This guest post is written by Philippe Laval, founder of Evercontact – a cloud mining service that extracts contacts hidden in email and shares and updates them automatically. Evercontact joined Seedcamp in 2009 and has pivoted its product (and name!) several times since. An older version of this article first appeared on wework.com.
I’ve been an entrepreneur and a geek since the early 90s, but after spending 15 years building an enterprise search company (Sinequa), I decided I was ready for a new challenge. In early 2009, I launched a new startup: Kwaga.
Right as I got back into the swing of creating, Eric Ries started blogging about “lean startup” methods. My co-founders and I wholeheartedly embraced this approach, and created four minimum value products (MVPs) over the next 2 years. That led to our current automated contact mining service, Evercontact.
Philippe and the Evercontact team
Based on my own experiences, here are five lessons that clearly show how pivots, aka early failures, are important on the path to success.
Our first product, a Firefox plugin which we called a “magnifying glass for emails,” identified actionable requests, contacts and calendar appointments. We didn’t invest a lot in the UI or design, because we wanted to get it out there and see how it would be received.
The plugin brought us in contact with a number of early adopters, and helped us move quickly past this first MVP and into our first pivot: identifying “important emails” and providing real-time notifications.
Users found our first plugin helpful, but not essential. In early 2010 we pivoted towards a greater pain point, and launched a second app for Mac and PC (called Kwaga BirdsEye), which notified you when you received an important email. Our traction was much stronger this time around. We knew we were onto something, and what happened next proved that point: by the end of the year, Google released its Priority Inbox feature, clearly demonstrating the pain point and a great solution. It also forced us into a second pivot.
As a startup, you’re competing against the world, against Goliaths, and against anyone else who can solve problems better than you. That’s why you have to focus on what’s most unique about your technology, team, and how you can leverage that to come out on top.
Our second pivot didn’t take this into account perfectly, but thanks to lesson number one (constant interaction with your users), it brought us to our third pivot.
My two co-founders and I are computational linguists, and when our early adopters of Kwaga Context began to find greater value in maintaining up-to-date contact information in their address book, we turned back to our skills in NLP (Natural Language Processing) to solve a contact management pain point. Evercontact (formerly Write.That.Name) came out in 2011 and has had steady PR, traction and growth since then. We’ve already been adopted by over 100,000 users.
Since its first iteration, Evercontact has evolved, with automated contact solutions for Chrome, Outlook and Gmail, and CRM systems including Salesforce and Highrise. And with all of these developments we have kept the focus on our core strength, solving contact management pain by intelligently automating mining and updating of contact information.
As an early-stage startup, it’s easy to focus all of your attention on your “baby,” so let’s be honest: objectivity isn’t on the cards. That’s why having an outside point-of-view, especially an entrepreneurial one from someone who works a lot with startups, is priceless. Acceleration Funds like Seedcamp and investment funds like Kima Ventures, are great ways to have that third tier of perception beyond your own creation and inspiration.
Eric Ries’ concept of a sticky engine demonstrates how a truly valuable product becomes something that few users leave. Once you hit this point, the real analytical hustling starts; you’ll work on improving website conversion rates, developing internal virality, rolling out PR or encouraging word-of-mouth — the art of growth hacking.
Because Evercontact was our first product to grow and retain clients in a scalable way, our next “pivots” were marketing-oriented. When you reach this stage, I highly encourage you check out what Neil Patel is writing at Quick Sprout. Solid gold. We have tested out lots of ways to grow our business even more, like content marketing, referral programs and PR, but at every step we pay close attention to user feedback and results to make sure we are constantly improving.
Evercontact in action
In the early 90s, I was the CEO who had to sweetly coerce his team to check their email at least once a week. Now, I’m developing solutions for the same platform that our power-users check over 25 times per day.
Who knows what comes next? You do. The entrepreneurs of tomorrow — and what a joy it is to be a part of this creative ride. That said, the entrepreneurial industry is becoming increasingly mainstream and “glamorised”. If you or your friends get in the game, do it because you’re passionate, hungry, and enjoying the ride.
If you’re not, maybe it’s best to pivot to another profession, because there’s nothing easy about entrepreneurship… but there is a whole lot of fun to be had!
This guest post is written by Ivan Ramirez, Entrepreneur, Investor, Advisor and restless Product Guy. He is the Former VP of Groupon Goods for APAC and Director of Global Product at Groupon.
I’m often asked, “What’s it like to be an entrepreneur?” Those who ask, ask the question in a way that makes it feel like being an entrepreneur is glamorous and always tied to wealth. Let me tell you, there is nothing glamorous about being an entrepreneur, and it’s not for everyone.
Here is some advice and some of the truths of being an entrepreneur:
1. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t guarantee success. You will fail! If you don’t fail, it’s because you’re not taking enough risk.
2. In the effort to be supportive, most people won’t tell you the truth about your ideas. So be careful not to let this feedback drive your decisions. If you’re not getting negative/challenging feedback, be concerned.
3. Nobody but you or your co-founder(s) will care about your idea until you have something to show for it. Less talking, more showing. Give them a reason to pay attention.
4. No employee, even if they have some equity, will ever care about your company as much as you do.
5. Be careful with the whole raising money thing. It’s not as easy and glamorous as you think. Make sure you let the business organically bring you to this crossroad, and be careful to not get ahead of your self with this.
6. Luck will play a big role in your success. Just remember that you can create your own luck by working tirelessly at what you’re passionate about.
7. MVPs (minimum viable products) can give you false positives or false negatives. Make sure your MVP is properly defined and that you’re properly interpreting the results.
8. Get the co-founder equity stuff out of the way at the beginning, and be careful in being egalitarian.
9. You will have to make hard decisions, like firing your best friend or removing a co-founder. Whatever you do, make them fast and don’t let the heart get in the way of these decisions. Just make them and move on.
10. You will have long nights, work weekends and may even have some days where you don’t sleep at all. Work while your competitors sleep to get ahead!
11. Revenue is KING and you need to generate sales to keep the lights on. As an entrepreneur, you will have to put your sales hat on, and knock on some doors or make some phone calls to drum up business.
12. It’s okay if your business idea is not a BILLION dollar idea. There are many of those out there right now, but remember they’re just valuations – it doesn’t mean those companies are generating that kind of revenue. Remember FAB.com? $250+ million in revenue with a $1B valuation. Where are they now? Build intrinsic value in your business!
13. There will ALWAYS be haters! These are folks that don’t have the courage to become entrepreneurs and are hating because you took the risk. Ignore them and just keep charging forward.
14. There are days you will want to QUIT and go back to a corporate job. Don’t think you have lost your entrepreneurial spirit when you have these days. It’s normal. Every entrepreneur has these days.
15. People will think you’re crazy!
16. Risk everything in business, except Family, Health, Friends and Spirit.
17. It’s OK to look up to another entrepreneur and have a “healthy” jealousy of what he has accomplished, just make sure this drives you harder and doesn’t take away from your plans to push ahead.
18. There will be days where you feel burned out and unproductive. Walk out of the office, go hang with friends or family, take a nice hike, or simply take a few days off. It’s OK, you will come back stronger.
19. Entrepreneurs aren’t RICH (abundantly supplied with resources), we’re constantly risking it all. Those that have sold companies, will take the proceeds and start new companies, or invest it in other companies. Entrepreneurs always have the desire to create and be part of something bigger than yourself.
20. No matter your level of success, always be humble and willing to help a fellow entrepreneur.
Seedcamp has teamed up with JAG Shaw Baker (a technology focused law firm based in London) to produce a series of short articles highlighting some of the key intellectual property (IP) issues that affect startups. By underlining some of the common issues and providing practical advice, this Understanding Intellectual Property series will touch upon the protection of IP, ownership, data protection and privacy, infringement and web / domain name issues.
In this article we continue our overview of key IP rights, this time focusing on copyright. In the UK, copyright is probably the most far-reaching IP right and can protect everything from computer software to photographs, films to buildings and many other works in between. In particular, three primary features distinguish copyright from other IP rights:
a) copyright protection arises automatically, as soon as a work is created. In other words, there is no registration requirement. This is particularly useful for startups as no expenditure is needed to obtain protection;
b) the duration of copyright continues for a very significant period of time and often well beyond the commercial value of the work; and
c) copyright protection covers a broad range of subject matter.
As copyright arises automatically, businesses frequently overlook the importance of its protection. In fact, one of the biggest challenges is understanding and appreciating that copyright will subsist in all manner of works and is particularly useful to stop counterfeiters and copycats encroaching on your commercial patch. Indeed, every business will, to some extent, benefit from copyright protection (although businesses in the creative and software industries will invariably benefit most). Copyright protection is, therefore, an incredibly useful means of protection for startups.
The following points provide a brief overview of copyright and will assist startups to recognise and appreciate the significance of copyright:
What does copyright protect? Any work that falls into one of the following categories will automatically be protected by copyright in the UK:
a) original literary works. Examples include written documents, software programs, marketing plans, reports, etc.;
b) original dramatic works. Examples include performances, stage shows, etc.;
c) original musical works. Examples include jingles, music, sound effects, etc.;
d) original artistic works. Examples include technical drawings, logos, paintings, sculptures, photographs, architectural plans, etc.;
e) sound recordings, films or broadcasts; and
f) the typographical arrangements of published editions.
Often a product or creation will fall into more than one of these categories. Where this happens more than one copyright will exist. For example, a song will often benefit from five or six copyrights: literary copyright in the lyrics; musical copyright in the musical composition; copyright in the sound recording; film copyright in the music video; artistic copyright on the album cover, etc. Businesses too will benefit from several important copyrights – for example: literary copyright in its proprietary software programs; artistic copyright in its distinctive logo; literary copyright in its marketing plans; film copyright in marketing videos; etc.
Does a work need to be original? It is a requirement that literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works be original in order to qualify for copyright protection. A work is ‘original’ if it is an intellectual creation of the author (or is created through his own skill, judgment and effort. Note that the law is uncertain in this area) and is not copied from another source. Originality is not concerned with the work being new or novel and it does not matter if the work has no or little artistic merit. Sound recordings, films and broadcasts do not need to be original (otherwise a film based on a book would not qualify for copyright protection, for example).
Does the work need to be written down? Under UK law, yes. Copyright does not subsist in literary, dramatic or musical works unless and until the work is recorded in some way (whether in writing, by computer program or otherwise). Sound recordings, films and broadcasts will, of course, be recorded by their very nature.
Who is the owner of copyright? Generally speaking, the author of the work (i.e. the person(s) who created it) will be the first owner. There are some exceptions to this. Notably, copyright works created by employees during the course of their employment will be owned by the employer, not the employee. For further information on ownership, please see our ownership article.
Joint authorship: Where more than one person has created a work, the work may be classed as a work of joint authorship if the contribution of each author is not distinct from that of the other authors. Subject to certain exceptions (including works made in the course of employment), joint authors will own the copyright in the work jointly.
As has already been mentioned, copyright arises automatically. In the UK and Europe there is no copyright registration system at all. In the US, however, the position is slightly different. Although copyright arises automatically, it is beneficial to record copyright ownership at the US Copyright Office. Benefits include additional remedies in the event of infringement (statutory damages and attorney’s fees) and simplicity in pursuing infringers. China also operates a similar copyright recordal system. Businesses – and in particular, early stage, high-growth businesses where the US / China is a key market – would be well advised to register key copyright works in the US / China as soon as possible.
How long does copyright protection last? The answer depends on the nature of the work:
– For literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works – copyright expires 70 years following the end of the calendar year in which the author died. For works of joint authorship, copyright will expire 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the last known author dies.
– For computer generated literary, dramatic, musical or artistic works (i.e. when there is no human author) – copyright expires 50 years from end of the calendar year in which the work was made.
– Sound recordings – copyright expires 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the recording is made.
– Films – copyright expires 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the death of the last to die of certain specified persons occurs.
– Broadcasts – copyright expires 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the broadcast was made.
– Typographical arrangement of published editions – copyright expires 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the edition was first published.
Special rules apply where the author or director is unknown.
At the heart of copyright are the economic rights (also known as the exclusive rights). These economic rights grant copyright owners the right to exploit the work for the duration of copyright protection and are intended to encourage innovation and creativity. The economic rights include, amongst others, the right to copy, lend, perform, adapt, distribute and communicate the work to the public.
What does copyright protection allow me to do? A copyright owner can exploit copyright in two main ways (in addition to exploiting the work himself): (i) he can ‘assign’ it (that is, sell all, or any part, of the economic rights to a third party); or (ii) he can license it (that is, grant permission for third parties to make use of one or more of the economic rights). For example, a business may want to license its software platform by charging customers for access. Alternatively, copyright can be used protectively to prevent third parties from disclosing commercially sensitive documents.
Considerable thought and attention should be paid to the exploitation of economic rights. With careful thought and strategy, it is possible to reap significant rewards from copyright ownership for a substantial period of time. When it comes to contractual negotiation, the devil is certainly in the detail!
In addition to (and separately from) the economic rights, authors of a copyright work are granted certain ‘moral rights’. Moral rights protect the author’s interest in the work and grant certain rights over the work, even after ownership of the economic rights have been transferred to a third party. In particular, moral rights allow authors to:
a) insist on being named as the author of the work; and
b) object to certain derogatory treatment of the work, where such treatment amounts to a distortion or mutilation, if it harms the authors reputation.
In the UK, moral rights cannot be assigned to a third party. Authors can, however, agree not to exercise their moral rights (by way of waiver). Startups would, therefore, be well advised to ensure that they obtain irrevocable and unconditional waivers of moral rights from all creators of copyright works (including employees, consultants and third party contractors). If you operate in markets such as France and Germany, the law in connection with moral rights is very different and specialist advice should be sought.
As the name suggests, copyright protects against copying. In other words, if a third party performs one of the economic rights (see section 5 above) in relation to all or a substantial part of the work without the copyright owner’s permission (or without a legal defence), he will infringe copyright. Entirely independent creation without reference to the copyright work will not, therefore, infringe.
As you may expect, there are a number of exceptions, defences and limitations to infringement. If you suspect that your business infringes a third party’s copyright or you suspect that a third party is infringing your copyright, it is advised that you seek immediate legal advice.
What if somebody has stolen my ‘idea’? It is a common misconception that copyright protects ideas. In fact, copyright protects the form of expression of ideas (i.e. the recorded expression of that idea) not the ideas themselves. Although confidential information might protect an idea, copyright will not.
In the UK (and elsewhere in Europe), there are a number of very narrow exceptions to copyright infringement. For example, the two most important exceptions allow third parties to: (i) use a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work for non-commercial research purposes provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement; or (ii) use any copyrighted work for the purpose of criticism or review provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.
In the US, copyright exceptions are much broader. Generally speaking, an otherwise infringing activity is allowed if it can be shown to be ‘fair use’. This is very different to the law in the UK and, in practice, means that US copyright law has been better at enabling innovative products (such as data aggregation businesses) than UK law.
To properly understand the level and extent of copyright protection, it is advisable that startups:
– review the key documents and works that might benefit from copyright protection;
– keep a written record of who created the copyright work and the date on which it was created;
– ensure that your business has full and unfettered ownership of all copyright;
– ensure that irrevocable waivers of moral rights have been obtained from all employees, consultants and other content creators;
– consider recordal of copyright of key works in the US / China / other key jurisdictions which operate a registration system; and
– check whether: (i) your business’s copyright is being infringed; and (ii) whether your business is infringing the copyright of a third party.
JAG Shaw Baker is a firm dedicated to advising entrepreneurs, companies, and investors in high-growth industries. The firm advises on all aspects of venture and growth capital, as well as other corporate finance transactions, corporate structuring, intellectual property and growth and exit strategies. It also acts as general counsel for high-growth companies.
Seedcamp is Europe’s leading Acceleration Fund, and provides its startups with an ongoing Learning programme, known as Seedcamp Academy. Sessions are provided on a variety of topics; from marketing, to product development, to fundraising, to legal. Ambitious startups with disruptive products/services and global aspirations are invited to apply.
This article contains general information only. It does not constitute legal advice. You should consult a suitably qualified lawyer on any specific legal matter or issue.
This guest post is written by Stuart Logan, Co-founder & CEO of Clowdy, a platform that gives creatives an identity to start their career and the network to grow. Clowdy joined Seedcamp in early 2015 and have been attending our Academy learning sessions. In this article, Stuart shares his learnings from a recent workshop.
During Onboarding Week we were lucky enough to have Malcolm Bell speak about ‘Your customer, positioning and finding product market fit.’
Malcolm has been working on the ambitious start-up, Mailcloud, for the last year and is about to release the first version; you can read about this here. Malcolm had an awesome experience with his first company Zaggora.
The following is my decoded version of what Malcolm taught us, with a few other things I’ve learned during my time with tech.
Hotpants™ – Zaggora’s flagship product – was initially created as a quicker way to burn calories for people wanting to get more out of their exercise time.
They were hugely successful, creating more orders than they could keep up with – 100,000 products sold within 10 weeks of website launch. This was cleverly engineered for positive cash-flow but that’s another topic altogether. Malcolm and the team thought they were doing an awesome job; they were targeting the fitness community, particularly women, and had a huge backlog of orders.
When they began trying to improve their marketing, they surveyed their customers with outstanding results. They had been assuming their customers were avid fitness fanatics but what they actually discovered was their customer wanted to lose weight. Their whole business had been focused around fitness so this changed everything; their customers didn’t climb mountains or run marathons, but went walking. Their website messaging, their imagery, their brand, their company focus had to completely shift. When they did this, their sales conversion massively increased too.
My key takeaway was that even when you have users, if you don’t speak to your customers and explore their needs, your focus could be all wrong.
Everyone wants growth, right? That hockey stick curve that investors drool over. That’s certainly something we’ve focused on at Clowdy – a lot. The logic behind this is that if we continue to grow, build our network, and reach critical mass… then boom, we’ve won at life.
Wrong, well kinda.
Growth isn’t a bad thing but Malcolm argues that you need to find advocates and retention first – those evangelists who love your product and just keep on coming back. Think of those people who queue outside Apple stores each time a new version of the iPhone is launched, or how every Call Of Duty game breaks pre-order records before anyone gets to play it. If you find these evangelists for your product you have a massive opportunity.
If you segment these users then you can really study them and build up a persona. This persona will be your ‘perfect customer’ bible. When you learn this, you can then start looking at their retention. Why? There’s nothing more important than retention of your customers.
Think of it this way, if you have a bucket with perfect water retention, and increase the amount of water in there, it will fill up. If you have a big hole in the bottom, it’s retention will be shit and it won’t matter how much water you pour in, it won’t fill up. That fill rate is your growth. It’s impossible to have 100% retention, but if you have just a really small leak, you have the perfect platform for growth. If you have a big hole, you will struggle to grow.
How do you retain your evangelists? Solve their problems first and focus on them.
You now have your perfect customer mapped out. You know who they are, where they are, what they like, what they don’t like. Everything gets easier. You’re focusing on retention and it’s working.
It can still feel like a burden, all the different parts you need work on: product, customer, go to market and funding. Malcolm introduced us to the concept of Kaizen. Kaizen means “continuous improvement”. It comes from Japanese words 改 (kai) which means “change” or “to correct” and 善 (zen) which means “good”. Toyota are a famous advocate and it’s worked really well for their company culture. Iterate in small steps, monitor the feedback, change, test, rinse, repeat.
With these small improvements for retention, you’ll be changing your marketing channels, your tone, your imagery for product, your brand identity and a whole lot more. But understanding the full map of who that advocate is helps everything come together. The other great thing about this segment of your users is their patience. You will be able to test more with these folk than you can with others, so give them your beta tests.
When you’re testing you need a reason or purpose for that test and you need to track it. Sending out a test without some way to prove its success is completely wasted. When you’re tracking you can test new features and see what works, but be wary of wasting time on the wrong features. The graph below shows that you want to aim for the top right, a feature that all your target segment use all the time. Avoid the top left, features that serve the few within your target segment – even if it’s all the time. Basically, don’t make a feature that only one person will love – even if that person is you.
This is exactly what Burbn did. Burbn let users check in at particular locations, make plans for future check-ins, earn points for hanging out with friends, and post pictures of the meet-ups. There were a lot of features. They tracked the usage of the feature-set and found no one was using the check-in features. Their users were using the app’s photo sharing feature. They doubled down on this an Burbn became Instagram. Look at your core. Remember kaizen.
When you’ve figured out all of the above and have your evangelist segment and retention, only then can you get that hockey stick growth. Your product-market fit makes traction so much easier.
Thank you Malcolm for an inspiring talk!
Seedcamp has teamed up with JAG Shaw Baker (a technology focused law firm based in London) to produce a series of short articles highlighting some of the key intellectual property (IP) issues that affect startups. By underlining some of the common issues and providing practical advice, this Understanding Intellectual Property series will touch upon the protection of IP, ownership, data protection and privacy, infringement and web / domain name issues.
Our first ‘Understanding Intellectual Property’ article explained some of the frequently encountered ownership issues and provided guidance on how to ensure your startup obtains full ownership and control of its IP. Once ownership has been established, the next step is to understand what rights might protect your business and how such protection might be achieved. For example, while some rights will arise automatically (such as copyright) other IP rights require registration and the payment of official fees (for example, registered trade marks and patents).
In our experience, companies with a comprehensive understanding / awareness of IP protection tend to fair better as they are more likely to recognise issues early on. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all, off-the-shelf strategy that can be applied to startups – that is especially true when disruptive or new technologies are involved. Instead, it is necessary to develop an appropriate IP strategy tailored to your business. The next few articles will help you to do that by providing an overview of the key IP rights and providing some direction to help avoid the common mistakes. The focus of this article is brands and trade mark protection.
The importance of trade mark protection will be, in part, dictated by the nature of your company’s business. For some startups (such as those providing consumer products/services, luxury goods or where brand loyalty is especially important) trade mark protection may well be the most important IP right to the business. Trade mark protection is, however, vitally important to every high-growth / venture-backed / technology business and should not be overlooked.
In the UK, your brand may be protected by both registered and unregistered rights. A registered trade mark affords the best level of protection: it prevents third parties (whether competitors, counterfeiters, or other third parties) from:
a) using identical marks in relation to identical goods and services;
b) using identical or confusingly similar marks in relation to identical or confusingly similar goods and services; and
c) where the mark has a reputation, from taking unfair advantage of, or is detrimental to, the distinctive character or the repute of the trade mark.
In the absence of a trade mark registration, an owner might be able to rely on its unregistered rights attaching to the trade mark by bringing an acting for ‘passing off’. Passing off does not protect the trade mark itself, but does protect against a misrepresentation of the ‘goodwill’ (i.e. the attractive force that generates sales revenue) attaching to the trade mark.
The main problem for startups is that it usually takes a number of years to build-up a goodwill that is protectable by an action for passing off. As a result, a startup’s brand is most vulnerable in its first few years. Trade mark registrations may seem expensive but it is almost certainly better than being forced into a rebrand 18 months down the line. Registered protection is therefore always recommended. Unregistered rights should be thought of as a secondary or additional layer of protection and not relied upon in lieu of registered rights. Investors too will expect to see trade mark registrations covering the core elements of the brand in each of the markets that are essential to the business.
In order to formulate a trade mark registration strategy, you will need to consider the following points:
What is capable of registration? It is possible to register “any sign” (for example, words, logos, slogans, domain names, colours, etc.) provided it can be represented graphically and is capable of distinguishing the goods or services (i.e. the trade mark must be distinctive enough to differentiate it from other brands). There are a number of other exceptions so it is worth seeking advice from your lawyer / trade mark attorney if in any doubt.
What mark is best to register? As businesses will often use several marks (words, logos, slogans, etc.) it is important to formulate a strategy and establish what element of the brand you should seek to register. If money is no object it is advisable to register each mark and element of the brand separately, in each jurisdiction. This is, however, vastly expensive and clearly not practical for all startups. As a general rule, the broadest protection is obtained by registering the brand name as a word in block capitals (examples include “GOOGLE” or “APPLE”). If funds are available, the next priority is likely to be your company’s logo. To obtain the broadest protection it is usually advisable to register the mark in black and white and not in colour.
Which goods and services? When filing a trade mark application it is a requirement to specify the goods and services to which the mark will be used. Careful thought is needed to establish which goods and services the application should elect. If the specification is too broad the mark may be susceptible to revocation; too narrow and the trade mark will not offer the necessary scope protection. Your lawyer / trade mark attorney can help you formulate a strategy.
Trade mark searches. Before filing the trade mark application we would always recommend having your lawyer / trade mark attorney perform some basic trade mark searches to identify any major issues or obstacles. This pre-emptive step will sound out the availability of the mark for registration, identify obvious infringement risks and highlight any major issues. This information will help formulate a strategy to navigate the issues and avoid wasted fees pursuing trade mark applications that eventually fail.
Where should you seek to register a trade mark? Trade mark protection is, by its very nature, territorial. In other words, to benefit from registered trade mark protection your brand will need to be registered in each jurisdiction which is important to the business. This includes core markets in which your startup provides (or will provide) goods / services and any jurisdictions where its products are manufactured. In formulating a filing strategy the following should be considered:
a) the trade mark registration process in the UK is fairly simple. All being well you can expect to register a trade mark within 12 months or sooner from the filing date;
b) if your company operates (or will operate) in more than one EU member state, it is usually more cost effective to apply for a Community trade mark (CTM) rather than individual national applications. A CTM comprises a single application that, once registered, protects the mark in all 28 EU member states; and
c) if you intend to file trade mark applications in a number of jurisdictions at once it may be most cost effective to use the ‘Madrid System’. The Madrid System allows brand owners to make one application to a number of contracting countries (including the US, China and Australia) in one go.
When is the right time to make an application? It is important to file an application as soon as possible and ideally before your business officially launches. As explained above a startup’s brand is at its most susceptible for the few years after launch. Registering a trade mark will dramatically reduce the risks.
Costs: Costs and fees for trade mark registrations will depend on many factors and you should speak to your lawyer or trade mark attorney to obtain an estimate.
a) the official filing fee for a UK trade mark application is £170 per mark plus £50 for each additional class. The fees of your lawyer / trade mark attorney in advising and submitting the application will be charged on top;
b) the official filing fee for a CTM application is €900 for one mark in up to three classes and €150 per additional class. Again, lawyers’ / trade mark attorneys’ fees need to be added;
c) official filing fees in the US depend on the type of mark and the basis for registration. Specialist US advice is also usually required; and
d) if you intend to file in several jurisdictions at once, it may be more cost effective to submit applications through the Madrid System (explained above). Costs will entirely depend on which jurisdictions you wish to designate.
Trade mark creation, management and protection are therefore critical to any business seeking to obtain and maintain brand loyalty and ensure commercial success.
JAG Shaw Baker is a firm dedicated to advising entrepreneurs, companies, and investors in high-growth industries. The firm advises on all aspects of venture and growth capital, as well as other corporate finance transactions, corporate structuring, intellectual property and growth and exit strategies. It also acts as general counsel for high-growth companies.
Seedcamp is Europe’s leading pre-seed and seed investment fund and mentor network, and provides its startups with an ongoing Learning programme, known as Seedcamp Academy. Sessions are provided on a variety of topics; from marketing, to product development, to fundraising, to legal. Ambitious startups with disruptive products/services and global aspirations are invited to apply.
This article contains general information only. It does not constitute legal advice. You should consult a suitably qualified lawyer on any specific legal matter or issue.
This guest post is written by Joaquin Figaredo, Co-founder & CEO of HOKO, a deep-linking platform for mobile apps that allows apps to connect smoothly. HOKO joined Seedcamp in early 2015 and have been attending our Academy learning sessions. In this article, Joaquin shares his learnings from a recent Branding workshop.
I recently had the privilege of attending a Seedcamp Academy session hosted by Gabbi Cahane. Its content was really valuable for every startup out there as we all strive to become successful businesses, so I wanted to share what I learnt and the key takeaways I gleaned from the session.
First of all, lets define what we mean by ‘brand’;
Brand is everything you make, and everything you do.
Your brand assets include your products and services, your business model and technology, your people, your visual identity and even your tone of voice.
Since your brand incorporates all these assets, the fundamental goal to building a kick-ass brand is that everything around it has to be consistent, coherent, and clear. It means clarifying your vision (Purpose), defining your target customers (Positioning), and reaching them with the right messages and the right channels (Personality).
Your purpose is what truly defines you; what influences everything you do, and what lets you develop over time. Your customers can be attached to your products, but can only be truly connected to your purpose over time. Think about how attached people were to their blackberry, and think how deeply connected they are to Apple. Kick-ass brand.
One of the best things about your purpose is that it stays with you over time.
If your purpose comes from your company’s heart, it doesn’t matter if you have to pivot your business at some point (chances are you will), your identity will remain intact.
To define your purpose, try asking “Why?” This is the most powerful question you can ask when defining the purpose of your company:
Once you define your purpose, it’s time to position your company and your products.
“Our product is for absolutely everyone” might sound ambitious, but is that really true? Words don’t impress our investors, facts and numbers do. So unless you have unlimited resources – actually, even if you do – the best way to take your product or service to market is by differentiating your company and focusing on a particular target audience.
Be careful however, it’s not about being different for the sake of it. It’s about being different with the right context. Your positioning should be aligned with your purpose and a well-thought strategy. Try focusing on those customers who are suffering the most about the need you are trying to solve. Focus on those early adopters who will become your champions.
To have a good start, ask yourself these questions:
Once you define your positioning, it’s time to build your personality. What do we mean by personality? The simpler definition of the word personality is, “The combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinctive character.” But wait, isn’t that positioning? Yes, it kind of is, but personality encompasses the attitude around this positioning, and the perception it creates to your audience.
Personality is how you communicate with the world. Every message you publish, every email you send, every slogan you use. Make sure that all those messages are aligned with your purpose and your positioning. Your customers should love your messages, and if you are being bold enough, those who are not your customers might hate them – and that’s okay!
Now that you understand it, go get some attitude now! And don’t forget that this attitude has to be consistent throughout your organisation. It should be permeated through every person in it, injected into every product you make, and sealed in every single message you give to the world.
At HOKO we’re still learning a lot about all the above, and it’s an exciting journey as we emerge from the early stages of our company’s growth. Check out the HOKO blog to see how we are developing in this area; as I discover revelations about our brand I will be sure to share them!
This guest post is written by Christer Holloman, CEO and Co-founder of Divido, which lets retailers allow their customers to pay for anything in interest-free instalments, increasing basket sizes and conversation rates by an average of 20%. Divido joined Seedcamp in late 2014 and have been attending our Academy learning sessions. In this article, Christer shares his learnings from a recent B2B & Enterprise Sales workshop.
I saw the headline of this post for the first time as an email subject line along with an invite to attend a one hour workshop with Tim Jackson. It seemed almost too good to be true, but was it? I signed up to find out and here are my key takeaways…
Back in 1997 Tim founded an auction site called QXL; he listed it on Nasdaq and LSE in 1999 and the company was later acquired for $2bn by Napster. Today he runs an early stage investor and advisory firm called Lean Investments.
To deliver on his promise of showing us how to grow our businesses by 45%, following this one hour session he referenced Damien Tanner’s Mediacore Playbook which focuses on three particular themes; List Building, First Contact and Continued Engagement.
The session was peppered with other examples and hands on advice, but here is a selection of the tips that resonated the most with my team and that we are now incorporating in our B2B acquisition strategy.
Regardless of whether your strategy is to contact people by email or by phone, you want to build good prospect lists. The key is to improve the way you collect the input, then how you enrich, merge and clean it.
When it comes to enriching data Tim recommended DueDil – which we are already using at Divido. Because the industry we operate in is heavily regulated and we are operating under a license authorised by The Financial Conduct Authority, we don’t want to do business with just any retailer. They need to be of a certain size, have at least two years of audited accounts, and be in good financial standing, etc. DueDil helps us establish that before we start investing time in the prospect.
Once you have developed a solid list it’s time to make the first contact. Again, there are some great tools that can help you do this and Tim gives examples like SalesBeach and QuickMail.
When it comes to the logistics, Tim recommends you start with around a thousand contacts and drip feed them tweaked versions of a template to see which ones appear to generate the best response. Use automation features to adapt the messaging in the 2nd email to create the illusion you’re sending these personally one at a time. It’s also important to not send too many per day, as when they do reply you need to have the bandwidth to reply to them straight away while the lead is hot.
As the cycle for a B2B sale is longer than your average B2C equivalent, it’s important that you put activities in place to create reasons to re-engage with your leads over a longer period of time using site analytics, webinars, white papers, etc.
At Divido we host an industry breakfast seminar once a quarter and invite high profile speakers talking about topics that are of interest to our audience of prospects. It’s a great opportunity to develop relationships over time.
To monitor success Tim recommended some specific KPIs to keep track of:
If you improve your List Building by 10%, your First Contact by 20% and your Continued Engagement by 10%, combined you will achieve an overall improvement of 45% (1.1 x 1.2 x 1.1). In other words, everyone can improve their business by 45% in one hour if they improve the way they do some of the basics.
Tim’s session reminded us all that there isn’t one silver bullet to get the job done and that success is directly correlated to effort; trial and error.
Copyright © 2019 Seedcamp
Website design × Point Studio