Слайды лекции в ВШЭ для Московских стартапов и студентов ВШЭ.

1. Фандрайзинг 101
Александр Дресен
Kown - The Lean Investor Club
@alekskown

2. Who am I?
• Product, code, sell
• As entrepreneur: 2 exits, 2 +/- ok, 3 fails
• Seedcamp, Eleven, Startup Chile, A-tier funds, >50
angels
• Invested in 1st round in 19 co’s: 1 exit
• Fintech, (Fashiontech, Crazy-stuff)
@alekskown alex@kown.com

3. Mobile app for AngelList

4. Before you start
• Check other people’s failures
• What is it that you want to do?
• Who can help you and how?

5. Sanctions don’t affect
startups
• Forget that you are located in Russia - global vision
• Use power of the Internet to connect to anyone
• Investors don’t give a shit about nationalities

6. Investors care about great
entrepreneurs &
disruptive scalable stuff

7. How do you become a
great entrepreneur?

8. Make mistakes.

9. Make BIG mistakes.

10. Max Levchin

11. You learn a lot more from
failure than from success.

13. #1: (co-)Founders are KING
• Don’t be a solo player
• Don’t just get cofounders to have cofounders
• Be ready that your friends, colleagues, employees
become enemies

14. #2: Building a startup = rough
• Unpredictable
• Murphy’s law
• People suck
• Investors suck
• 99% fail. Failure is part of life

15. Startup #Mafia

16. #3: Focus on what really is
important

17. PR SUCCESS

18. Звезды #R стартапов

19. Площадки для самопиара
• Rusbase
• Firrma
• Конкурсы
• Рейтинги
powered by $ from РВК

20. Рейтинги инвест
привлекательности?
ААА
АBA
BBB
XX?
No one gives a fuck.

21. What is wrong with #R
startups?
• False sense of inferiority
• Go-west mentality
• Over-expectations of smart money
• Wrong KPIs (PR, Grants, Contests,…)

22. Biggest problem in #R:
being underfunded

23. 2nd biggest problem in #R:
small-minded investors
who crave control

24. 3nd biggest problem in #R:
Инвесторы считают что
фаундера можно легко
заменить

25. Result:
snails survival mode

26. Понять, простить
Российскиe фонды

27. So who can give you $?

28. The Investors
• Huge difference between SV, LATAM, EU & Russia
• Angels
• Private Equity
• VC’s
• New Investors (non-tech)
@alekskown alex@kown.com

29. Different type of investors
at different stages
• Vision + Team + MVP
• Product + Product Market fit + Some traction
• Revenue + LTV + CAC + clear growth strategy
@alekskown alex@kown.com

30. Talk to the right investors
at the right time
@alekskown alex@kown.com

31. VC’s

32. Most #R VC’s are followers
• Most VC’s underperform and struggle to get access to
hot startups.
• The leading 3% VC’s make 90% of all returns in startups.
• Analyst→Principal→Associate→Partner (decision)
@alekskown alex@kown.com

33. How to connect to VC’s
• Be introduced by founders VC’s have backed previously
• Be introduced by someone they know and trust
(angels, ban’s, accelerators …)
• Get noticed through TRACTION
@alekskown alex@kown.com

34. Angels
• (ex)Entrepreneurs & top exec’s (senior)
• Invest from $20K to $100K
• Make 1 or 2 deals a year and take ages to decide
• Painful valuation & long negotiations

35. Business Angel Clubs
• Painful and long selection process
• Very (very) slow decisions
• Invest from $100K to millions $
35

36. Don’t talk to corporate
investors too early
You’ll get fucked

37. Friends Family Fools ФРИИ

38. Don’t take $ from 3F

39. Modern fundraising tools

40. Before you start fundraising.
Investing is about trust
@alekskown alex@kown.com

41. Build a relationship (first)

42. Find out everything you can
about the investor
• Hobbies
• Previous investments
• Background
• Twitter, FB, Linkedin, …

43. Build trust through shared
interests, views, …

44. The pitch is dead

45. Tell a story

46. What is the most important?
• The Pain
• Context
• Emotional connection
• Your Product
• Business Model
• Team
• Market size
• Competition
• Traction
@alekskown alex@kown.com

47. What is the most important?
• The Pain
• Context
•Emotional connection
• Your Product
• Business Model
• Team
• Market size
• Competition
• Traction
@alekskown alex@kown.com

48. Tell your story
• Forget the slides … when you talk to investors … tell
your story, vision and plans
@alekskown alex@kown.com

49. Make the investor LOVE
what you do
@alekskown alex@kown.com

50. The “customer” investor

51. The “parent” investor

52. Be ready for investors
• Prepare, prepare, prepare
• MSP - have a product
• Traction
• What’s next
@alekskown alex@kown.com

53. Know your risks
@alekskown alex@kown.com

54. Know your competitors
@alekskown alex@kown.com

55. Projections?
• Assumptions are useless until you have sales and
understand customer acquisition costs and lifetime
value of a client
@alekskown alex@kown.com

56. Investing is to fundraising
what sex is to dating
@alekskown alex@kown.com

57. Time = $
@alekskown alex@kown.com

58. Valuations (don’t) matter
• Max. 10/15% per round
• Even the best projects don’t get follow-up funding if
your cap table is fucked up
• Get enough runway per round
@alekskown alex@kown.com

59. Investor English
• Contact me when X or Y happens =
• What is yr business model? =
• What is your exit strategy? =
• How did you calculate your valuation? =
@alekskown alex@kown.com

60. Где “легко” взять $

62. The weather

63. The Completo

64. The Food

65. The Wine

66. The LATAM Market
Americas GIA Member, Market Intelligence

67. “Халявные” $40K
http://www.startupchile.org/

68. • Cash (Euro 50,000)
• F+ck+ng amazing network
• Founders
• Investors
• Mentors
http://seedcamp.com/

69. • Sofia (Bulgaria)
• Euro 25K for 8%
• Euro 75K convertible note
• Russian-friendly
http://11.me/

70. • Now: invest in 2 startups per month (exp. 5-10 per
month in 2015)
• Very fast decisions
• Founder-centric (we founders)
• Huge network
alex@kown.com

71. Stuff you should know
• Legal (you need to have a lawyer)
• Liquidation preference
• Smart money is as rare as a unicorn
• Devil is in the details

72. alex@kown.com
@alekskown