Back in May 2013, I was a finalist at Seedcamp Week in Berlin, with my startup Satago, and I was somewhat of an anomaly: a solo, non-technical founder of an Internet startup. I already knew that most investors were not keen on solo-founders, nevermind non-technical ones. By the end of Seedcamp that had been well and truly drilled into me. The most common feedback I received can be summarised as “we like you, we like what you’re doing with Satago, but we won’t invest in a solo non-technical founder”.
Nevertheless, after Seedcamp week a top-tier VC took a particular interest in Satago and I had several meetings with the partners. Ultimately though, their feedback was the same: “we invest in teams and you’re just too high-risk”. Who can blame them?
From that moment on I devoted a significant portion of my time and energy to finding a technical co-founder. I found out firsthand just how difficult and demoralising it can be. Six months later, however, I have a technical co-founder, was a finalist in Techcrunch Disrupt Battlefield, and have just been accepted to Seedcamp. Here’s my experience…
Supply & Demand
The problem with finding a technical co-founder is basically one of supply and demand. On the demand side there are loads of “business guys” out there with ideas that are looking for someone to build them. Many of these ideas are pretty rubbish and at first glance it’s tough for anyone to separate the wheat from the chaff. What’s more, the perception is that many of these “business guys” have the wrong attitude, thinking that they need someone to work for them, rather than looking for a partner to work with them (I don’t necessarily agree that this perception is fair).
On the supply side, developers that are good enough to be a startup CTO are not short of opportunities. In London, as in Silicon Valley, these guys can command healthy six-figure salaries, with decent stock options, in big tech companies. Moreover, most tech guys have a few ideas of their own that they would like to try before having a go at someone else’s vision. The chances are pretty slim for you to find the perfect co-founder, who believes in your vision and is willing to bootstrap alongside you.
Standing out
Fortunately for me, I had a few factors that differentiated me from the “business guy pack”. I have an MBA from Oxford University and was then working for (in)famous e-commerce incubator, Rocket Internet. Depending on your point of view, that either made me the anti-Christ of the startup world, or if you were slightly more pragmatic, someone with a decent educational background and practical experience of at least one style of launching startups.
More importantly, I had by then raised some crowd-funding on the UK platform Seedrs to build a MVP of Satago and had already been a Seedcamp week finalist. I found it was the Seedcamp participation that most helped as a differentiator – if I was good enough for Seedcamp to look at, I was probably worth a look at to join as a co-founder.
The first thing I did was post an “advert” on a few Europe-focussed startup boards, including Angellist and WorkInStartups.com (you can see my original posting here). I think here my tone was important – I was trying to convey that I had at least a reasonably clever idea, with good credentials and a decent idea, but I was not your cliche’d MBA type A psycho. Indeed many of the replies I got back said I was one of the few credible “business guy” ideas they had seen on such websites.
I also started working my network, asking every startup guy I knew if they knew of anyone that might be interested in joining me. Unfortunately, the answer was often along the lines of “you’re the 5th person to ask me that this month”. Not a good sign.
Getting Jilted
One of my earliest hot leads was from my own network after I just updated my LinkedIn status to say that I was looking for a technical co-founder. Somebody I had briefly worked with at Rocket was interested and a lot of our personal circumstances lined up, so we talked in depth. We had a few Skype meetings and an in-person meeting, even getting to the stage of agreeing equity split, but in the end he decided the opportunity was not right for him. So close to the altar – first time jilted!
From then on, and for the next few months, I met about a dozen people and interacted with many more over email. Organising my “pipeline” using Streak, it was more or less like a sales process. I would estimate it was constantly taking up 25-50% of my day, a colossal amount of time, which was time not spent building the actual business.
My next hot lead came via a referral from my network. This guy seemed almost perfect, we met in person several times, over several weeks, but again he decided that Satago was not the opportunity for him. I was now realising that if I thought someone would make a top-notch technical co-founder then I was unlikely to be the only one thinking that. Jilted again.
Shortly after my last jilting, I wrote a blog post saying that “Finding a technical co-founder is like trying to get married”. The post clearly struck a nerve as it hit the front page of Hacker News and got several thousand hits in one day. I actually ended up with several good co-founder candidates contacting me on the back of that blogpost, including Y Combinator alum, and the CTO of one of Europe’s leading tech companies.
Time to make a decision
Hot lead number 3 came via a Venture Capitalist I had been talking with about Satago. Yet again, another dream potential co-founder with even more relevant domain expertise. We met once, then over some deep and meaningful emails sounded each other out about joining up together. It seemed like I had now found my match – the only question was whether we could work out a deal between us.
With my mind nearly made-up, I decided I should be diligent and take one clean sweep through my co-founder pipeline – there were quite a few good people who had contacted me, but with whom I had not yet managed to have a proper conversation. One of these leads who had found me via WorkInstartups.com did get back to me, saying he’d been meaning to get in touch but had been away working overseas. We arranged to have a Skype video call that weekend and once we spoke I knew I had a connection with this guy and could probably work well with him.
I now had two potential technical co-founders who were both keen to work with me and I had to make a decision. From a technical point of view, both were excellent – their technical backgrounds could not have been more suitable. The first candidate had slightly more startup experience, but the second candidate’s personal circumstances made him slightly more suitable. From a personality point of view I knew I would be happy to work with either of them, so it was a tough decision.
In the end I decided to go with my gut feeling – the second candidate – Adam. Previously I had slightly under-estimated his technical chops – first UK engineer at Palantir Technologies and a background that included working on the technical side of investment banking at Barclays Capital. Most importantly I could tell he was a sound bloke and that he shared the same startup ethos as myself.
This did, unfortunately, mean I had to let the other candidate down, which felt pretty bad as I knew from experience how it felt to be jilted. I was able to reassure myself that someone as good as him (who was already employed) would easily find another good startup to join.
Adam himself took a giant leap of faith and decided to join me before we had even met in person. I suggested he not actually resign until we had met, and so a few days later I met him in London, and a few hours later his resignation to Palantir had been submitted.
It takes time
The biggest lessons from all of this was that it takes time to find the perfect co-founder: it took me nearly 6 months to find Adam. It really is like getting married. I could have teamed up with the first decent technical guy I met 6 months ago, but it would have been a quickie Las Vegas-style marriage and almost certainly ended up in a messy divorce.
By being patient, and keeping my standards high, I really have found the perfect technical co-founder. So perfect, I should add, that some other naughty London FinTech company has already tried to head-hunt Adam due to the “great work he’s done on Satago so far”! Guys – Adam is great, but he has barely even touched the code yet!
Operations Coordinator
Seedcamp has grown rapidly since 2007 and is in need of someone who can keep the wheels turning and ensure smooth execution of our operations. We’re a small team with a huge outreach. This is a unique opportunity for someone wanting to diverge in the European Startup scene. Are you passionate about entrepreneurship and startups? You’ll be at the heart of the London startup ecosystem based at Campus in Shoreditch working alongside various members of the Seedcamp Family. It’ll be your responsible for the smooth running of the office and team. You’ll work closely with other team members and manage independant projects, administration, events and travel.
Excellent communications and interpersonal skills are essential, along with outstanding planning, time management and organisational skills. You should have a can do attitude, bucket-loads of initiative, attention to detail and be able to work independently towards team goals. Apply via this link!
The Job
Manage the CRM system
Manage office operations
Support recruitment of Interns
Help prepare and manage Seedcamp Events, including travel arrangements
Assist with the Seedcamp Events Calendar
Help executing Seedcamp Events
Manage post event communication
Assist in the organization of Seedcamp Academy
Order company supplies
Coordinate internal and external meetings
Support to Partners
Review & update health, safety and fire guidelines
About You
Self-driven, resourceful & results oriented – ready to roll up your sleeves and think creatively.
Thrive working under pressure, you’re organised and can multi-task
Impeccable attention to detail
Experience with Eventbrite
Can interact with, and help manage, a creative, fast-paced and fun team.
Have experience working in startup environment
Confidence to deal with Partner-level executives
Ability to communicate across both technology and business teams
Strong time-management skills
Experience in managing large data
Passionate about startups, entrepreneurship and technology
Great communicator with excellent English language skills
Bonus Points
Familiar with wordpress
Experience in a similar role is prefered
To apply for the role please upload an up-to-date copy of your CV with a short covering note. Be sure to include examples why you’re the best person for this role.
Questions: careers [at] seedcamp.com
Apply via this link!
Head of Content
Do you love to write? Are you a tech geek? Do you love all things startup? If so, we at Seedcamp are looking for a Head of Content. If you are excited about all the things startups care about: marketing, growth, hiring, ideas, product, etc and your passion is to write, we could be a great match!
Apply via this link!
The Job
Generate editorial ideas for our online presence as appropriate and create, source and repurpose relevant content for use.
Stay on top of venture capital and tech trends and research ensuring our content is timely, relevant and appropriate for the community
Manage the overall balance of our online content to ensure all our events and products are represented and shared appropriately.
Work closely with the team to ensure that all online content, social media and work product (copy, photos, illustration, presentations) adheres to the brand guidelines and in-house standards and style.
Review analytics on content strategies and report on success rates of campaigns.
Attend and represent Seedcamp at meetings with companies and other agencies as required.
About You
Live and breathe technology and startups and are passionate about empowering founders and growing the startup community.
Have your own personality and consistent tone to the writing.
Self-driven, resourceful & results oriented – ready to roll up your sleeves and think creatively.
Thrive working under pressure, you’re organised and can multi-task, creating awesome, accurate content quickly.
Can interact with, and help manage, a creative, fast-paced and fun team.
Have experience working in startup environment, you have solid knowledge about marketing, growth and product as relevant for startups.
Love English grammar and have excellent English writing and communication skills honed through proven experience.
Strong time-management skills.
Experience with managing content (events, publications/blogs, etc).
Experience collecting and analysing media metrics – you can data crunch with the best of them.
Bonus Points
Geeking out on number crunching and analysing data
To apply for the role please upload an up-to-date copy of your CV with a short covering note. Be sure to include links to your work and show us how awesome a tech writer you are.
Questions: careers [at] seedcamp.com
Apply via this link!
It is time to discover Riga! Hot on the footsteps of previous mini Seedcamps in Helsinki, Moscow, Tallinn and many other cities, Seedcamp now comes to the heart of the Baltics to find the most promising startups for global scaling.
Since TechHub Riga (www.techhubriga.com) was founded just over 18 months ago, we have seen dramatic developments in the local startup ecosystem, and the interconnections with the UK and Silicon Valley. Already three teams from Latvia – RepairyApp (www.repairyapp.com), Mighty Fingers (www.mightyfingers.com) and BuzzTale (www.buzztale.com) have joined the Seedcamp family, joining the many Estonian startups that are in the portfolio. Teams such as Infogram (www.infogr.am), Fastr (www.fastrbooks.com), Sellfy (www.sellfy.com), Cobook (www.cobookapp.com) and Froont (www.froont.com) are winning major press coverage and awards around the world, not to mention users.
So we are delighted that Seedcamp has finally decided to hold one of their events in Riga, and even better, that it is timed perfectly with TechHub Riga’s annual conference: TechChill Baltics. This year’s TechChill is dedicated to how startups go to market: we will cover sales, marketing and PR topics. On stage will be people with lots of experience to share in these areas, including Colette Ballou of Ballou PR, the premier PR firm for digital companies in Europe, and Shira Abel, advisor to many top startups, as well as journalists from TechCrunch, Arctic Startup and other top tech publications.
The Seedcamp pitch event is also linked to the TechChill startup pitching competition – we will select two of the top Seedcamp teams that hail from the Baltic States to fast-track into the finals of TechChill the following day. So a double-whammy for top Baltic startup teams.
So please register for Mini Seedcamp Riga here and buy an earlybird ticket for TechChill Baltics while they last. See you in Riga!
When a company joins Seedcamp, their first week in the SC family consists of five days of masterclasses and workshops on a variety of topics from positioning to startup metrics to fundraising to sales. We call this initiation Onboarding Week, the first learning segment in our Seedcamp Academy program. Over the course of Onboarding Week and the monthly Seedcamp Academy sessions that follow, we work to provide frameworks and toolkits to help our companies achieve product market fit faster and smarter – something we’ve recognised as the one of the biggest hurdles for early stage companies.
Last week, the newest companies to join Seedcamp out of Seedcamp Week Berlin came to Seedcamp HQ in London for Onboarding Week. We were thrilled to have Joe Cross, Head of Consumer Marketing at TransferWise (SC 2011), join us to lead a session on marketing for startups. Steven Renwick, Founder of Satago, a company that helps small businesses and freelancers get paid on time and one of the newest Seedcamp companies, wrote this guest post.
I’m a bit of a Transferwise fanboi, so it was a great treat last week to have a session with their Head of Consumer Marketing, Joe Cross, during which he shared some of the ways that Transferwise has managed to hit that elusive “hockey-stick” growth, and discuss how we could do the same. So without giving away Transferwise’s secret sauce (sorry – Chatham House rules, *nudge nudge, wink wink*), here is a brief overview of Joe’s talk.
Joe started off by saying that he felt that too often, startups talk about rational benefits of their products, whereas emotional hooks are much more powerful – we should be telling a story! A startup needs to identify the single behaviour they want to create, then focus their messaging on that.
You need to test different messaging until you find the “higher purpose” that fits with your messa-marketing fit. Transferwise had found particular insight from listening to what their users said when they pitched the service to their own friends. Furthermore, they had found through A/B testing that one particular marketing message had a much stronger conversion rate than the message they had assumed would perform the best.
How does Transferwise get users into the top of their acquisition funnel? Joe described some of their top-level strategies.
Commercial strategy is those marketing channels Transferwise is paying for directly. One interesting suggestion was to attribute as much revenue to the users you acquire as possible. That way you can competitively bid for the keywords of Facebook adverts that you are displaying since you know your users true value. In fact, Joe suggested you should be paying as much as possible to acquire these users as well as trying to guesstimate out their life-time value as early as possible.
Buzz is harder to measure, but invaluable in the long-term. Joe said that content marketing was getting really, really difficult, primarily due to everyone having jumped on the bandwagon and churning out so much content. Clearly Transferwise’s PR has been quite effective recently – they’ve had Richard Branson championing them, as well as their faux-swearing advertising campaign being “banned” by London Underground. As you can imagine the banning created quite a bit of buzz for Transferwise. If you’re going to do a stunt or a promotion – make it epic!
Talking about virality brought us to Transferwise’s evangelists (of which I am one). Joe emphasised how successful Transferwise’s paid referral programme was (£50 for every 3 people you referred). I could only agree as I had, coincidentally, just referred my 3rd friend to Transferwise the previous day and qualified for my £50 bonus! Tools like Facebook and Twitter don’t create virality – they just reduce the friction for users to evangelise. Another part of their evangelism strategy was to be completely OTT on customer complaints, turning negative users back to positive. This should be done alongside NPS measurement so you have an eye on how you are doing overall.
When it comes to metrics, you need to get your tracking technology working asap, and look at everything in terms of lifetime value and conversion rates, tagging users with as much useful information as possible.
Overall Joe had given us an excellent crash course in marketing that could be applied to both B2C and B2B startups. To be honest though, it’s the sort of detail that Joe was able to share with us in person that I can’t write about here that made me realise how valuable it is to be part of the Seedcamp family and get such great insight from other companies in the programme. Great timing for Satago as we figure out how to start acquiring freelancers and small business owners who want help getting paid on time.
Last week startups, entrepreneurs, investors and the greater tech community joined us in Berlin for the final Seedcamp Week of the year. 2013 was a big year already for us and with Seedcamp Week Berlin marking the fourth and the last big event for Seedcamp following two US trips and 15 Mini Seedcamps all across Europe. We travelled Europe and the US, meeting exciting teams, all-star entrepreneurs, some of the world’s most renowned investors and local tech communities.
And what a great way to end the year! Seedcamp Week Berlin was a great success, with 19 teams from all over Europe participating in the year’s final opportunity to join the Seedcamp family. The teams descended on Berlin from all corners of Europe, with Lisbon, Moscow, Trento and Riga all represented.
With generous support from Microsoft and their Microsoft Ventures Accelerator, including use of their brand new event space at Unter den Linden in centre of Berlin and a mixer with their Ventures crew, the 19 teams had the opportunity to share their visions with the greater tech community and had the opportunity to meet some rockstar mentors from all over Europe. Each day kicked off with 3 minute pitches by the teams to an audience full of some of the most active and experienced in the tech community.
Following the pitches, we had some amazing speakers with us. On Wednesday, Seedcamp alum Lukas Fittl shared both inspirational and educational lessons he learned from building startups and gave a very insightful presentation applying his learnings. Eze Vidra, Head of Google for Entrepreneurs in Europe, followed with a talk on tech ecosystem creation and proliferation, reminding us all of the importance of building bridges across tech communities. On Thursday, Marco Boerries, Founder of NumberFour, joined us at the inspiring venue Lehrter17 for a fireside chat moderated by Nicolas Gabrysch from Osborne Clarke. Reflecting on his decades of experience as a leader and innovator in the tech industry, Marco shared candid insights and learnings from his career, ranging from fundraising to life-work balance to sources of inspiration.
A big thanks to Microsoft Ventures Accelerator, Stephan Jacquemot and Evgenia Dobrovinska for helping us make Seedcamp Week Berlin happen.
We’re excited to announce the new teams to join Seedcamp following Seedcamp Week Berlin. Seven teams spanning fintech to email optimisation to content creation will be joining the Seedcamp program.
The US trip in fall 2013 was the second time we took our companies on the road this year. There are two simple reasons for this: We’re investing in more and more companies, and we want to give the companies timely access to the US market.
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