The Balderton Podcast: Tech Investment | Venture Capital

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Enterprise SaaS: Making unsexy tech sexy | Olivier Pailhes, Aircall May 31, 2016

Show notes

Olivier Pailhes is the Founder and CEO of Aircall. Aircall is an telephony service that is the built on top of the newest technologies for realtime communication: Websockets, WebRTC. Aircall brings its customers a new approach for managing their business calls. 0100 Very early in Aircall's life, Olivier and the founding team took the company to the USA to participate in the 500 Startups accelerator programme. Olivier explains why the decision was made to take the company to the USA during their early stages. 0345 As many early-stage entrepreneurs will be deciding whether they apply for accelerator programmes, Olivier explains how a founder should chose which programme that they will participate in. 0415 Olivier urges fellow European tech entrepreneurs to spend time in the USA. 0530 After their successful spell with 500 Startups, the Aircall team set up their headquarters in Paris. Olivier shares the reasonings behind coming 'back' to Europe. 0725 On the subject of opening a second office: Olivier explains some of the questions that were asked when Aircall made the decision to open a second office in New York. For example, how did they select NY over SF? 0930 On the subject of opening a second office #2: Should entrepreneurs try to replicate the culture they have built in their original hq? Or is it wiser to tailor the culture to each environment. 1105 Olivier talks about the challenges he faced and overcame when growing his team at speed over a 4 month period 1530 When Aircall were raising investment, Olivier met with 125 investors. He admits that other entrepreneurs only met around 25 before closing their round. He explains why he was happy to wait and make the 'right' decision, rather than closing early. 2100 On Enterprise SaaS: Enterprise SaaS is not cool. Oliver explains how Aircall are attempting to make enterprise telephony a far 'sexier' technology, and why other SaaS entrepreneurs should do the same, by focusing on their product.

Growing a team, hiring friends, and being a young CEO | George Spencer & Gabriele Maroso, Rentify May 16, 2016

Show notes

George Spencer is founder and CEO at Rentify, a software platform which helps landlords market, manage, and make money from their properties. Gabriele Maroso is the Director of Business Operations at Rentify. 0120 There are two factors that effect an entrepreneur's ability to hire smart people at the very early-stage: chiefly available capital, and the own ability to 'sell' the company to prospective employees. 0240 If there are multiple founders at an early-stage company, each founder needs to have complimentary skills. It's not useful when it comes to execution if you have three founders with overlapping, similar skills. 0310 George speaks about his first hire. Even though they were a great, their role become automated as the company developed. 0415 As the company evolves, the CEO is pivotal in ensuring the team, the culture and the hiring strategy evolves at the right pace. 0600 George has a tip for entrepreneurs: Startups at seed stage often attempt to optimise every process for minimal gain. They should focus on speed, rather than achieve an extra 1% here and there. 0720 Gabriele was the third employee at Rentify. Joining any growth company is a risk, so Ben asks why he chose to work in a startup. 0830 Would Gabriele recommend students to go and work for a startup? 1018 Hiring friends: it's tempting for a CEO, but is it a good idea? 1220 Since founded Rentify, George has parted ways with his original two cofounders. He talks through how that process, and discusses what he learnt. 1330 Startup founders need to be hugely aware that job roles and focuses change as the company grows. 1435 Gabriele explains how his job is now totally different to the role he took three years ago. 1537 Gabriele lifts the lid on how George has changed as a CEO over the last three years. From friend to statesman... 1645 On the subject of mistakes, George answers the question: How do you keep your team believing in the 'Rentify ethos' after particularly difficult moments for the business? 1830 Hiring from large technology behemoths into scaling startups is hard. George explains that employees of large companies often get used to a life of delegation and strategising, and aren't used to rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in. 2055 Gabriele is now in the position where he has made his first hire into his own team. 2225 Having established the company at 24, George talks about the downsides of being a young Founder.

How to Inspire Innovation and Impact Healthcare | Andre and Andy on the TouchSurgery Hackathon May 03, 2016

Show notes

Before we get into the detail... SIGN UP FOR THE TOUCHSURGERY HACKATHON!! Title: Healthcare Innovation Hackathon - Inspire innovation and impact healthcare. Date: June 4th & 5th 10am - 4pm Location: Balderton Capital - The Stables, 28 Britannia St, Kings Cross, London WC1X 9JF, United Kingdom Goal of the event: Identify problems in the medical field and offer solutions that can realistically be pursued as a viable product as; Tools/ instruments, consumables, hardware, software, App. Sign up page: http://partner.touchsurgery.com/biz-form/ Now onto the podcast: Andre Chow and Andy Davis join Ben to discuss the trials and tribulations with working with the healthcare industry, and explain why they are running a hackathon to bring two separate industries together. 0042 What is Touch Surgery all about? Creating a mobile accessible tool to help surgical training? 0220 How do you overcome the 'customer problem' in health-care? 0245 Andre explains that everyone knows that healthcare is a huge market, but with this size comes "immense slowness", that can be frustrating to entrepreneurs 0330 Potentially unlike many other industries, diligence is of paramount importance in medicine. 0548 On the conservatism of the healthcare industry, Andre explains that even though high levels of careful consideration are great when dealing with patients, that the mentality isn't helpful when applied to entrepreneurship. 0640 HACKATHON! In an attempt to remedy the industry's conservatism, Andre, Andy and the touch surgery team are running a hackathon to bring the medical, technology and entrepreneurial industries closer together. 0850 The TouchSurgery team share their top tips for doctors who are starting their first business... 1135 On non-disclosure agreements: The TS team tried to keep their idea under wraps in the early days, and quickly worked out that they need to talk openly about their business if they were to succeed! They advise fellow 'doctorpreneurs' to do the same. 1910 Andrew explains that, if he wasn't doing TouchSurgery, that he would take 2200 Keep your eye out for some original, medical research from TouchSurgery. As Andre explains, they want to use data to explain how they have a genuine effect on patient outcomes.

What Brexit and the Budget means for UK Entrepreneurs | Guy Levin, Executive Director of COADEC Mar 30, 2016

Show notes

This week, we speak to Guy Levin, the Executive Director of Coadec. Guy heads up the UK's foremost digital think tank and trade association, and is also the Associate Editor of Policy at The Memo. He was formerly a special adviser to DFID (Department for International Development) and DCMS (Department for Culture, Media and Sport). 0030 For those who haven't come across Coadec before, Guy gives a brief introduction to what they do. 0050 We have to talk about Brexit. 80%+ of Coadec's membership recently express a very definite interest in remaining in the EU. Guy explains what Coadec will do next in the light of this overwhelming response. 0255 Guy talks about some individual members of The UK"s entrepreneurial community who have come out in favour of remaining in the EU, such as Tom from Mondo, Taavet of TransferWise and Damian of Duedil. 0320 As many of us won't be 100% familiar with the workings of Whitehall: How does a think tank work? 0420 Guy explains that the job during Brexit is to influence the voting public, and reminds his fellow politicos that the day to day workings of politics doesn't really effect people's lives! 0535 Guy explains why entrepreneurs' stories are critical to the EU campaign. 0720 What UKIP got wrong with their isolantionist policy: USA and China can access a huge single market, whereas UK can't. 0800 If Britain leaves the EU, what will happen to passporting? We enter the unkown... ! 0930 The big question: Guy delves into the reasons why tech entrepreneurs should want to remain in the EU, and also considers the arguments put forward by pro-Brexit campaigners. 1330 The Budget was a fairly recent occurrence in UK policy. It's fair to say that the UK tech agenda wasn't at the front and centre of the budget, but Guy has teased out the most important parts for techies. 1420 The government has recognised the gig economy in an area tucked away in the recent budget. 1600 So what are the government doing? 1740 In areas such as fintech, UK legislation has been comparatively progressive. For example, equity crowdfunding has been able to flourish here. Is there something inherently progressive about UK legislation? 1916 Guy tips his hat to 'the people at the top of politics', who caught the tech bug early on, and have helped the industry to grow. 2000 According to Guy, the 'meritocracy of ideas' is powerful in Whitehall. In other words, if Coadec continue to feed in good ideas to policymakers, they stand a greater chance of implementation. 2110 The entrepreneurial part of Guy's journey is that he chose to breathe new life into Coadec after the organisation had been 'laying dormant' for some time. 2300 "I'm proud that we've been able to influence the debate" 2440 How does one think tank collaborate with another? 2540 What's next on the horizon for Coadec? Guys says we should keep our eyes peeled for the London Startup Manifesto, and also some work on the Snooper's Charter... NB: Please find the actual stats that I couldn't remember during the podcast here! http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/blog/people-feel-left-dark-eu-referendum-debate

How we built the world's largest Equity Crowdfunding platform | Luke Lang, CoFounder of Crowdcube Mar 23, 2016

Show notes

This week Ben Goldsmith talk to Luke Lang, who cofounded Crowdcube in 2011 alongside Darren Westlake. 0050 When Luke and Darren set up Crowdcube, there was no blueprint. Nobody has attempted to build an equity crowdfunding platform at such a scale before. We ask why they took such a risk on a new and untried idea, and what it was like to sail into uncharted waters. 0248 Luke explains how equity crowdfunding has increased the level of diversity amongst those who make investments, and shares some stats on the increased level of gender diversity compared to traditional angel investing. 0450 We ask whether the idea for Crowdcube came as a response to the success of reward-based crowdfunding platforms such as IndieGoGo and Kickstarter? Luke explains that it wasn't, and it was a direct response to frustrations with angel investing. 0655 In the early days, it was really difficult to get companies to list on the platform. Now - due to Crowdcube's understandably strict levels of due diligence and scrutiny - entrepreneurs have to beat 1 in 10 odds to even list on Crowdcube. 0930 Equity crowdfunding has created entirely new and original data - The LSE are working with Crowdcube to find out more about investor behaviour. 1000 We asked Luke about a relatively new phenomenon of VC investors pre-loading Crowdcube rounds, and he gives Balderton a pat on the back for trailblazing this phenomenon with our round into Crowdcube! 1115 A deserved hat-tip to record breakers Mondo (who appeared on the Balderton podcast only a few weeks ago), who raised £1m in 96 seconds! 1315 When Crowdcube were starting out, Luke explains how they had angel investors in their crosshairs. As they have grown, they have ended up disrupting VC too... 1420 Luke takes the opportunity to respond to a few misconceptions about crowdfunding. He explains that all investors on Crowdcube have to complete a risk assessment, and that Crowdcube are totally transparent about the level of risk involved. Also, the aforementioned LSE research has demonstrated that the crowd, as a whole, invest in a rational, stable and predictable manner. 1735 Something that interested a lot of people in Crowdcube's most recent investment round was the involvement of Numis, the investment bank. Luke explains that strategic thought that lies behind this relationship.

The Dutch tech scene inside and out | Sebastiaan Heijne, serial entrepreneur Mar 14, 2016

Show notes

This week we catch up with Sebastiaan Heijne, the founder of Signkick, who takes us through the Dutch tech scene. 0045 The Dutch have a naturally world-wide approach due to the small home market, very high levels of spoken English, and huge network connectivity. 0335 Seb explains that the majority of the best Dutch tech leaders and entrepreneurs now work from overseas... is this good or bad? 0645 Is there anything particularly 'Dutch' about the Netherlands tech scene? 0730 There is more to the Dutch tech scene than just Amsterdam, and that Eindhoven and The Hague play important parts too. 0920 Seb explains how drug culture does indeed filter through into entrepreneurship and technology in the country. 1025 If you read the coverage of the European technology scene, it appears that London, Stockholm, Paris, Berlin and Copenhagen may be ahead of Amsterdam in the rankings... is this how people feel in The Netherlands? 1110 Shout out to James Wise (Balderton Partner) who is in Amsterdam as we record this podcast! 1250 What are the best accelerators and conferences? Shoutouts to TheNextWeb, Startup Fest, Uprise, StartupBootcamp, WeWork and more... 1540 Are there certain sectors that specialisms in Holland? - Seb's answer throws some light on cybersecurity, biotech and the Dutch dance scene! 1900 The big question: What's next for the tech scene in The Netherlands? 2150 Will raising money get easier in Holland? (Seb gives the Dutch government a few tips!

How entrepreneurs can wow journalists | tips from Alex Wood, Founder & Editor of The Memo Feb 22, 2016

Show notes

Ben catches up with Editor of The Memo Alex Wood, and talks about what entrepreneurs should do to maximise their chances of getting covered in the media. 0100 Alex explains how a newsroom actually works behind the scenes, and how entrepreneurs can use this knowledge to their advantage 0250 What's the best 'first point of contact' for a journalist? Is it email? Or are you guys way too busy? 0355 Where are you going to coverage? Should entrepreneurs shoot for the stars and go for national & international titles? Or should they focus on the tech and trade media? 0445 Alex advises entrepreneurs to make their intentions very clear... as journalists will thank you for doing so 0650 Does social media work? 0805 Alex advises entrepreneurs on how they should use 'off the record' and 'background calls', and explains why journalists aren't likely to betray your confidence. 1000 Is there a better medium to be covered on (online, print, tv, video?), and what are the key differences between them? 1145 If you have a contrarian viewpoint, Alex has some words of advice... 1305 Assuming it's all gone well, and a Founder is booked to go on telly: what are the most important golden rules for them to follow? 1430 When should a startup use a PR agency? 1650 Should an entrepreneur get media training? (and what should they wear on tv?) 1840 What should you expect in a tv studio? 2120 Quote of the day from Alex, "Founding a company has made me a better journalist" - you heard it here first. 2200 What's next for The Memo (and how can entrepreneurs get covered!?)

Outdated Assumptions about Nordic Tech | Neil Murray, Founder & Editor of The Nordic Web Feb 02, 2016

Show notes

Neil Murray, Founder and Editor of TheNordicWeb, joins Ben Goldsmith to challenge a few outdated assumptions about the Scandinavian tech scene. 0030 Neil recently wrote a piece with the title, 'the state of the Nordic tech scene today'. It is a response to certain outdated assumptions about the ecosystem that Neil would like to dispel... 0330 Neil answers the question: will The Nordics overtake London as a venue for tech investment anytime soon? He explains how the stats & gut feeling provide a different answer. 0530 Neil explains how his colleagues in the media need to update and sharpen up their Nordic tech knowledge. 0810 Should be a Nordic web for every city? Here, Neil gives Tech.eu a massive pat on the back. 0920 In a recent article on Pando Daily, the Nordics was criticised for a lack of sector diversity... Neil explains why it is London, not The Nordics, that needs more variety! 1150 Neil lays out the top people and place to meet if you're new to Nordic Tech: CPHFTW, Sup46, Stockholm Tech Meetup, Slush and Arctic Startup all get Mr Murray's approval.

How an entrepreneur built a bank | Tom Blomfield, CEO of Mondo Jan 27, 2016

Show notes

Tom Blomfield becomes the second of GoCardless' original cofounding team to join Ben for a podcast in the last couple of weeks. Tom is building Mondo, a bank that is challenging the high street incumbents. In this episode, Tom talks about the challenges of applying for a banking licence, shares some tips for first time entrepreneurs, and explains why opening banking APIS are - at the moment - rubbish. 0030 It's Mondo's first birthday next month! Feel free to send them a cake in the post. 0130 So far, the reaction to Mondo has been overwhelmingly positive. Why do you think this is? It used to be difficult to get people excited about banking! 0230 Tom explains why most high street current accounts are rubbish, and why Mondo is better. 0340 According to Tom, your current account should be a 'home screen app'; and users should feel as comfortable using it as they do on Google, Facebook or Twitter. 0415 How does Mondo attract consumers? 0612 Tom compares to cost of customer acquisition between high street banks and Mondo... 0700 Last year it was reported that Mondo were applying for a banking licence - when are you due to get your hands on one? 0825 Why are Mondo applying for a banking licence? Lots of so-called 'challenger banks' aren't actually banks... why is Mondo going through all of this effort? 1000 What is a 'bank in a box'? 1050 Tom tells the story of how and why he got involved with Hiroki and Matt at GoCardless 1350 Experience is very important, and Tom now has three businesses under his belt. In light of his previous successes, Tom shares some tips for first time founders... 1630 Why do Mondo run hackathons? And should more banks run hacks? 1800 Tom explains that most banking APIs lead to dummy data... he also explains why this is rubbish, and why Mondo's API provides access to real data. 2300 How can I get a Mondo card?

Becoming a Second Time Founder | Matt Robinson talks about doing it all again Jan 11, 2016

Show notes

Matt Robinson, coFounder of GoCardless, talks about founding a business for a second time. As well as swapping stories about McKinsey, YCombinator and cold-calling; Matt gives some advice to entrepreneurs who are starting businesses for the first time...

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