I gave a speech to young founders and entrepreneurs about the best way to ramp up financing for their startups. What are the pitfalls from early financing. How to get best return on taking on investors. Why consider thinking about exits throughout the whole process for a Startup founders. A lot of do's and don'ts to be considered.

1. Startup
Galore
…
…
-­‐
the
best
way
for
founders
to
ramp
up
financing.
Thomas
Grota,
Investment
Director
T-­‐Venture
(Deutsche
Telekom)
@thomasgr
Blog:
thomasgr.tumblr.com

2. Thomas
Grota,
Investment
Director
T-­‐Venture
Venture
Capital
Firm
of
Deutsche
Telekom
AG
§ CTO
of
Pironet
AG
for
7
years
(IPO
2000)
§ Dynamic
CMS
&
Digital
Asset
Management
§ Deutsche
Telekom
2003
-­‐
today:
§ VP
MarkeSng
&
Strategy
(Paris,
London)
§ IPTV
Expert
at
Detecon
(Asia,
MENA)
§ Investment
Director
at
T-­‐Venture
§ Exited
apprupt
to
Opera
§ Exited
Swoodoo
to
Kayak
§ Exited
6Wunderkinder
to
Sequoia
§ Raised
+$250m
for
his
por`olios
Thomas Grota – Investment Director T-Venture Holding GmbH – @thomasgr

3. My
current
por`olio
and
areas
of
VC
experSse:
Mobile
Internet,
Big
Data
&
Cloud
based
Pla`orms
Thomas Grota – Investment Director T-Venture Holding GmbH – @thomasgr
E
X
I
T
S

4. Selected
successful
exits
of
T-­‐Venture
E-Commerce solution
1998: IPO
@motion
Wireless internet access
2000: trade sale to Openwave
(formerly: phone.com)
Web conference
provider
2000: IPO
Internet payment services
2010: trade sale to Deutsche Telekom
Online Flight Search and Bookings
2010: trade sale to KAYAK
Optical Networking Applications
2010: trade sale to Cisco
Fabless Semiconductors
2010: trade sale to Broadcom
Real-Time Collaboration Software
2011: trade sale to Citrix
Search Portal for Discount
Offers of Local Retailers
2011: trade sale to Axel Springer
Wireless Access Technology
2012: trade sale to Ericsson
"On-Demand" E-Commerce
2012: IPO
Wireless Systems for Home Networks
2012: IPO
Security Solution for Mobile
Enterprise Devices
2012: trade sale to Rapid7
Mass calling service
2002: trade sale to
Deutsche Telekom
Femtocell Technology
2013: trade sale to Cisco
Customer experience management
solution. 2009: trade sale to Tektronix
Communications
Mobile messaging solutions
2008: trade sale to Nokia
Web based calling company
2010: trade sale to Telefonica
End-to-end wireless internet solution
2008: trade sale to Microsoft
E-Commerce
2006: shares sold to
Holtzbrinck + Weltbild
Multimedia core solutions
2007: IPO
Core networking infrastructure
provider. 2008: trade sale to
Nokia Siemens Networks
Social P2P media networking platform
2006: trade sale to
Sony Pictures Entertainment
M-commerce
infrastructure solution
2006: trade sale to Amdocs
Mobile broadband
2005: trade sale to
QUALCOMM
Transit application
2013: trade sale to Apple
Multi-platform productivity solution
2013: trade sale to Sequoia
Mobile advertising
2014: trade sale to Opera Software

5. 5
1st
Stage:
Equity
is
the
most
valuable
asset
you
have.

6. Don't
run
for
the
big
check
-­‐
at
least
in
the
begining.

7. 7
Keep
your
costs
low:
office,
travel,
opex,
etc.
a
lot
is
for
free
out
there
or
share
from
friends

8. 8
Always
ask
for
advise
-­‐
not
for
money.
(money
will
come
if
advisor
is
interested)

9. 9
When
taking
investors
on
Board,
let
them
pay
with
connecSon,
operaSons,
biz
dev,
sales,
markeSng...

10. 10
2nd
Stage:
Be
carefull
…
when
taking
on
financial
investors

11. 11
Prefer
more
parSes,
at
least
two
parSes
from
start.
(Google
took
SeqCap
&
KPCB)

12. 12
Aeer
first
round
always
seek
new
investors.
Don't
get
depended
on
your
current
investors.

13. 13
You
will
be
in
fundraising
mode
allways
&
at
all
Smes
Never
stop,
Never
give
up.

14. 14
Consider
secondaries
whenever
possible.
Exit
for
early
investors
to
protect
your
own
equity.

15. 15
3rd
Stage:
Think
about
Exit
as
a
precausion

16. 16
Opportunity
for
Exit
can
come
every
day,
be
prepared
Have
made
up
your
mind
-­‐
'No'
is
always
an
opSon.

17. 17
Consider:
Early
Exit:
lower
price,
big
stake
vs.
Late
Exit:
higher
price,
small
stake
Opportunity
for
New
Venture
is
in
Early
Exit.

18. 18
Stay
in
driver
seat
during
Exit
process
–
it
will
consume
ressources
but
is
worth
while.

19. 19
Breakup
could
happen
–
so
be
prepared.

20. 20
Have
enough
runSme
for
your
exit
road.

21. T-­‐Venture
Por`olio
contains
currently
100
companies.
Two
Funds
managed
for
Deutsche
Telekom
AG
Thomas Grota – Investment Director T-Venture Holding GmbH – @thomasgr