More business progress

Having bought a box of paperclips on Friday (and securing strong interest from one business) yesterday I purchased an iPhone.

Although we already had access to one I thought it was time to get our own and settled on an iPhone 6s Plus for two reasons:

- although appery.io will "compile" for iOS pretty easily I think that as we go operational (at least in beta) I need to always have one on hand in case there are problems
- the larger screen of the Plus will be better when we demonstrate it


Also, we gained the serious interest of a business as another beta participant.

Significant business progress

Today I bought some paper clips.

Damn right it's a big deal. Even though we talk about the paper-less world (think about that the next time you go to the toilet) sometimes you need, in business, paper.

And that means paper clips.

So, today I bought a box.

Not just any paperclips but an assortment of coloured paper clips.

Clearly we are a serious business.

Also, we visited a potential customer, showed the solution and asked if they were interested in participating in the business beta test:  absolutely.

Take-aways from the Fintech panel

This evening I went to a German American Business Association meeting where there were two panels holding discussions around Fintech.

I attended one focussing on regulation.

It's actually been a while since I worked within the Finance world.

Anyhoo my takeaway was:

• Berlin used to be the only place for startups in Germany but now Munich is catching up (we're not in Fintech but it is good to know. Also, I am not totally sure what was said because it was said in Foreign).
• As a culture Germans tend to go for reference-able products and services. It's also a "me-too" attitude and I read of one entrepreneur who was told that he would only get investment if his idea was a copy of something in Silicon Valley. All this, however, is now changing.
• Something else about something that we will keep within our business and will sort out pretty damn quick.

Despite there being a lot of people it was a great networking opportunity.

To read and to watch

Last night finished reading Venture Deals: Be Smarter than your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist.

A really good book but I will have to read it again. A few times.

It certainly opened my eyes to the complexities around getting a deal.

This morning I watched a video from one on the authors Venture Capital Crash Course with Jason Mendelson. This needs to be watched a few times as well.

This was found from the Ask A VC blog. There are lots of great VC blogs. You know, some people think the internet is for a communicating post-nuclear holocaust. Some think it is for Singaporean women to post pictures of their teddy bears. Some people think it is to show the, um, more fun aspects of human behaviours - when naked. But actually it is for VCs to write about their views and activities. So I am starting a blog roll, initially as a label (tag).

Friday

Posting this a day late ...

had a great meeting with the head of a local American German Business Club. We are getting so close to getting beta testers.

This morning I rearranged my schedule for next week so I can go to a business club meeting. The meeting's topic isn't really associated with us but it was suggested and it will be a good networking opportunity.

A blur

This evening I briefed someone who is basically an associate - he is not employed by us but wants to develop his mobile app dev skills, for which we will get some developed mobile apps.

Explaining the current set up was very tiring.

Also very tiring was everything else, before and after as we are getting prepared for a major (ish) presentation tomorrow.

Investors' seminar

Yesterday I went to an "Investment 101 Part 1 - Post Accelerator - A Three Part Series", a two hour meetup event whose guest was Kevin Czok (who totally deserves this name check, as did the organiser Jewell Sparks. As you know, when you are named checked in the ultimate startup blog you are living large).

Unlike some other startup meetings this was a tight two hours, around a conference centre in a law firm, with a slightly older, less hipster-ish, but still relaxed (the organising partner was also dressed down) attendance.

Here are my take-aways:

• a lot of VCs don't advertise, you have to seek them out and if you do, get an introduction rather than cold call.
• VCs tend to look for seven to 10 years of involvement in the business, well at least German ones do
• read Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Brad Feld - I've already downloaded it to my Kindle.
• also check out Brad Feld's blog 
• if you have to incorporate in the US, it will probably be best in Delaware or California

When you approach VCs you have to:

• have a real business which has a solid, scalable model
• be respectful to everyone, some VCs are quite small and you may be lucky just to talk to a junior
• show traction and how you would use the money
• disclose anything (e.g. dormant co-founders) before you are found out
• take projections seriously - don't be glib
• don't forget to include legal costs
• have scenarios on what would you do if you raised more/less/none/exactly what you wanted
• some VCs will do convertible loans before series A round
• VCs might take 5 to 25% of equity depending on investment
• ultimately the deciding factor for VCs to invest is the team (including are they fun to work with - answer: yes we are)
• beware of liquidation preferences - better for a co-founds to have less equity 
• documents can be in English (yay!)
• business plans are less required by VCs (than by, for example, banks).
• a pitch desk can be 10 - 15 slides (with even ca 60 backup slides) and take 45 minutes of a 1.5 hour meeting with VCs - though the initial meeting may just 15 minutes.