The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

Latest Episodes:

To become a unicorn, you’ll need multiple product-market fits! Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

Arthur Nobel is a Principal at Knight Capital, having previously worked at Rocket Internet & co-founded Flexpat where he went through both the startup hype and the trough of disillusionment!

Arthur wrote the best-selling book “Leaders of Growth” and hosts the Leaders of Growth Podcast.

We explored why:

The concept of a single product-market fit needs to be re-configured as a continuous journey of multiple product-market fits
Arthur's goal - as a VC - is not to make money but to help others succeed & achieve their vision
Market-timing is crucial - pre-pandemic, Arthur launched a company to help businesses hire remote workers – but companies did not at that time want remote workforces so the business failed
The character of your ideal employee should change significantly at each stage of a company's evolution
Entrepreneurs need to quantify their competitive advantage and optimise for this across their entire business

For more insights into Knight Capital head over to https://www.knight.capital/

And for guidance on recruiting exceptional leaders for B2B SaaS scale-ups, check out https://alpinasearch.com/

Gain.Pro: SaaS start-up with a clear path to profitability! Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

Nicola Ebmeyer is the co-founder at Gain.Pro - a 3 year old European SaaS fintech looking to become the Bloomberg of the private finance market!

Gain.Pro already has a stellar list of loyal clients like Bain, Mckinsey, 3i and BCG - their ARR has consistently grown at well over 100% YoY and they've delivered exceptional NRR & NPS

Nicola explained how Gain.Pro was established from the get-go with a clear understanding of unit economics & a clear path towards profitability.

We also explored:

how a large consultancy like McKinsey provides an excellent career foundation for wannabe entrepreneurs
how to ensure you only build products your clients truly need
why customer feedback should be treated as a "gift" & never as a problem
focusing every employee - whether they be commercial or technical - on a common set of KPIs

For more Gain.Pro insights check out https://www.gain.pro/ & for guidance on recruiting leadership talent for European B2B SaaS scale-ups head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Can an AI startup help get 1 million people back to work? Jan 24, 2022

Show notes

Dr Shay David is the CEO at retrain.ai – a startup developing the world’s leading AI talent intelligence platform to unlock talent insights and optimize the hiring, retention, & upskilling of their employees.

Shay’s previous venture was Kaltura which he took from inception to $100m+ in revenue – Kaltura ipo’d in 2021.

Shay discussed:

why he wanted to build a software venture to address a global societal problem
how retrain.ai will solve the generational skills gap & help get 1 million people back to work
key tenets of building a successful software startup: customer centricity, data centricity & focusing on the fundamentals
why the US is becoming less of a priority for international software ventures

For more insights into retrain.ai head over to https://www.retrain.ai/ and for advice on hiring exceptional leadership talent for SaaS scale-ups check out https://alpinasearch.com/

Teenage entrepreneur shaking up the world of AI & ecommerce! Jan 04, 2022

Show notes

Oliver Edholm is a teenage entrepreneur shaking up the world of AI & ecommerce!

Oliver launched the ecommerce SaaS startup "Depict" - funded by Northzone & EQT - after a spell at Klarna

Depict uses AI to deliver Amazon-quality product recommendations for any e-commerce store enabling small & medium-sized retailers to compete on a level playing field with their largest competitors.

Oliver explains how he:

dropped out of school after having his worldview transformed by Nick Bostrom's book “Super Intelligence”
became the youngest AI researcher in the world at age 15!
1st met his co-founder Anton, & seeded the idea for Depict, at “Effective Altruism”
began his entrepreneurial journey, despite a lack of retail relationships or startup experience, at the start of the covid pandemic & joined Y Combinator

He outlined some key Y Combinator learnings including aim for 100% clarity - even if you're only 80% accurate - in all your communications

And he explained how meditation can "change the operating system of your mind" - could meditation be a tool that would help other entrepreneurs handle their scale-up challenges more effectively?

For more insights into Depict check out https://depict.ai/

And for advice on hiring exceptional leadership talent to scale your B2B SaaS venture, head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Founder’s privilege: surround yourself with wonderful human beings! Dec 27, 2021

Show notes

Neta Meidav is the CEO of Vault Platform. In 2017, inspired by the #MeToo movement and her own experiences with harassment, Neta left her job as a climate adviser to found Vault.

Vault is a Series A scale-up pioneering TrustTech - a new category of ethics-enabling workplace technology helping companies address compliance, risk, and HR challenges.

Neta explained how Vault helps with a range of work issues - including ethics, bullying, racism & sexual harassment. By giving people a voice, "you help them to speak up...you automatically create a more diverse environment".

We discussed the challenges of being a female tech entrepreneur in a male-dominated sector - studies have shown that female founders face different funding criteria & are actually asked different questions by VCs!

We explored the founder's privilege of surrounding themselves with great minds & wonderful human beings - and experiencing how "the magic happens" when exceptional people get together.

Neta also explained why she believes hybrid working is an inferior model - hence Vault, due to the pandemic, has switched from WFO to WFH - and we discussed how companies can ensure the magic still happens when teams are working remotely.

For more insights into Vault check out https://vaultplatform.com/

And for advice on hiring global leadership talent for B2B SaaS startups & scale-ups, head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Who gives a damn about TAM?! Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

Jan Andriessen & Mick Mackaay are Partners at HenQ - a Dutch-based VC investing in European B2B software startups addressing "unexplored problems" & "defining their own markets".
They've an exceptional track record backing unproven leadership teams who've subsequently scaled massively e.g. SendCloud - who now have 400 employees, 23,000 ecommerce clients & in September 2021 raised a follow-on round of $177m!

We explored HenQ's refreshing approach to VC investing. For example, HenQ:

are dismissive of the metrics that VCs & startups typically obsess over - who gives a damn about TAM?!
are a fully remote VC firm - deal-sourcing is almost entirely outbound and digital
use advanced algorithms to identify very early stage businesses to invest in
typically invest in younger founders who lack a proven track record yet demonstrate the personal traits - e.g. obsessiveness & attention to detail - HenQ believe determine startup success
are dismissive of the excessive emphasis VCs traditionally place on charm & charisma
aim to ensure every one of their portfolio companies will be successful - this contrasts sharply with the traditional VC model that assumes 1 in 10 portfolio companies will generate huge returns hence the fate of the other 9 matters less

For more insights into HenQ and their stable of successful B2B Saas scale-ups check out https://henq.vc/ & for guidance on hiring exceptional leaders for B2B Saas ventures head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Migration – a powerful driver of sustainable growth? Nov 17, 2021

Show notes

Judith Dada is a General Partner at La Famiglia - a European VC investing in early stage digital disruptors like buynomics and y42.

We explored a wide-range of topics including:

“Learning the craft of VC” is more important than a business school education
Migration should be viewed as a powerful driver of growth - hence society's perceptions need to change
Migration and remote working can help startups overcome some of their talent scarcity & diversity challenges
Augmentation may have more long-term impact on productivity than automation technologies
Ethical & philosophical considerations are important for the future of AI - the research of experts like Oxford University’s Luciano Floridi provides thought-provoking insights

For more information on La Famiglia check out https://lafamiglia.vc/ & for advice on hiring leadership talent at software ventures head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Can AI overcome human bias in VC decisions? Nov 07, 2021

Show notes

Eva-Valerie Gfrerer is the founding CEO at MorphAIs - the pioneer in AI-driven VC investment.

MorphAIs uses a data and technology driven approach to reduce human error & bias & make investments more accurate, transparent and inclusive.
Eva discussed many data-driven VC topics including:
❇️ entrepreneurial talent is equally distributed – it’s the access to capital that isn’t
❇️ AI-led decisions can drive more inclusive VC investments and enhanced returns
❇️ data-driven behavioural science may help investors evaluate even subtle criteria like passion & perseverance

For more insights into Morphais head over to https://morphais.com/

And for guidance on recruiting world class leaders for B2B startups & scaleups, check out https://alpinasearch.com/

Creating a culture where people will have the best 5 years of their working lives! Oct 29, 2021

Show notes

Niels Brochner is a co-founder at Contractbook who provide document & contract automation to 150,000 users across more than 100 countries.
Contractbook, based out of Copenhagen and now also NYC, have raised $43m – mostly from US VCs Tiger Global, Gradient & Bessemer Venture Partners

Niels discussed:

How to create a culture where people actually want to come to work – where they’ll have the best 5 years of their working life!
Why US VCs are more supportive & impactful than European VCs
How to identify talent with “StartUp IQ” even if they are not proven rockstars!
The lessons business leaders can learn from exceptional sports champions like the NBA’s Steve Kerr

For more insights into Contractbook check out https://contractbook.com/ & head over to https://alpinasearch.com/ for advice on recruiting exceptional start-up & scale-up leaders

Camels versus unicorns - which type of scale-up are you?! Sep 24, 2021

Show notes

Henry Alty, Investment Director at Gresham House Ventures, invests in process & workflow automation software, digital transformation, & scale-ups looking to improve the use of data & analytics

We explored:

the opportunity to build profitable, sustainable, scale-ups - "camels" - that many investors overlook in their search for unicorns
how to scale from 3m-5m ARR to 10m-20m+ ARR - founders must be prepared to invest in expensive leadership talent, & to relinquish control of key functions, to build a genuine scale-up
how Gresham's combined PE & VC expertise delivers value to growth companies seeking investors in an increasingly crowded market
why founders should take extensive references & really dig into the approach & track record of prospective investors - just as they should do when hiring senior talent
why companies who embrace ESG criteria are well-positioned for the challenges of the next decade

For more insights into Gresham House Ventures check out https://greshamhouseventures.com/

And for guidance on recruiting leadership talent for growth ventures, head over to https://alpinasearch.com/

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The StartUp to ScaleUp Game Plan

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected