-Founder & CEO of N26. Over the past five years, he has become one of the world’s most influential founders in FinTech by building one of the fastest growing challenger banks in Europe. Today, N26 has 1 million customers in 17 countries. Having raised a total of $215 million over the years, Valentin is on a mission to bring modern personal banking to users around the world.

In this episode, recorded at our fourth "From Scratch" masterclass, Christian Miele (Partner at e.ventures) and Valentin discuss how to balance gut feeling vs. data analysis when building an MVP, the importance of building an "MLP", and how N26 itself was the outcome of a big pivot.

Valentin Stalf is Co-Founder of N26. Over the past 5 years, he has become one of the world’s most influential founders in FinTech. N26 is one of the fastest growing challenger banks in Europe, which by now has 1 million customers in 17 countries. By raising a total of $215 million over the years, Valentin is on a mission to bring modern personal banking to users around the world.

In next week's episode, recorded at our fourth "From Scratch" masterclass, Christian Miele (Partner at e.ventures) and Valentin discussed how to balance gut feeling vs. data analysis when building an MVP, the importance of building an MLP and how N26 was itself the outcome of a big pivot.

Pawel Chudzinski belongs to the most renowned VCs in Germany and Europe. Working and living in Berlin, he is Co-Founder of early-stage venture capital firm Point Nine Capital. The firm is focused on early-stage investments related to SaaS and digital marketplaces. Startups like Revolut, Typeform, and Delivery Hero belong to its portfolio.

In this episode, we are talking to Pawel about best practices on how to raise early-stage funding, stand out among the startups that ask for investments, and what the ideal relationship between VCs and founders should be like.

Full list of topics that we discussed with early stage investor Pawel Chudzinski:

[00:48 - 03:56] Introduction of Pawel and his professional background

[03:57 - 09:15] The ‚secret sauce‘ behind the success of Point Nine Capital

[09:16 - 11:33] On the right timing for raising funding at an early stage

[11:34 - 13:57] How to find the right balance between bootstrapping and raising VC money

[13:58 - 16:20] Point Nine Capital’s criteria when evaluating investment opportunities

[16:21 - 18:45] How Point Nine Capital assesses startups with B2B/B2C products

[18:46 - 21:15] On the importance and best practices of a good pitch deck

[21:16 - 26:15] How to balance honesty and over-selling your startup when pitching

[26:16 - 29:12] How to stand out among all the startups that are seeking funding

[29:13 - 31:46] Why the valuation of startups is very subjective

[31:47 - 35:00] What to be aware of regarding liquidation preferences

[35:01 - 37:45] How to choose the right VC as a founder

[37:46 - 39:29] Open positions at Point Nine Capital and its portfolio companies