a new kind of games company that would put people front and center. We thought to ourselves: “What if you put together a games company the way you’d put together a professional sports team?” In that type of model, the sole mission of the founders and management would be to acquire the best talent FOR EVERY SINGLE POSITION, create the best possible environment for them, and then get out of the way. It would be an environment with zero bureaucracy. A place where the best people could make the biggest possible impact and nothing would stand in their way. Everything else, including financial goals, would be secondary.”
Bus for London, Victoria bus station, route 38, 27 February 2012 (1)" by Tom Page from London, UK (original), cropped by User:Ultra7 - Crop of File:Arriva London bus LT2 (LT61 BHT) 2011 New Bus for London, Victoria bus station, route 38, 27 February 2012 (1) uncropped.jpg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arriva_London_bus_LT2_(LT61_BHT)_2011_New_Bus_for_London, _Victoria_bus_station,_route_38,_27_February_2012_(1).jpg#/media/File:Arriva_London_bus_LT2_(LT61_BHT)_2011_New_Bus_for_London,_Victoria_bus_station,_route_38,_27_February_2012_(1).jpg
times together • Often end up becoming lifelong friends • Significant investment of time to nurture companies • Portfolio companies act as local ambassadors and subject- matter experts • Repeat entrepreneurs, and referrals from previous entrepreneurs, are a great source of new investments too!
Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Long_tail.svg#/media/File:Long_tail.svg Unicorn: http://discoverie.deviantart.com/art/Winged-Unicorn-400901130
company stage • Team and market opportunity always matter ◦ The team is the most important thing ◦ The market opportunity has to be big enough ◦ There must be an opportunity to invest enough to end up with a meaningful ownership percentage • At later stages, metrics increasingly come into play
presentation (HTML) Static Deployment on-prem 6-12 month cycle Rise of the Apps Native app Web app data (json) API embedded library Monolithic App Logic Only DB Static Deployment cloud- hosted? 1-3 month cycle Time to market Native app Web app data (json) embedded library external service API API DB DB DB Dynamic Deployment cloud-native 10x day ++
to Serve No of Deals Closed Total cost of Sales & Mktg LTV CAC % Churn Rate Level of touch required Marketing program costs Sales Funnel Conversion Metrics Personnel costs Credit: David Skok, http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/saas-metrics/
Pitch your business… not the market or the competition • State clearly what you do and how your business works • Demonstrate what investors are looking for • Know your metrics and unit economics • Know your risks and be open about them • Understand where you are in the process and your objectives: ◦ get funded, get to the next meeting, create a relationship, detect whether likely to be a good match, ...
but from the CEO’s perspective you are the perfect board member - insightful, strategic, supportive, and responsive. I am very lucky to have you on our board.” - Ilka Paananen, Supercell
matter • The limiting factor isn't money • Think of bringing in an investor like entering a marriage • Winners need to win big (and generate big returns) • There are two sides to every successful story • Getting a meeting is just the beginning... • Not now doesn't have to mean never • It’s a journey, not a transaction
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