The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

Latest Episodes:

Pietro Bezza, Connect Ventures – "perpetual learnability" is vital to the success of any scale-up Feb 22, 2018

Show notes

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

Zack Urlocker: ZenDesk, Duo Security & MySQL - successfully scaling your US enterprise software venture into Europe Feb 19, 2018

Show notes

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

Steve Hoffmann, Captain & CEO @ Founders Space discusses an innovation toolkit for your start-up Feb 13, 2018

Show notes

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

Steve Collins – Partner at Frontline Ventures Feb 11, 2018

Show notes

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.

Frederic Halley, NextWorld Capital: How to ensure success when your software venture expands internationally Feb 07, 2018

Show notes

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.

Jan Quant, CEO at Screendragon - how to scale your UK software venture & crack the US market...with zero VC funding! Feb 06, 2018

Show notes

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.

Neil Ryland, CRO @ Peakon - StartUp, GrowUp, ScaleUp Jan 16, 2018

Show notes

Neil Ryland is the CRO at Peakon - funded by EQT Ventures, Sunstone Capital, IDInvest and Tommy Ahlers – who's SaaS platform helps companies maximise their employee engagement, retention and productivity. Prior to Peakon, Neil was the Chief Revenue Officer at Huddle, one of Britain’s most successful VC funded enterprise software ventures - Neil re-located to San Francisco to spearhead Huddle’s US market entry.

Neil explains:

How he’s overcome a sense of “impostor syndrome” at various stages during his career
Why it’s crucial, for any European enterprise software business expanding to The States, to relocate a key individual from the leadership team to establish and lead the US business
His definition of the 3 stages of venture businesses: startup, growup, scaleup – and the characteristics that define success in each of those 3 phase
The sales academies he’s developed at both Huddle and Peakon to replicate the approach, to training and nurturing talent, deployed by many of the world’s most successful blue chip IT companies

Head over to https://peakon.com for more details on Peakon and check out www.alpinasearch.com for more advice on globally scaling your enterprise software venture.

Alex Dunsdon - Partner at SAATCHiNVEST, Co-Founder at The Bakery Dec 31, 2017

Show notes

Alex Dunsdon has a portfolio of different roles – he’s a partner at early stage investor Saatchinvest where he’s invested in successful startups like Citymapper and also a co-founder at The Bakery who describe themselves as “a pioneer in accelerating open innovation”

Alex explains:

the fundamental requirement for any enterprise software venture to demonstrate that their solution addresses clearly defined user needs
how The Bakery helps start-ups solve fundamental problems for, and close multi-million dollar deals with, global blue chips
how Saatchinvest assesses the DNA of CEOs pitching for investment
how founder-CEOs need to evolve their behaviour and leadership style as their company grows
the hype around AI: most “AI” implementations, thus far, comprise a few simple automated processes
why the quality of enterprise sales talent in Europe falls so far behind the US
how shocked he was by the VC mantra “growth at any cost” and why he'd be bored if he was purely a startup investor/VC!

For more insights into startups and innovation check out http://www.saatchinvest.com and https://www.thebakery.com and for advice on scaling software ventures head over to http://alpinasearch.com

Jon Prideaux, CEO @ Boku scaling a UK enterprise software venture globally to a £125m valuation at IPO Dec 13, 2017

Show notes

Jon Prideaux is the CEO at BOKU who, on 20 November 2017, went public on AIM at an initial £125m valuation and quickly popped to £160m.

Boku’s platform brings merchants and mobile operators together to transform 5 billion mobile phone subscribers into the world’s largest pool of customers. That's more users than Visa and Mastercard combined!

Jon provides the following insights:

How to smoothly transition out of - or indeed into - the role of CEO
How to plan and execute an IPO
Why he believes company leaders need to view their IPO as an “entrance” not an “exit”!
How Boku developed a consistent culture across the globe even when they acquired local businesses
How Jon is motivating Boku’s senior team to drive the business forward rather than resting on their laurels after the IPO

Head over to https://www.boku.com for more details on Boku and check out www.alpinasearch.com for advice on globally scaling your software venture.

How to raise $20m for your blockchain startup: with the co-founders @ Aventus Systems Dec 03, 2017

Show notes

Alan Vey & Annika Monari are the Co-Founders at Aventus Systems, a pioneer in blockchain technology that’s been dubbed “the bitcoin of ticketing”. They closed one of the largest cryptocurrency funding rounds outside of The States just over 12 months after Aventus was founded: their $20m “Initial Token Offering” - led by Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund - was sold out in just 7 minutes!

Alan and Annika discuss:

Which types of business can best leverage blockchain technology
How to go about raising a cryptocurrency funding round
How a company funded with cryptocurrency engages with employees and suppliers who might prefer to receive payments in a traditional currency
The differences between Ether – the cyptocurrency that was used to fund Aventus - and Bitcoin
Their perspective on the Bitcoin “bubble” and how they've ensured business contacts and employees are confident about the stability, and the growth potential, of the Aventus business model

For more insights into Aventus Systems head over to https://www.aventus.io and for expert advice on startups and scale-ups check out http://alpinasearch.com/market-insights/