The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

By Gary ReemanBusinessEntrepreneurshipInvesting
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The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan episodes

  • Magnus Gaarder - Co-Founder @ Cidron Ventures

    Magnus Gaarder is a co-founder at early stage tech VC fund, Cidron Ventures, having previously spearheaded Nauta Capital's investment initiatives in Northern Europe.

    Magnus discusses

    • How and when enterprise software ventures should embark on international expansion 
  • Building a winning sales/marketing team in international markets
  • Capital efficiencies for start-ups: B2B versus B2C
  • Why integrity & "ESG" are key criteria for Cidron in choosing which start-up teams to invest in 

    • For more insights on Cidron Venturs, head over to http://cidronventures.com - and for guidance on scaling enterprise software ventures, check out http://alpinasearch.com

     

     

    34 min
  • Christian Hernandez, Managing Partner @ White Star Capital

    Christian Hernandez is a co-founder & Managing Partner at White Star Capital, where he draws on his extensive experience in developing and scaling products and platforms internationally. 

    Prior to co-founding White Star Capital, Christian worked at Facebook and led the led the international expansion of the company’s Business Development, Platform and Gaming Partnerships groups. He previously held leadership roles at Google & Microsoft having started his career at MicroStrategy, a start-up he joined prior to their 1999 IPO.


    Christian discusses:

    • How regulation and regulators, rather than being a challenge to overcome, can be a huge opportunity for start-ups to create differentiators and barriers to entry 
    • How to co-develop enterprise technology solutions with clients – helps with funding, customer feedback, etc
    • How to effectively price innovative enterprise software & Saas products
    • “Re-cycling”: the single largest driver of outperformance in VC funds

      • Head over to https://whitestarvc.com for more details on White Star Capital and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture

       

      32 min
    • Pietro Bezza, Connect Ventures – "perpetual learnability" is vital to the success of any scale-up

      Pietro Bezza is a tech founder turned venture capitalist. Pietro co-founded Connect Ventures, an early stage VC fund, in 2011 and the fund has invested in companies like Citymapper, Typeform and Soldo.

      Pietro discusses:

      • Why he decided to invest in Typeform after having become a delighted user of their product
    • How Typeform decided the time was right to expand into the States
    • The vital role “perpetual learnability” plays in a company’s ability to scale-up
    • The unique challenges of hiring talent during the scale-up stage in terms of both cultural & skillset diversity 

      • Head over to http://www.connectventures.co for more details on Connect Ventures and check out www.alpinasearch.com for advice on globally scaling your B2B software venture

       

      29 min
    • Pietro Biezza, Connect Ventures – “perpetual learnability” is vital to the success of any scale-up

      Pietro Biezza is a tech founder turned venture capitalist. Pietro founded Connect Ventures, an early stage VC fund, in 2011 and the fund has invested in companies like Citymapper, Typeform and SecretSales.com.


      Pietro discusses:


      • Why he decided to invest in Typeform after having become a delighted user of their product

    • How Typeform decided the time was right to expand into the States

    • The vital role “perpetual learnability” plays in a company’s ability to scale-up

    • The unique challenges of hiring talent during the scale-up stage in terms of both cultural & skillset diversity 

      • Head over to http://www.connectventures.co for more details on Connect Ventures and check out www.alpinasearch.com for advice on globally scaling your B2B software venture


       

      3 hr 28 min
    • Pietro Bezza, Connect Ventures – “perpetual learnability” is vital to the success of any scale-up

      Pietro Bezza is a tech founder turned venture capitalist. Pietro co-founded Connect Ventures, an early stage VC fund, in 2011 and the fund has invested in companies like Citymapper, Typeform and Soldo.


      Pietro discusses:


      • Why he decided to invest in Typeform after having become a delighted user of their product

    • How Typeform decided the time was right to expand into the States

    • The vital role “perpetual learnability” plays in a company’s ability to scale-up

    • The unique challenges of hiring talent during the scale-up stage in terms of both cultural & skillset diversity 

      • Head over to http://www.connectventures.co for more details on Connect Ventures and check out www.alpinasearch.com for advice on globally scaling your B2B software venture


       

      29 min
    • Zack Urlocker: ZenDesk, Duo Security & MySQL - successfully scaling your US enterprise software venture into Europe

      Zack Urlocker helped grow a number of software companies to billion dollar exits - including Active Software, MySQL, Zendesk and most recently Duo Security. And he’s been an advisor and board member for many other successful venture-backed software companies including HubSpot and SugarCRM. He’s also written a rock opera!


      Zack’s worked with many Tier 1 VCs including Benchmark Capital, CRV, Index Ventures and Matrix Partners and he now lectures at the University of Michigan on Entrepreneurial Leadership.

      Zack discusses:

      • Why product management is a great career path for any budding enterprise sofrtware entrepeneur
    • The importance of focusing on great customer service when you expand internationally
    • How and why you should avoiding micro-managing local decisions from an overseas HQ
    • The importance of transferring your culture and cloning your successful DNA as you expand internationally
    • The mis-step Duo Security took in failing to hire sufficient local domain expertise when they initially expanded into Europe
    • His focus on developing entrepreneurs in the Mid-West: a US region historically starved of entrepreneurial development & learning opportunities

      •  Head over to www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture

       

       

      32 min
    • Steve Hoffmann, Captain & CEO @ Founders Space discusses an innovation toolkit for your start-up

      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

       

      30 min
    • Steve Collins – Partner at Frontline Ventures

      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.

      38 min
    • Frederic Halley, NextWorld Capital: How to ensure success when your software venture expands internationally

      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.

       

      28 min
    • Jan Quant, CEO at Screendragon - how to scale your UK software venture & crack the US market...with zero VC funding!

      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.

       

       

      27 min

    About The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

    From the publisher's feed

    Insights from successful entrepreneurs & VCs: how to globally scale innovative technology ventures