Startup Notes

Inspired by numerous requests of our listeners, we have created some special episodes based on different key themes. We put together the best pieces of timeless advice that we found most insightful from all the conversations with founders and VCs that we have published so far. In this first episode, the particular focus is on one of tech’s most important topics: Raising money from venture capital investors. We hope you enjoy!   01 - Pawel Chudzinski (Point Nine Capital) [01:38 - 03:15] Why tech startups usually need to raise money [03:16 - 05:02] Criteria that Point Nine Capital assesses when making investment decisions [05:03 - 06:47] On the importance and best practices of a good pitch deck   02 - Philipp Pausder (Thermondo) [06:52 - 07:45] Why VCs invest more into complex business models nowadays [07:46 - 08:19] Large markets that have lots of potential and VCs like to invest in   03 -  Julian Riedlbauer (GP Bullhound) [08:24 - 10:03] How founders can leave a lasting impression with their pitch

The siblings Pia and Cornelius Frey started Opinary in 2013. The Berlin-based startup has established a new way for users to share their opinion in online content. Its technology helps millions of monthly users to share their view with a tap and understand opinion trends at a glance. Publishing partners (like The Times, HuffPost, and NBC) use Opinary to engage and monetize their audiences, while global brands and corporations boost attention, create high conversions and generate insights. By now, Opinary has raised 4m€ in funding from renowned investors like Project A, Global Founders Capital, and Rolf Schrömgens (Founder of Trivago). In this episode, Pia and Cornelius explain what it is like to start a company with a close family member, the way Opinary helps its clients to gain valuable insights, and how they bootstrapped the startup from a side project into one of Germany’s hottest tech companies.

Michael Cassau is Founder & CEO of Grover. The startup is one of Europe’s market leaders in technology rentals, bringing the access economy to the consumer electronics market, by offering a simple, monthly subscription model for the best in tech. Via its website Grover.com, it makes new technology products accessible to everyone while breaking the linear way of consumption, questioning the meaning of ownership, and offering a real alternative to financing. Since it was started in 2015, Grover has closed 60m€ in funding by prominent investors like Circularity Capital, Commerzbank, Samsung NEXT and Global Founders Capital (Rocket Internet). In this episode, Michael explains in detail the reasoning behind founding Grover, what the future for the sharing economy holds, and how to find the right investors that share your vision for global growth.

In our 8th #FromScratch masterclass, Josef Brunner (Founding Investor & CEO of relayr) taught our audience how to leverage corporate-startup partnerships. Relayr enables its clients to digitize physical objects for harnessing the power of the Internet of Things. In 2018, the startup was sold to Munich Re (Group) for €300M. Partnering with corporations has been key for its success. In this episode, Josef and moderator Christian Miele (Partner at e.ventures) discuss the criteria to evaluate the suitability of corporate partnerships, the right timing for starting such collaborations, and what the common reasons for failure are.

Florian Hübner is Founder & Co-CEO of Uberall. The startup has developed a cloud-based platform to let small and large businesses get listed and market themselves across multiple location-based services. Uberall has raised more than $50m by leading VCs like Project A and HPE Growth Capital since it was founded in 2012. Originally started in Berlin, the startup by now has a team of 250 employees with offices in San Francisco, Cape Town, Paris, London and Amsterdam. In this episode, Florian shares his key learnings on internationalization.

In our seventh #FromScratch masterclass, David Okuniev taught our audience how to build a product that users love. David is Co-Founder of Typeform. Based in Barcelona, the startup is making the filling in of forms and surveys awesome by helping users to collect data in a conversational way. A passionate creative and musician, David is a full-fledged product designer specialized in UI & UX design. As technical director for the product, he focuses on further developing the successful SaaS platform. Typeform has raised more than $50M in funding from investors like Index Ventures since it was founded in 2011. In this episode, David and moderator Christian Miele (Partner at e.ventures) elaborate on the approach of designing for a „human experience“ (HX), the right data for assessing your product-market fit, and how to align your team to deliver a product that customers build an emotional relationship with.

Dmitri Uvarovski is Co-Founder & CMO at Homeday. Started in 2014, the Cologne-based startup is on a mission to revolutionize the way people sell and buy property. With its platform, Homeday offers data-driven pairing between real estate agents and private property owners to ensure a more transparent, efficient and overall smoother experience for all parties involved. Supported by prominent VCs like Project A Ventures, Paua Ventures, Picus Capital and Axel Springer Digital Ventures, the company has raised more than 20m€ in funding so far. In this episode, Dmitri shares his insights on how he and his team are changing the way people buy and sell properties, the challenges, and opportunities that he sees in the real estate sector, and the role of legislation for enabling innovation.

Tobias Tschötsch is Founder & Managing Director of Contorion. The Berlin-based startup offers a B2B online marketplace for maintenance, repair and operations products. Started in 2014 with the help of investor Project A Ventures, Contorion exited only 3 years later in a presumed $100m+ acquisition to high-quality tool producer Hoffmann Group. Previously, Tobias was Co-Founder & COO of Groupon UK. In this episode, Tobias shares his insights on how to successfully make an exit with your company. Among others, we discuss exit strategy, how to make a deal, and founders' incentivisation.