Presentation about my startup (Map2app) from the founding in 2011, till the exit in 2015. I will present all the different aspects of building a product, running a business, flying to Silicon Valley and come back, being acquired by lastminute.com group

1. FROM ZERO TO EXIT: A FULL
STARTUP JOURNEY
Michele Orsi
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Why this presentation?

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2016 - R&D in London
new software projects
2008 - Master degree
in Software Engineering
2011 - Co-Founded Map2app
.. in Bologna, with two friends
2009 - European Space Agency
(especially proud to be in the Rosetta team!)
2015 - Map2app acquired
.. by lastminute.com group
Who am I?

4. 4
Two perspectives
Our reality
Not in selling /funding mood
“Give back” attitude
Why is this presentation different?

5. Map2app overview
What
platform for creating
mobile travel apps
Who
3 co-founders with
different backgrounds
Where
Bologna, San Francisco,
Chiasso (CH)
How
paying customers +
FFF +
2 investments
When
started in 2011,
acquired in 2015
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The startup engine: co-founders, ..

7. Met with co-founders 2008, March
Founded Map2app2011, January
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Acquisition
End of stocks plan
(Co-founder relationship)
2015, February
2017, February

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.. investors and advisors, ..

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.. employees .. A difficult mix!

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Knowledge
in the domain
Experience
but not too much
New market
emerging in popularity
An “obsession”
in all discussions
The myth of “idea”

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Bologna Smart
City app: a real product
How we started: the first paying customer
Municipality of Bologna
Good: the money (30k)
Bad: not real validation

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STARTER
FREE
Revenue sharing
iOs app
Android app
Fixed app price
map2app logo
Professional
$500+
Full revenue
The market: our first business model
iOs app
Android app
Free or payed app
White label

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FAIL
’C’ Attitude
Content
Opportunity
Problem vs
solution
Revenuesharing
Customer
lifetime value
Support
.. and the first “storm”

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Market niche
Early adopters
Big projects
Startup network
.. a little umbrella that moves us forward..

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“Good” metrics, but ..Ready to scale, but ..
Working, but .. Idea implemented, but ..
Technical frustration

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Design for validation
focus on market fit
Long term vision
money will arrive
Find “secret sauce”
do not rely on ads
Be a small company
focus on saving time
Some lessons learnt

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The difficult part is in the
visibility (of the “good” part)
The bad times (beginning of 2012 for us)

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Won Mind the Bridge
first seed funding: 50k
Late 2012: the BIG opportunity
Incubation period
me as biz “front-man”

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San Francisco
the context
Accelerator
advisors, entrepreneur, events
The lean startup
get out of the building!
B2B solution
subscription
Pitch elevator
found the “value proposition”
New investments
50k (instead of 300k)
Silicon Valley accelerator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDE1sVPCHHg

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Data driven
decision
Insight & KPI
drive features
Move fast
and (do not) break things
Good enough
code for validation
The iterative new process

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Availability
eager to help
Difficulties
raising money
High competition
top universities and startups
US centric
lack of knowledge
Tight network of
recommendations
american track record
Outsider
.. together with Silicon Valley disillusion

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European market
was the biggest one
America Europe Asia / Other
30%
60%
10%
Italy, the return

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The incubator
no events or advisors
Funds
stick with Italy
Our growth
20% per month
B2B growth
with big publishers
Trade fair
travel specific
Champions
are resellers
Italian package

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new, smart and more efficient
Travel promotion
better experience for tourists
Curated content
app creation
Fast and cheap
600 apps and 2M downloads
Distribution channel
Map2app: our real values ..

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.. and the acquisition
“How many 'no' are you able to say?”

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Rapidly growing
Chiasso, Madrid,
London, Bangalore
Big OTA
one of the biggest in Europe Tourist centric
deliver the best
experience
What is ?

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THANK YOU!
https://ch.linkedin.com/in/micheleorsi
@micheleorsi
Keep in touch:
https://github.com/micheleorsi
Work with us:
http://careers.lastminutegroup.com