Ok, it has been a little more than half-way post Seedcamp Week. The challenge put forth to the Seedcamp 6 was to demonstrate significant development in their company in 12 weeks given dedicated access to a very helpful group of mentors and a small amount of funding.
2 weeks ago we had Demo Day where the Seedcampers presented their product builds to a small group of investors. Here were 5 key takeaways:
* Focus and Progress go hand in hand – There was a clear link between the companies that were able to have a laser focus on the key deliverables for Demo Day and the significant level of progress they demonstrated
* Customer, customer, customer – It may seem obvious but the devil is in articulating who your customer is and what pain of theirs are you solving. Some teams believe they understand this but it is important that the audience and your customer understand their importance to you and how you are helping them. For some this message weighs heavily and they are working to articulate this by Investor Day.
* Product, Partners, People – The standout teams focused on these areas and within these had clear 2-3 milestones they honed in on. These are the foundations for their businesses early on and areas where early feedback can mean going back to the drawing board or moving at a faster pace
* Pick your mountain – That was an oft-repeated phrase in the room for good reason. A company still forming it’s raison d’etre can go in different directions. Yet, it’s critical that it chooses which moutain to climb wisely and quickly and gets on with the climb
* Leverage the network, that’s why it is there – Again, teams that leveraged Seedcamp Week contacts and the network available to them during their time in London and at events like FOWA and Web 2.0 Expo are showing incredible progress in terms of partnerships, investors for the next round, and coaches/mentors
These were some general but important takeaways applicable to a lot of early stage companies. I will write more in the next 2 weeks with detail on which companies showed what kind of progress. The proof we recognize will be in their launches and the partners they are able to sign on.
