Shows
Back on T-R-A-C-KAnita Moorthy: Brand Building for budget-conscious start-upsKerry spills the tea with an experienced Oracle Product Manager to chat about brand building in today's market. Anita Moorphy, a computer engineer by trade, focuses on challenges faced by startups. Today's discussion highlights practical advice budget-conscious start-ups, balancing short-term performance metrics with long-term brand investment, insights on building community engagement and influence while leveraging internal SMEs to creative authentic engagement in digital social spaces, and helping you understand when to start charging customers for your new product. This episode is sponsored by Improvado. We've been using Improvado for several years and love how we can...
2024-12-2055 min
The European Startup ShowThe Power of Community with Jared Robin[00:01:00] Jared's Journey from sales to building a thriving community of 45,000 revenue professionals and how community saved his life.[00:10:00] What makes for a successful B2B community and when companies should think of creating one[00:14:00] The Collab: Jared’s New Initiative - a newsletter and community for collaborative growth. How Collab connects creatives, founders and fractionals with founders.[00:22:00] Challenges and Misconceptions in Community Building[00:32:00] Audience building as the new go-to-marketLinksBook recommendation: Presence process By Michael BrownJoin the RevGenius community to connect with like-minded professionals.Subscribe to the Collab newsletter for insights on collaborative growth.Fo...
2024-05-2944 min
The European Startup ShowFrom Music to Mission: Annu Nieminen on reimagining impact measurement[2:15] From Classical Music to Tech StartupAnnu discusses her transition from a classical musician to founding a technology company, highlighting the unexpected path from arts to entrepreneurship.[12:25] Understanding the Upright Project's Impact ModelA deeper dive into how the Upright Project measures the net impact of companies, using tangible examples to illustrate their methodology.[23:05] Brand Building in the Sustainability SpaceAnnu shares her thoughts on the intricacies of brand building within the sustainability industry and how it differs from other sectors.[29:52] The Decision to Operate as a For-Profit InitiativeAnnu explains the...
2024-02-2139 min
The European Startup ShowFrom Operator to VC Scout; Biggest Mistakes Founders Make in Marketing with Maya Moufarek.2:16 - Path from operator to angel investor to Atomico scout19:09 - Advice on early stage marketingMarketing focus by stage of growthHow do you balance performance marketing and brand/organic marketing?How do you balance the marketing for end-users vs decision makers?Common mistakes 80% of founders make - working as siloed teamsResource for angel investingVentures TogetherAlma AngelsSeae VenturesBook recommendation: On Identity by Amin Maalouf
2024-01-0549 min
Startups Inside Out98. Revolutionising Marketing With AI After Long Leadership Career w/ Anita Moorthy👉🏽 Take Bae Startup Foundations free: https://www.thebaehq.com/courses/bae-startup-foundations
👉🏽 Join Bae HQ: https://www.thebaehq.com/join
Amardeep Parmar from Bae HQ welcomes Anita Moorthy, Co-Founder and CMO of a Stealth Startup in the MarTech space and the host of The European Startup Show.
Amardeep Parmar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amardeepsparmar
Bae HQ: https://www.thebaehq.com
Anita Moorthy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amoorthy/
2023-12-0731 min
The European Startup ShowHow One Startup Built a Multi-million Euro Business with No Code Solutions - Guerson Meyer, co-founder of Sophiq PropertiesGuerson Meyer, Co-Founder & Technology Officer of Sophiq Properties, a PropTech company talks about how he uses no-code solutions at Sophiq Properties to locate, evaluate and validate properties in real-time, adapting to the needs of each investment. In 2023 alone, they will complete 16 operations totalling 30 million euros. Hear in detail what no-code tools he used to build his core business.
2023-11-2948 min
The European Startup ShowOn Usage-based Pricing and How to Run a Successful Design Partner Program with Griffin Parry, co-founder m3terWhy all SaaS companies should implement usage-based pricing andHow to run a successful design partner program with your customers to build your early MVP
2023-10-0543 min
The European Startup ShowZero to $11m Series A with Digitail.io - Practical Advice on ICP, PMF, Fundraising and Building Culture.[1:49] - Why not having domain expertise can sometimes help entrepreneurs[5:45] - Defining your ICP[8:31] - Determining your MVP[13:06] - Funding your seed and lessons learnt from raising too early.[22:48] - GTM[30:11] - Building a team and culture; it starts first with language.[40:20] - Culture first hiring tipsLinksCompany: Digitail.ioGuest: Sebastian GaborBook link: Never Split the difference, Chris Voss
2023-08-2347 min
The European Startup ShowFrom Serial Entrepreneur to Angel Investor to CIO of Estonia: Taavi Kotka Shares his Entrepreneurial Insights[2:16] - 20 years and starting a company in Estonia[5:08] - Angel investing and what to look for?[10:01] - First CIO of Estonia[16:59] - Koos - what is it and why is it important[29:04] - Advice for other entrepreneurs[31:35] - ChatGPT and the future[33:09] - HK Unicorn squad and LinksKoosSponsors:ChargebeeE-residency
2023-06-2241 min
The European Startup ShowBuilding a Unicorn in Bulgaria with Hristo Borisov, Cofounder of Payhawk[2:00] - How the SVB crisis unfolded at Payhawk[6:23] - The 3 most important ingredients for building a successful unicorn[16:19] - Validating your company idea[18:19] - 60 rejections. How Payhawk overcame the biggest objection from VCs[28:35] - Leading through crisis[31:54] - Competition - Use data not marketing to assess competition[36:18] - Trends in Fintech: the payment gapCompany link:PayhawkBook recommendation:Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Boat Race
2023-03-2241 min
The European Startup ShowWhy Investing in Emerging Markets Makes Sense Now - Alisee de Tonnac, co-founder of Seedstars[2:24] - Journey to starting Seedstars[5:31] - Investing and not being local[10:27] - Seedstars programs[13:28] - Investor returns from emerging markets[19:06] - Challenges[25:12] - Advice for entrepreneurs [27:16] - Advice for investorsLinksSeedstarsBook: Where the crawdads sing
2023-03-0232 min
The European Startup ShowWhen *Not* To Go for VC Funding with Alex Axentiev, Co-Founder of HedgeFlows[3:16] - Hedgeflows: Managing risk and automating payment runs for SMEs [9:51] - Advice for finding early product market fit[16:39] - How to attract talent in early stages without brand or VC backing[19:07] - Knowing your investor’s incentivesLinks:HedgeFlowsBooks:Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 steps to successful startup by Bill Aulet
2023-01-2524 min
The European Startup ShowIs It Finally Solar’s Time? Svea Solar’s Hyper Growth Story Proves It Is[2:08] - The economics of solar[7:39] - Challenges and barriers to solar adoption[11:11] - Where are the different countries when it comes to adopting solar[14:50] - Erik’s Journey to starting Svea Solar[19:06] - advice on doing layoffs[23:13] - Challenges of scaling - its all about recruiting, developing and retaining talent[29:48] - Continuous people evaluation[37:40] - 3 things Erik looks for when he interviews peopleLinks:Svea SolarBooks:How to avoid a cl...
2023-01-1343 min
The European Startup ShowHow to Fundraise the Creandum Way with Peter Specht[2:07] - Advice on navigating current economic conditions[6:00] - FTX bankruptcy [8:48] - Early-stage due diligence [10:59] - Identifying outliers to find the next Uber or Airbnb[14:13] - Decision-making at Creandum[16:20] - Funding process LinksCreandumThe Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
2022-12-0738 min
The European Startup ShowBootstrapped to $14M Seed Round with Nurasyl Serik, Co-founder of Remofirst[1:44] - About Remofirst and Nurasyl’s journey to starting Remofirst.[6:49] - The three ingredients for not failing at a startup [9:04] - Finding your ideal customer profile[12:00] - Trends in remote hiring[14:09] - Funding journey and tips[21:50] - Making remote working workLinksRemofirstDelivering Happiness - Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos
2022-11-2431 min
The European Startup ShowHow to be a VC at 29 years and Advice for pre-Series B Companies - Annalise Dragic, Sapphire Ventures[1:53] - Journey to becoming a venture partner at 29 years[7:40] - Increasing the number of women in VC[10:53] - Ideal startups for Sapphire and how they source deals[21:29] - Common challenges, mistakes and advice for Series B companies[30:14] - Series B valuation and trends in valuation[33:51] - Work life balance as a VCLinks:Sapphire VenturesThe Fearless Organization
2022-11-0938 min
The European Startup ShowWhat I Learnt from 4 failed Startups and 8 Rounds of Fundraising[2:15] - Online dating market - is there space for one more?[4:47] - Lessons learned from previous startups - retention, defensibility, product complexity, and proving pmf outside of your home market.[16:39] - Never giving up[20:52] - With 8 rounds of fundraising under his belt, David shares his secret for fundraising.[29:00] - Seed stage valuation[29:54] - Iceland as a growing entrepreneurial hubLinksSmittenBook RecommendationNever Split the DifferenceRich dad, poor dad
2022-10-2040 min
The European Startup ShowRefugee Entrepreneurship with Charlie Fraser, Co-Founder of TERN1:55] - Journey to founding TERN[4:49] - Refugee problem is a global problem. By the numbers.[7:08] - Are refugees are burden to the host country?[9:85] - The Rwanda Refugee plan - will it work?[21:39] - UK’s support for refugees - asylum seekers vs resettlement[28:28] - TERN support for refugees[31:45] - Top three businesses started by refugee entrepreneurs and their main challengesLinksTernRefugee market place, AnkaBen and Jerry’s support page
2022-10-0642 min
The European Startup ShowHow I Built a Billion Dollar Company as an Outsider - Heini Zachariassen, Founder of Vivino[1:53] - Safety in upbringing and why being outside can be a boon to an entrepreneur[8:29] - “Never look at the competition, know your customer instead”[10:58] - Focus on the product and avoid distractions[14:25] - On B2C marketing[19:20] - Building the company culture at Vivino[23:34] - When should a founder step down and bring in a new CEO[27:08] - Fundraising tips[30:35] - what Heini looks for in founders for angel investingLinks:www.vivino.comRaw Startup youtube channel - how to grow your app distribution
2022-09-2140 min
The European Startup ShowThe Irish Startup Ecosystem with Patrick Walsh, the Founder of Dogpatch Labs, Ireland[1:51] - Irish startup scene[7:41] - How to attract and incentivize talent at a macro level[11:13] - The best startup ecosystems in Europe[19:15] - Dogpatch[24:12] - Norther Ireland/Southern Ireland collaboration[27:21] - Funding for startups in IrelandLinksDogpatchChanging World Order by Ray DalioMidnight’s children by Salman Rushdie
2022-07-2536 min
The European Startup ShowFrom Zero to Seed with Andre Turville, Founder of ARX Alliance[2:30] Idea development when you are not from the industry[14:52] - From idea to MVP - DIY or outsource?[21:16] - Funding journey pre-seed to seed[25:26] - Building your team[29:34] - Getting your first customers[31:58] - Niche down on a vertical or not[37:25] - Fundraising dos and don’tsLinksArx Alliance
2022-06-2247 min
The European Startup ShowFrom Operator/Angel Investor to a "proper" VC: Is It for Everyone? With Gemma Bloemen, Principal at Creandum1:45 - Your journey from operational role to VC6:16 - Advice for others thinking of moving from operational to VC role.12:33 - What makes Creandum different to other VC firms?16:25 - Creandum’s process of finding and investing in companies25:00 - Timing for approaching Creandum 27:48 - Metrics for investing32:59 - Trends in EuropeLinksCreandum
2022-05-2540 min
The European Startup ShowPractical tips for Creating Culture For Mega Growth by Sammy Rubin, Co-founder and CEO of YuLife2:00 - Founding YuLife - the journey10:34 - Finding the right co-founders17:49 - Initial customers19:21 - Proving ROI23:11 - From founder-led sales to systematic marketing and sales27:28 - External branding31:41 - Pivoting from B2C to B2B early on34:33 - Internal culture and brandingLinksYuLife7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven Covey
2022-04-2848 min
The European Startup ShowSaaS Go-To-Market Playbook from Notion Capital with Itxaso del Palacio[1:57] - About Notion Capital[4:04] - Notion’s go-to-market support and building the scaling engine[9:09] - How to build a team for growth[16:10] - When to bring in marketing; and determining the first hire[20:13] - US Expansion: when and how you should expand to the US [28:01] - How do you become a Notion Capital portfolio company[40:35] - Big trends and areas of growth in EuropeLinksNotion CapitalThe Circadian Code
2022-04-0750 min
The European Startup ShowCareer Advice and Embedded Finance with Louisa Murray, COO of Railsbank[2:08] Your career from currency trader to COO of Railsbank[6:50] Advice for women in FinTech on growing their careers[11:07] Building a high-performance sales team and hiring women after a career break[16:24] Current trends in embedded finance and fintech[25:46] Growing from 120 - 500 peopleLinks:RailsbankLittle Women by Louisa Alcott
2022-03-2430 min
The European Startup ShowCan Lab-Grown Meat Solve Our Food and Climate Problems? Krijn De Nood - CEO & Co-founder at Meatable[2:12] - Journey from consulting to founding Meatable[11:06] - Alternative protein market[14:35] - Biggest challenges facing Meatable and lab-grown meat[17:45] - Cost of Meatable burger vs a normal burger and target market[22:58] - Funding[24:45] - Go-to-market strategy: license technology or vertically integrate[28:00] - Messaging for different markets - Singapore, US, Europe[31:00] - US expansionLinksMeatable.comBooks:Der Prozess by Kafka
2022-03-0938 min
The European Startup ShowGrowing Through Acquisitions with Ranjan Singh, Co-founder and CEO of HealthHero[2:17] Your journey to founding HealthHero[11:54] Multi-pronged business model and prioritization[14:13] Brand strategy[16:49] Go-to-market strategy[20:58] Structuring for growth[25:24] US expansion plansLinksHealthHeroSponsorsChargebeeE-residencyBook recommendationSapiens
2022-02-2330 min
The European Startup ShowRob Moffat, Partner at Balderton Capital on Opportunities and Trends in Europe; Optimizing Organizational Design for Scale[1:55] Overview of Balderton[3:46] What do you think makes for a good VC? [5:32] Where are you making big bets going into 2022?[6:30] Why is there a difference in the US and Europe when it comes to web3?[7:52] What is your take on the NFT opportunity?[13:26] Opportunities in fintech[17:52] Team vs Idea - what is more important?[23:36] Organizational design from Series A to Series B[33:02] SaaS metrics for companies Balderton has invested in[35:39] If you could start a movement to change something or further a cause, what would it be and why?LinksBalderton CapitalR...
2022-02-0937 min
The European Startup ShowCandid Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur, Ali Albazaz, Founder and CEO of Inkitt[2:10] What motivates you and what makes you keep going one startup after another?[13:36] What makes Inkitt different from all the other self-publishing platforms?[18:30] Who are your readers and what is trending?[20:53] What was the turning point where growth took off?[24:34] How did you manage the downturns in the business?Books mentionedAlchemist from Paulo Coelho
2022-01-2638 min
The European Startup ShowB2B Sales Process and The Most Important Factor in Increasing Upsell - Roberto Coustas, Co-founder and CEO of Deepsea.aiMaritime industry[1:34] Why did you start Deepsea? Why has the maritime industry been so late in modernizing?[6:53] Being two engineering founders, how did you supplement the business knowledge that was missing?[09:56] How did the pandemic affect your business? What did you need to do to adapt?Startup advice[12:15] What are some of the challenges and lessons you learnt in the early stages? [14:43] What was the one change you made in your B2B selling process?[18:30] You were initially wary of taking VC money. What made you change your mind?[21:51] What did you do r...
2022-01-2134 min
The European Startup ShowBuilding and Scaling High Performance Teams; Trends in the Travel Industry and Opportunities for Startups from Veteran Travel Entrepreneur, Henrik Kjellberg[01:40] Why did you decide to focus on the travel industry?[04:10] What are some of the big trends you see in the travel industry? What do you think has changed permanently and what do you think will go back?[5:27] What are some of the opportunities you see for travel startups[8:16] Your leadership style [11:17] How do you hire? What questions do you ask in interviews?[19:33] How do you keep employees motivated when business is not doing well?[21:03] How did you determine your 30-60-90 day plan for Awaze, a PE-driven company? [24:44] How did you lead through Covid?LINKS...
2022-01-1233 min
The European Startup ShowFuture of Workplaces; Pivoting The Whole Company During the Pandemic with Larry Gadea, Founder/CEO of Envoy[1:26] Early life and value of hard work[2:43] Experience and most memorable moments from your time at Google and Twitter as an early employee[7:15] Pivoting during the pandemic[21:50] Future of the workplaceLinks:EnvoyBook recommendation: The Cold Start Problem
2021-12-1527 min
The European Startup ShowHow to Build A Low-Sales Touch Enterprise-Grade Security Company with Bence Jendruszak, Cofounder of Hungarian Startup Seon Fraud Fighters[01:53] What convinced you to begin yet another online fraud prevention company?[4:52] How did you structure your product, your team, and other aspects of your company to get quick time-to-value, your core promise to customers?[11:59] Could you tell us more about your hybrid model of sales? [15:15] How easy is it to start a tech company in Hungary? And what are the biggest challenges of setting up a company and running it from Hungary?[17:26] Beyond product and unit economics, what else do you think a startup needs to do for a successful fundraise? [19:52] Could you share your insights on some of the la...
2021-12-0127 min
The European Startup ShowQ-commerce, Profitability and How to Stay Focused in a Hyper Competitive Environment with Sacha Michaud, Co-founder of Glovo[2:10] - What was the initial concept with which you started Glovo?[7:44] - How has the tapering down of the pandemic affected your business?[10:17] - How do you deliver groceries in 10 minutes? [17:36] - How profitable is your q-commerce business?[20:50] - How do you build loyalty in this business?[23:23] - What is justifying the huge amounts of capital being invested in this space? What will determine who wins in this market?[25:49] - How do you as a management team and company keep your focus in this hyper-competitive market which has a lot of movement?[33:21] - What are some mistakes you made in bu...
2021-11-2341 min
The European Startup ShowTransitioning From Startup CxO to Scale-up CxO with Dr. Tim Guilliams, Co-founder of AI Drug Development Company, HealxHealthtech and Healx[1:53] What inspired you to start focusing on rare diseases?[3:28] Could you define what rare disease means?[3:43] Why has what you’re doing never been done before? And how is your approach to drug discovery different from others?[5:53] What are the trends you’re seeing in this space? And what do you think is accelerating this high amount of investment in health tech?Startup to Scaleup[8:16] Why did you bootstrap your company in the early stages and how did you execute with minimal resources?[10:18] Why did the inventor of Viagra - Dr...
2021-11-1028 min
The European Startup ShowKeiran Olivares Whitaker, Founder of Entocycle, UK's Leading Insect Farming Company on Building a Deeptech vs SaaS Company.[1:42] How did you go from scuba instructor to insect farming?[4:24] I don’t see insect protein based food in the market, why so much funding in this space?[7:17] How do you actually do insect farming? What is the process of farming black soldier flies and creating proteins out of them?[10:31] With the recent Covid pandemic, do you think the perception against meat has shifted? What does this mean for the future of insect-based proteins? [13:30] What does it take to be successful in this market?[18:09] Funding journey: How does funding for deep tech ventures differ from SaaS funding?[21:24] Advice for other ent...
2021-10-1328 min
The European Startup ShowSofie Allert, Co-founder and CEO of Swedish Algae Factory on Picking the Right First Application for a New Technology[2:05] From where does your fascination for business and entrepreneurship stem from?[3:21] When you met Angela (co-founder), what fascinated you about her work and what made you think that this had commercial opportunities?[7:42] How did you determine which application to develop first? [10:42] If you had to redo the phase of trying to find your first application, how would you do it differently? And how would you go about looking for a market for your product?[11:45] Once you identified the skincare industry, what did you do next to deliver what was needed for that industry?[13:29] How did you balance your personal and b...
2021-10-0636 min
The European Startup ShowDeepali Nangia, Venture Partner at SpeedInvest on How Women Can Attract Better Angel Funding[1:59] How did you come to focus on women-led businesses?[3:20] What do you think Europe has done to encourage women-led businesses and what more can be done?[5:06] What are the main barriers women face in attracting investments?[7:32] From an investor perspective, how do you balance the business objectives of revenues and scale when the founder is considering starting or expanding their family?[9:08] Do you see more women-led businesses coming out of specific parts of Europe?[12:27] What do women founders and companies looking for VC money have to do differently in the current environment? What are you looking for as an investor?[15:38...
2021-09-2230 min
The European Startup ShowVidal Bharath, COO of Bramble on Powering the Net Zero Future Based on Hydrogen Fuel Cells[2:18] How did you come to joining Bramble as employee #1?[6:12] How did you organize yourselves with three founders, in terms of responsibilities, in the beginning, and how that has evolved now?[8:16] What is the right time for ideas coming out of research institutions and universities to spin out on their own?[11:01] What is the funding journey for deep tech look like? What are some lessons learned? [13:17] How did you operationalize your plans once the funding arrived?[17:50] Of all the things that you have accomplished with Bramble, what are you most proud of?[19:28] What did you do to build culture in your c...
2021-09-1528 min
The European Startup ShowSamantha Duncan, CEO & Co-Founder of Net Purpose on ESG Measurement, Why it is so Hard and How She Came to Find Product-Market Fit.[2:14] What does ESG really mean and where are we today?[10:27] What can startups do for ESG?[13:11] What triggered you to start Net Purpose?[20:11] How do you ensure businesses don’t make false claims about their environmental policies or make token gestures but have very little impact? How much can the data be trusted?[23:47] How did you figure out product-market fit?[33:39] How did you fund your initial journey?[38:06] What’s next for Net Purpose?Links:Net Purpose
2021-09-0841 min
The European Startup ShowMelinda Elmborg, Co-Lead at Fast Track Malmo Accelerator on The Great Pre-Seed Funding Problem in Europe[1:21] Your journey from VC to accelerator head[3:02] What stage does Malmo focus on?[3:59] What trends are you seeing in the fundraising landscape - on what’s working and what is not?[12:36] The problem of pre-seed funding in Europe and what can be done to fix it[25:58] How can people find the right angels if they don't have the network?
2021-07-2128 min
The European Startup ShowSafia Qureshi, Founder of CLUBZERØ on The Circular Economy and What Every Women Entrepreneur Should Do If They Plan To Have A Baby[2:02] What inspired you to start CLUBZERØ?[6:42] How did you determine the market opportunity and feasibility?[10:37] How has your background in architecture helped you become an entrepreneur?[15:16] How did you prioritize what to do in the early days?[24:35] In 2018 and 2019 you were raising money, but had also had a baby. How was that experience and what would you say to other women entrepreneurs?[30:38] I’ve heard you say that confidence is your superpower. Where do you get your confidence from?Links:ClubzeroContact info: Hello@clubzero.coOr download the ClubZero App
2021-07-1437 min
The European Startup ShowMads Fosselius, CEO of Danish SaaS startup Dixa on Reimagining the Customer Service Value Proposition[1:18] Why do you feel so strongly about this vision of creating friendships between customers and agents and where does this vision come from?[7:28] As a company, what was the process you undertook to define the category that you want to be in?[19:29] How do you convince your customers to switch from an established vendor?[24:27] What are some of the mistakes you have made in your early days? And what are your biggest learnings in this journey?[27:20] What strategies worked for you to get your first 10, 100 and 500 customers?[32:03] What advice would you give entrepreneurs on how to scale pre-series A?[33:08] What...
2021-06-3039 min
The European Startup ShowKaarel Kotkas, Founder & CEO of Veriff on Their Journey from Estonia to YCombinator to United StatesOn Veriff[01:20] Could you tell a little about how and why you started Veriff?[03:53] What shortcoming did you notice in the current solution that made you think you could do something different and better than what existed?[6:42] How are fintech companies with their legacy systems able to use your new advanced verification system?Growing your business[8:20]How did you go to your first ten to hundred customers? What did you prioritize in those initial stages? [12:38] How did you do employer branding to attract good talent from all over the world?[14:10] So far what a...
2021-06-2428 min
The European Startup ShowMikela Druckman, Founder of Greyparrot.ai and Her Inspiring Story of Solving the Recycling Crisis while Planning to Start a Family[2:02] - What led you to start Greyparrot and what did you do in your early stage?[10:47] - How did you figure out who your buyer in the value chain is?[12:17] - What was your process for validating the problem statement? What did you do well and what could you do better?[20:19] - How did you fund the venture in the early stages? What was your funding journey like?[25:39] - How did you find your first few customers, beyond your network?[29:28] - What are you most proud of accomplishing thus far?[30:33] - How did you deal with any self-doubt and overall st...
2021-06-1648 min
The European Startup ShowAndrus Purde, Co-Founder and CEO of Outfunnel on: How to Build A Startup in a Mature Market[1:22] What is the pain that Outfunnel is trying to solve and who is your target market?[3:28] Can you tell me a little about your journey to starting Outfunnel?[4:30] How did you validate the problem you were solving?[8:03] How did you determine if the problem is a feature or something you can build a business around?[9:22] What are the challenges you’re facing in entering a mature market?[10:12] How did you get the first 500 customers?[15:51] From a sales perspective, what should founders do to help scale the pipeline and create a more scalable business?[18:53] What do you think are the key me...
2021-06-0932 min
The European Startup ShowDan Garrett, Co-founder and CEO of Farewill, on using Technology to Re-imagine the Death Industry[1:40] What about your experience working in the Japanese geriatric residential made you start Farewill?[06:15] What is the current experience for consumers who want a Will, probate, or funeral service?[14:12] How did you build trust in this industry and get your first few customers?[17:46] What impact has Farewill made on customers?[22:20] How did Farewill manage to become the number 1 Will provider in UK? [26:43] How do you market a product for the death industry?[28:45] How has the pandemic changed the perception of death related services?[31:15] What do you look for in hiring and building culture at Farewill?[36:22] What are you most worried a...
2021-05-2639 min
The European Startup ShowMalhar Kamdar, Chief Ecosystem Officer at Celonis, on Ecosystem Strategy and How to Develop it Successfully.[1:34] - Why did you leave Oracle to join Celonis?[3:20]] What does Celonis do? And what is Execution Management System (EMS)?[8:00] How would you describe what it takes to be an ecosystem strategy officer?[9:35] When time is best to build a partner or ecosystem strategy? Is this something that you would recommend all companies to do?[14:13] What is the blueprint to building a successful ecosystem strategy that would scale?[19:26] When is the right time to think about embarking on a partnership and ecosystem strategy in the life of a startup?[23:21] What advice would you give founders and CEOs on how to...
2021-05-1931 min
The European Startup ShowAndy Young, Serial Entrepreneur; UK Country Lead for Stripe; VP of Growth at Entrepreneur First on Growth Marketing for Startups[1:10] Andy’s background and how he came to be known as ‘the growth guy’. [3:20] What does ‘growth’ actually mean these days? What is expected of a person when hired as VP of growth?[6:17] How should a growth team be structured in a startup for it to be set up for success?[9:56] Typically, what are a growth team’s responsibilities? What KPIs would one use to measure this team’s success?[13:54] When is the right time to hire someone that’s going to coordinate or lead this growth function? What should one look for when hiring such a person?[21:38] Are there differences in ho...
2021-05-1240 min
The European Startup ShowJoyce Mackenzie Liu, Founder and CEO of Pegafund on: 3 Ingredients for a Successful Fundraise and Other Strategies for Predictable Growth[01:05] Your journey to starting Pegafund [06:27] What problems do you solve for startups and scale-ups?[10:07] What are the key KPIs for SaaS companies in the early stages (zero to 1 million) and what does ‘good’ looks like at this stage. [18:07] What are some of the key metrics for the stage from two or five million to ten million? And also, what are some common mistakes that entrepreneurs make at this stage?[23:20] What are the systems that should be in place for tracking from zero to five million - and further - for entrepreneurs and founders to make decisions on?[25:46] When revenue operations should...
2021-05-0546 min
The European Startup ShowApril Dunford, Author and Positioning Expert, on: The Most Common Questions Founders Ask on Product Positioning.[1:14] What is positioning? And how can you tell if a company needs to rethink its positioning?[5:12] How does company positioning and product positioning differ?[12:00] How does the “Obviously Awesome” positioning framework for B2B companies work?[21:08] - Who should be involved in positioning? April uses her framework to walk through a case study where she developed the positioning for a CRM product.[32:45 - How do you balance where you are today with the product against where you want to be? How do you position your product in that context?[34:23] When should you create a new category?[42:40] Where do companies and found...
2021-04-2944 min
The European Startup ShowRav Dhaliwal, ex-head of Slack’s EMEA Customer Success on: How to Measure, Align and Drive Value through Customer Success[01:13] - What is customer success and what is it not?[06:32] - How do you align an organization to make customer success everyone’s business? [19:20] - When is the right time to introduce usage telemetry and analytics in an organization?[20:58] - How do you hire the customer success leader?[25:13] - What should your customer success organization should be based upon? [26:55] - How do you set up Customer success metrics or incentive system?[31:33] - How do you structure CS teams to align with the farming/account expansion vs purely engagement and customer satisfaction?[37:15] - What are the common mistakes companies make when it...
2021-04-2147 min
The European Startup ShowExpert series: Chris Walker, CEO of Refine Labs on the New Demand Gen Playbook[1:04] - What do you mean by creating demand and capturing demand? What should you do in the early stages of the startups when you don’t have a lot of money?[6:41] - How do you create content at scale, especially in the early stages?[15:10] - Can you give client examples of impact to demand gen in 30-60-90 days? [20:37] - How do you influence different personas in the buyer journey?[23:50] - How does demand generation strategy differ from SMB to enterprise segment?[28:13] - When should you use Linkedin vs Facebook ads as a paid channel?[30:46] - What is the difference in s...
2021-04-1444 min
The European Startup ShowSujata Bhatia, COO of Monzo Bank on - Navigating the Pandemic; How She Thinks of Competition; Monzo’s OKR process; Diversity in Fintech.[01:10] - What did you do in your first 30, 60, 90 days of joining Monzo given the timing of your joining (May 2020)[07:42] - How did you navigate the pandemic? What are some lessons learnt?[11:18] - How did you maintain the morale of the people in these turbulent times?[15:30] - Is there anything you would do differently if you had to do it again?[16:23] - How do you balance the need for structure with the need for agility and innovation?[18:45] - How do you hire for someone with the right balance of agility and structure?[20:42] - How do you define a path for success...
2021-03-3041 min
The European Startup ShowMarie Outtier, Director of Twitter and Co-Founder of Aiden.ai Which She Sold to Twitter[01:11] Brief overview of what Aiden did and timeline of going from idea to sale to Twitter.[06:43] Do companies still need to relocate to get traction or to be noticed by potential acquirers? Has this changed post-pandemic?[08:22] Reflecting on your journey so far, if you had to write a book, what would you write about?[10:51] Is there any practical advice on how to hire diversely despite inclinations to hire those similar to you? [13:50] Having been an entrepreneur and now an angel investor, what should entrepreneurs (especially women entrepreneurs) do and not do when trying to raise angel funding?[20:34] What are your th...
2021-03-2436 min
The European Startup ShowSolveiga Pakštaitė, Founder of Mimica on: Going from Invention to Commercialisation and on her Decision to Hire a CEO to Lead her Company.Her journey from invention to commercialization[01:19] How did you go from researching how visually impaired people use public transport to identifying the food expiry problem?[9:54] At what point does this go from being research to having commercialization potential?[13:28] Did you first get funded for your prototype by your grant and then raise a seed round of funding?Hiring[17:54] How did you think about building and scaling your team?[22:39] Recap of the key points when it comes to hiring. [24:18] What led you to hire a CEO? And how did you go about doing that and what did y...
2021-03-1744 min
The European Startup ShowDr Olivia Ahn, Co-Founder and CEO of Planera on Creating Sustainable Products and the Role of FMCGThe business[01:00] What made you become an entrepreneur and how did you come up with this idea? [03:54] How is your product different from what other organic products are doing in the market?[05:00] Why aren’t any of the big FMCG brands doing anything like this?The process[07:55] What was your process from concept to production?[10:27] Did you do market validation whilst testing the product?[13:23] Why did you choose to sell directly to customers?The Insights[22:23] What has been the hardest part of the journey?[23:17] What were some of the...
2021-03-1035 min
The First 10 Podcast#18 - Anita Moorthy on what good marketing is, finding the right investors and the power of narrative.Send us a textOn this episode of The First 10 Podcast, I talk to Anita Moorthy, who is the host of the European Startup Show. The European Startup show is like the sister show to this podcast, where Anita interviews startups based in different parts of Europe to find insights that will help other fast-growing entrepreneurs. She interviews them on things like counter-intuitive strategies, growth channels, mistakes, and successes.Key PointsWith idea validation, sometimes you need to balance intuition with dataStory and narrative are powerful tools when raising fundingBrand Building = Marketing +...
2021-03-1036 min
The European Startup ShowCaroline Noublanche Co-founder and CEO of Apricity on: Why She Started Apricity; Advice from Balancing Being a Woman Entrepreneur and Family and Trends in Fertility Tech.Caroline’s Journey[1:00] How did you go from founding a mobile development company to founding Apricity?[15:08] What were some of the challenges you faced when you started this company?Apricity[16:34] Do you cover the entire fertility process or only parts of it?[17:08] How do you measure success in a company like yours?[18:51] Where all is Apricity available?[22:18] What trends do you foresee for fertility that are hopeful for those wanting to have kids?[26:31] How did you establish trust?Being a women entrepreneur[28:30] What are some mistakes you’ve made...
2021-03-0340 min
The European Startup ShowExpert Series: Daniel Murphy on Product Marketing for Entrepreneurs: Role of Product Marketing in Different Stage of Startup; How to Recruit For It; His Top Tips on Product Launches, Customer Reviews, and Lead Generation.Intro to Product marketing[1:26] What is product marketing?[4:51] How can product marketing and product management work better together?[6:57] What is the role of product marketing across the three stages of a company - early, growth and multi-product?Product marketing during the stages[10:15] Early Stage[10:23] What should product marketing at that stage look like - how many product marketers and what key responsibilities should they have?[13:20] Advice on how to create priority and focusContent[16:11] How...
2021-02-2435 min
The European Startup ShowKair Käsper and Martin Kõiva, the Co-Founders of Klaus on: The Importance of Community for Building Great Products Customers Actually Want; Brand Building and its Link to Culture; Customer Support and Key Trends[1:34] - Background of how they came up with the idea.[3:48] - What does Klaus do[6:30] - What are the trends in the market you are trying to capitalize on and why now?[12:53] - What is your advice to founders who are not technical and need to find a technical founder?[14:46] - How do hackathons work?[15:17] - How did you get your funding?[16:47] - What was your growth strategy in the early days?[19:31] - What did you focus on in your early days and how did you prioritize product, community building, and brand building?[23:06] - How did you recruit in the...
2021-02-1038 min
The European Startup ShowDaniel Epstein, Founder and CEO of The Unreasonable Group on: How Unreasonable Helps Growth Companies Scale Faster and The 3-Steps to Building Culture in Any Company[1:45] - What were the events or people that shaped your journey to starting Unreasonable Group.[15:44] - What is Unreasonable Group and what is it not?[18:15] - What do you provide the entrepreneurs that their investors can’t? Can you share some examples of companies in your portfolio and how do you find them [31:16] - How has covid impacted your portfolio of companies and what are you doing to support them?[36:12] - How can entrepreneurs get in touch with your team, what is the application process? [36:59] - 3-steps to building culture in any company Company: Unreasonable GroupO...
2021-02-0349 min
The European Startup ShowTim Sadler, Co-Founder and CEO of Tessian on: What All Great Funding Pitches have; Creating A New Category and Why Human Layer Security is The Next Big ThingHuman Layer Security[1:7] - What was your journey going from being a financial analyst with no background in security to founding Tessian? [6:50] - What does Tessian do, how is it protecting people in the remote working environment and what are some of the top security threats your customers are worried about?[13:05] - How does Tessian and what it does for email security differ from what big security companies like Symantec offer?Go-To-Market Category Creation[17:53] - How did you come up with this “human security layer” and do you see this as a new category in sec...
2021-01-2753 min
The European Startup ShowTim Kraska, co-founder and CEO of Einblick on Key Considerations for an Entrepreneur Commercialising Research/IP from AcademiaBack history of Einblick[1:28] - Your journey from professor to entrepreneurship[6:45] - At what point in your research did you feel you can commercialize your IP. What was the trigger for starting the company?[8:44] - What does Einblick’s product do? What need is it full filling in the market today?Process of commercializing academic research[14:47] - How did you go about taking research from your academic field to commercialization? What was the process like?[17:55] - What should other entrepreneurs using research from their time at academia be mindful of? What advice would you g...
2021-01-2132 min
The European Startup ShowZane Bojare, Head of Marketing for Startup Wise Guys accelerator on the small but might Baltic startup scene in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, home of 6 unicorns[1:18] - Overview of the Baltic startup scene[10:14] - What are some of the interesting findings and highlights from the Baltic startup report that surprised you?[14:18] - Given much of the funding for the Baltics startups came from UK or US, what does that say about the Baltics funding scene?[16:21] - What are some of the trends or niches you see across the 3 countries?[21:17] - Diversity and inclusion. What is the scene like for women founders and what is holding them back still? Is it similar to the rest of Europe?
2021-01-1438 min
The European Startup ShowAnthony Deighton, Chief Product Officer at Tamr on: Leadership and How it Differs From Management Based on his 20+ Years as a Leader at Siebel, Qlik, Celonis and Tamr.[2:25] - What is leadership and how does it differ from management?[5:29] - How did you influence and get support for your ideas at Siebel where you were responsible for a product that made insignificant revenues compared to CRM, their flagship product?[12:02] - What is important - leadership or management for a founder?[16:25] - What is your philosophy on hiring and how do you hire for talent and cultural fit?[21:15] - You joined Qlik when it was a small unknown Swedish company and took it from that to a public company. Talk me through your journey there and how you evolved a...
2021-01-0749 min
The European Startup ShowJamie Crummie, Co-Founder of Too Good To Go on: The Problem of Global Food Waste and How Too Good To Go Is Solving This Problem.[0.49] - Your journey to founding Too Good To Go?[2:19] - Background on the food wastage problem[9:06] - How can businesses be more sustainable?[11:59] - What is a B Corp, who can get it, and what is its value?[12:58] - What are the trends you see from one city to another based on app downloads and transactions?[18:27] - How does Too Good To Go work?[22:14] - Why did you scale so fast and what were the challenges you faced?[25:11] - What are the specific challenges you faced from scaling so quickly?[28:32] - How did you address the impact to your organization...
2020-12-1037 min
The European Startup ShowOla Sars, Founder and CEO of Soundtrack Your Brand on: Partnering With A Giant in Your Industry and Pivoting When The Pandemic Kills Your Market.[1:33] - Why did you get into music tech? Why are there so many music tech businesses coming out of Sweden?[5:05] - How has the transition from B2C to B2B business been for you given all your earlier startups were in the B2C space?[7:56] - What did you need to do to go from a field sales go-to-market model to a fully self serve model. What did you need to change in the organization or investment priorities?[17:21] - Some stores like M&S have stopped “piped music” completely in their stores. What are some trends you are seeing in th...
2020-12-0351 min
The European Startup ShowCo-founders of Coinrule, Gabriele Musella and Oleg Giberstein on: Democratizing Crypto Trading Access; Raising Money on Seedrs, and Getting Your First 16k Users Without Any Marketing.Market[2:45] - Why did you decide to build an automation solution for crypto trading? Why that asset class?[4:47] - What is the current state of crypto trading?[8:12] - What is the maturity of crypto trading today?[11:37] -What is the geographical landscape for crypto trading?On Coinrule[13:32] - Who is this platform for and what problem does it solve for them?[20:16] - Are you worried about the exchanges building the functionality you have?[22:24] - How do you make money? What fees does an investor incur?[24:02] - Can you comment on the state of legislation...
2020-11-2643 min
The European Startup Show(VC) Krishna Visvanathan, Co-Founder and Partner at Crane Venture Partners on The Three Pillars of Go-To-Market Playbook For Pre-Series A Startups.On Crane[1:12] - What was the gap in the VC market you were addressing when you started Crane Venture Partners?[4:48] - Talk about a few of Crane’s portfolio of companies and why Crane invested in them.GTM[10:28] - How would you go about helping a company with their go-to-market strategy?[15:30] - The 3 pillars of go-to-market: CS, Marketing and Product Marketing[22:24] - What are some common mistakes you see founders make?[26:33] - What is the difference between deep tech product vs non-deep-tech in terms of go-to-market strategy?[29:12] - What are the key metrics you track in th...
2020-11-1947 min
The European Startup ShowCristina Fonseca, VC at Indico Capital Partners, Co-Founder of Talkdesk on: How Product Development has Changed in the last 10 yearsOn becoming an entrepreneur and Talkdesk[1:15] - What were some people or events that influenced you in your early days before Talkdesk to become an entrepreneur?[4:04] - What was the hardest growth stage of Talkdesk and why?[6:57] - What advice would you give founders who are thinking of stepping down from something they started?Cleverly.ai[10:48] - On cleverly.ai - what does Cleverly.ai do?[11:48] - What is the gap in customer service management that Cleverly.ai is trying to solve?[16:42] - How has product development changed from your days at Talkdesk...
2020-11-1147 min
The European Startup ShowJonathan Scudder, co-founder and VP of Identity Cloud at ForgeRock on: Top Trends in Identity and Access Market; Building Company Culture and Going IPOBig Picture - Market and Trends[1:11] - What is Consumer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) and how does that differ from traditional identity and access management (IAM)?[4:21] - How did you go from the traditional open-source code of Sun’s IAM to this new consumer identity and access management. Can you give a quick history of ForgeRock.[6:40] - Can the ForgeRock solution help consumers have more control and visibilities over their identities?[12:00] - What are the top trends you and ForgeRock are seeing in the identity space and how will it impact consumers and businesses?[18:23] - What does the...
2020-10-2845 min
The European Startup ShowLoral Quinn and Eishel Quinn, Co-Founders of Sustainably on: Making It Simple To Give Digitally and How to Be Creative in Early Stages.[0:58] - Intro and journey to starting Sustainbly. [6:15] - What does Sustainbly do?[8:34] - What changes have you seen in the donation patterns since the pandemic hit?[10:11] - How are charities leveraging digital to fundraise? Is your platform really making an impact to their bottom line?[12:19] - Why have you build Sustainbly as a for-profit rather than a non-profit company?[14:37] - What are some concerns consumers have in using such apps and how are you addressing that?[16:21] - How did you get help and resources from Virgin Startup, We Work, Founders Factory etc? [19:36] - What advice would you give to entrepreneurs on...
2020-10-2133 min
The European Startup ShowNathan Williams, Founder and CEO of Minespider on: Supply Chain Transparency Problem and Funding for Emerging Tech in Europe[7.46] - How has blockchain space changed due to Bitcoin and what are the top trends you are seeing in blockchain technology?[12:47] - Where are the opportunities for blockchain for the corporate market?[14:48] - What problem does Minespider solve and for whom?[17:30] - Why is blockchain the best technology to solve the supply chain transparency problem and who is this valuable to?[20:30] - How did you identify the business model? Are customers willing to pay for this transparency?[23:40] - Where should entrepreneurs go to get funding for high-risk emerging tech?[28:21] - What does a European grant fund look for?[29:53] - How h...
2020-10-1446 min
The European Startup ShowJeetu Mahtani, SVP Sales and Managing Director, International for Hubspot on How to Expand Globally: Framework for Evaluating your Next Geography; Playbook for Launching a New Geo; Using LTV to CAC metric[1:12] - What are you responsible for at Hubspot?[2:08] - Why did they choose you to lead international expansion?[4:30] - What are the criteria Hubspot considered to determine the timing for expansion?[6:45] - How did you think about mapping and prioritizing different countries in Europe?[11:24] - What is the playbook for launching into a new country?[24:58] - How does hiring differ across Europe, Asia, Australia?[29:03] - How did sales differ from geo to geo?[31:39] - Advice to CEOs on international expansion and metrics to evaluate the progress.[37:59] - How did you budget for each new geo you went into?[45:27] - What...
2020-10-0759 min
The European Startup ShowJan Hugenroth, founder and CEO of Next Matter, on: the future of work and no-code software and how to find the right VC for hard problems you are solving.About Next Matter[4:16] - What does Next Matter do? Can you share a few use cases?[6:45] - How does Next Matter differ from other project management tools?Big Trends[9:08] - Are no coding tools realistic for large companies with complex and unique processes?[13:59] - What trends do you see for how the future of work will evolve?Building your company[17:58] - How do you position Next Matter effectively in the prospect’s mind?[19:52] - How do you get people to actually pay for yet another tool that is goi...
2020-10-0141 min
The European Startup ShowTravis Pittman, co-founder and CEO of TourRadar on: Crisis Management, Managing Stress and Google as competition[3:15] - What advice would you give other entrepreneurs looking to start a company with someone they are related to?[4:34] - How have you dealt with the fear and uncertainty of the current situation? [6:55] First for your employees[8:27] For your investors[9:41] Your customers - how have you dealt with angry frustrated customers?[13:40] - How are you and your brother managing the stress?[15:27] - How does the payment flow work if I am a customer and I just paid for a multi-tour?[17:56] - What is the current sentiment towards travel and does it vary by different segments (survey data: Tourradar][23:22] - What i...
2020-09-2335 min
The European Startup Show(VC) Stephan Morais, founder and Managing General Partner of Indico Capital Partners on: What European VCs Have To Do to Create Unicorns and; What Entrepreneurs Need to Have in Place Before their Seed/Series A funding[1:28] - Which of the various roles you have had - consultant, entrepreneur, board member, CEO, investor, and now VC - have you enjoyed the most, and why?[4:14] - What is “Indico powered by Google Startups” initiative?[9:10] - How can European VCs get better at identifying the next big Airbnb or Uber in Europe?[14:50] What is the Portuguese startup scene like? Where are the opportunities in Portugal?[17:54] - What are some of the areas of opportunity Indico Capital is focusing on?[21:35] - How can Europe make its startup ecosystem better? What is still missing to produce more successful startups out of Europe...
2020-09-1643 min
The European Startup ShowFelicia Meyerowitz Singh and Panos Savvas, co-founders of Akoni on Big Trends in FinTech and Wealth Management Sector; Balancing Innovation and Regulation in Fintech; How to Build Relationships Within the Financial Ecosystem.[1:52] - Why did you start Akoni? What pain does it solve?[8:00] - How did you achieve product-market fit?[11:18] - What are the key trends you are seeing in financial services and fintech?[15:13] - How has the pandemic changed the expectations and needs of the consumer and business user?[21:13] - How do you balance innovation from open banking and open finance with ensuring adequate protection of consumers?[26:19] - How do you see open banking evolve in Europe and what would you like to see happen in terms of regulations[28:18] - How does Europe compare with other regions like US in terms...
2020-09-0949 min
The European Startup ShowJeff Kofman, the “accidental entrepreneur” - Founder and CEO of Trint on: What You Can Learn About Entrepreneurism From Being an Award Winning War Journalist.[0:48] - What need does Trint solve beyond transcription?[2:45] - How does Trint differ from other transcription services?[6:14] - How did you go from being a war journalist to becoming an entrepreneur?[14:49] - What have you learned as a war correspondent that you were able to use to become the entrepreneur and CEO you are today?[21:09] - What advice would you give someone starting a company who has little experience in entrepreneurship and/or are starting this late in their life?[29:02] - How did you determine the average sale price of your platform given it is more than just transcription?[33:41...
2020-09-0244 min
The European Startup ShowPiers Corfield, co-founder and CEO of Dashboard on: How to raise money in Industrial Tech; How to Successfully Partner with Large Organisations and Still Keep Your IP.Show Notes:[0:43] - Why did you start Dashboard and what problem is it trying to solve?[5:06] - How did you refine your initial value proposition and find your focus?[6:54] - There are big companies with deep pockets in the energy space - why can’t they solve this problem on their own?[10:05] - Is there a VC arm inside most of these large energy companies and who are the right people to build relationships with?[13:02] - What does the funding look like for industrial tech and how was that process for you?[19:50] - How do you raise money in...
2020-08-2649 min
The European Startup ShowMarzio Schena, CEO and co-founder of ANote Music on how to build an alternative asset class marketplaceShow Notes:[2:57] - How does Anote work?[6:32] - How do you convince investors to invest in music as an asset class where timeline and expected cash flows are unpredictable?[10:44] - What songs or artists make ideal suppliers in Anote?[16:37] - How do you value music and does it require a certain sophistication on the investors side?[18:40] - Since you launched the platform, what are you seeing as yields/returns for investors?[20:38] - How are you going to market? Finding investors and catalogs?[22:28] - Why have other marketplaces for music royalties failed and what are you doing differently?[25:57...
2020-08-1248 min
The European Startup ShowYoung Woman Founder, Melanie Aronson on: How She Translated her Experience in Documentary Film Making to Building an Online Community Building PlatformShow notes:[1:03] - Journey from documentary filmmaker to startup founder[3:41] - What was your strategy as a first-time founder for attracting people who are really motivated and engaged to work with you?[4:52] - What does Panion do and why is it called Panion?[9:05] - How do you build engaged communities?[14:53] - What are you seeing as successful monetization strategies for community-based platforms?[17:22] - Advice on angel funding[21:28] - How did you keep yourself motivated in your early days[23:00] - How...
2020-08-0526 min
The European Startup ShowFounder and CEO, Antti Vihavainen of Puro.earth on: How to Launch a Marketplace in Less Than 90 days; How to Build Confidence with Buyers and Sellers in a New MarketplaceShow notes:[3:53] - Why is now the right time to have a carbon removal marketplace?[5:57] - How did you launch a marketplace from idea to first auction in 71 days?[11:21] - If I am a carbon emitter, why can’t I buy carbon offsets? Why do I need carbon removals?[12:47] - What regulations are needed for carbon removal to become mainstream?[13:59] - How do I as a carbon emitter verify the amount of carbon removal?[15:55] - What is the cost of removing 1 tonne of C02 from the atmosphere?[18:09] - Do you worry that the big polluters ge...
2020-07-2931 min
The European Startup ShowStephan Ekhberg, Founder and CEO of Travelstart, on: Entrepreneurship and Being True to YourselfShow notes:[4:39] - What are the trends you see in the travel sector?[7:20] - Will anything change fundamentally in the travel industry because of the pandemic? What will be its impact, long term?[8:53] - Is there a difference in the way people consume online travel services in Africa vs Europe?[11:56] - How did you build such a strong brand in Africa?[16:10] - How do you recruit people that stay with you for a long time?[18:26] - What are the most important highlights of your...
2020-07-2228 min
The European Startup ShowJonathan Cherki, founder and CEO of ContentSquare on: How to Determine Your Average Sale Price; How and When to Seek Funding; How to Prioritise Conflicting Goals of Maximizing Revenue, Profit and Market shareShow notes:[1:05] - Childhood and background that contributed to your entrepreneurial drive[3:21] - What led you to see an opportunity in digital UX analytics?[5:06] - What does Contentsquare do?[6:39] - How is Contentsquare different from Hotjar, Google Analytics etc?[8:13] - How does consumer behaviour differ between regions based on the data you are seeing?[9:48] - What did you do in the early days that laid the foundation for future growth. And is there anything you would do differently?[11:57] - How did you determine your average sale price in your early days?[13:33] - What were some of the biggest f...
2020-07-1536 min
The European Startup Show(Early stage) Jon Edvald, founder and CEO of Garden.io on: Evolution of Software Development and How to Raise Your First Million DollarsShow Notes[0:50] - What does Garden.io do?[2:16] - How did you go from being technical to becoming an entrepreneur[3:45] - How do you balance your desire to be technical with the other aspects of running a business?[5:47] - How has software development changed since you started?[8:30] - When does it make sense to have an open source offering?[14:00] - Is selling to devops different in US vs Europe?[15:11] - How did you determine the pricing for your commercial offering?[17:03] - How did you raise your first million dollars?[19:18] - How did you determine focus...
2020-07-0832 min
The European Startup ShowExecutive search firm co-founder, Michelle Milbourn of Kommol, on: Best Practices in Hiring: What do the Most Successful Companies do in Hiring vs the Rest?Show notes:[2:35] - How has tech hiring been affected by covid and where are you seeing hiring picking up again?[5:50] - What is a typical hiring process like? How do you find the right hire for a role?[9:28] - When should founders be thinking of making the key commercial team hires?[11:12] - What is the toughest role to fill today?[13:23] - How do founders/CEO think of candidates with unconventional backgrounds and what is your view on it?[15:09] - How do you motivate a candidate to join a startup?[17:32] - How important is diversity and...
2020-07-0138 min
The European Startup Show(VC) Samer Salty, co-founder of Zouk Capital on: Online education Model for K-12; Biggest Challenges in Online Education; Advice for Entrepreneurs in EdtechShow Notes:[ 2:46] - How do you think of the business of sustainability and the need to do good and make money?[6:37] - Why is education the biggest part of sustainability?[10:37] - Can you break down the landscape for online education?[17:07] - How do you keep children motivated and engaged with online education?[19:17] - What is Valenture institute and what is their educational offering?[21:18] - Why taking the traditional curriculum and moving it online doesn’t work?[23:59] - What’s your target market?[25:26] - What about students with learning disabilities? Can online education help those students?[26:08] - How do you...
2020-06-2439 min
The European Startup Show(VC) Ciaran O’Leary, co-founder and general partner of BlueYard Capital on: Approach to Investing; What Europe Still Lacks; What VCs and Startups Need To Do Differently Post-covidShow Notes[1:46] - Why BlueYard and the vision for the fund[3:33] - How the thesis received by the LPs and people you were trying to raise funds from?[5:10] - Is there a breakdown of where the current funds come from and does it impact your investments?[6:22] - Your investments by region[9:44] - What stage do you invest in and why are there no multi-stage VCs today?[12:06] - What kind of VC are you and how many investments do you make?[13:53] - How do you develop depth and expertise in niche areas you invest in?[16:40] - What kind of...
2020-06-1749 min
The European Startup ShowChris Andrew, Chief Product Officer for Hearsay Systems on: How to Expand Internationally if Your Product Depends on Regulation; Biggest Mistakes Companies Make When ExpandingShow Notes:[1:15] - How Chris went from being the #1 employee at Hearsay to now being Chief Product Officer at Hearsay [4:22] - What does Hearsay do?[6:16] - How has the current pandemic affected Hearsay's business.[7:51] - What criteria did Hearsay consider when it decided to expand into Europe.[10:47] - How to prioritize different markets in Europe. How did you pick where to go?[12:40] - Was your strategy to go country by country or to all of Europe?[14:43] - How did you personally prepare before going to Europe?[18:36] - Given your product had a compliance element to it, how did y...
2020-06-1035 min
The European Startup ShowAdrien Nussenbaum, co-founder and US CEO of Mirakl on: Big Trends in Retail; Evolution of Buyer Behaviour and Growing a Business to $100M ARRIn this episode, I sit down with Adrien Nussenbaum, co-founder and US CEO of Mirakl. Mirakl is part of France’s 40 most promising startups and widely seen as the next French “unicorn.” Their online marketplace technology today powers over $1.5B gross margin value (GMV). In our talk, Adrien discusses the big trends in eCommerce, how companies need to do to adapt, and how they built a $100M ARR business.[1:00] - How you came about starting Mirakl and the significance of the name[6:52] - How does Mirakl fit into the e-commerce landscape[11:25] - How Mir...
2020-06-0355 min
The European Startup ShowOlivier Maire, VP Sales France and Europe for One2Team on How to Prioritise Different Markets; How to Hire for Europe; How to Think About Local Competition[5:29] - When hiring for Europe, is it better to hire natively or focus on expertise[8:28] - 3 strategies for thinking about Europe expansion[13:42] - How should European companies think about European expansion[15:34] - How should you hire for European expansion[21:40] - Who are the first core people we should hire for each region?[23:28] - How long is reasonable to expect in establishing a region and seeing consistent sales[24:29] - One strategy of developing Europe is to partner[26:56] - When is local competition a problem?...
2020-05-2730 min
The European Startup ShowHjalmar Gislason CEO of Grid, ex-VP of Product of Qlik on: Selling his Company to Qlik; 3 Experiments to do Before Starting Your Company; Why Iceland[1.11] - How I became a serial entrepreneur.[5.0] - Entrepreneurial nature of Icelandic people[5.54] - Why did you move from Boston to Iceland for starting your latest venture[7.52] - Story of Data Market (data-as-a-service): from a startup in Iceland to IPO in the US[15:02] - what stage of the company was Data Market in when they moved to the US and why Boston[18:40] - How did you get acquired by Qlik[20:09] - What we didn't do right (looking back at the Data Market story[20:56] - Advice f...
2020-05-2744 min