Cologne. Early morning.
First—voluntary—effort at the launch site in Cologne: How on earth do you untie the knot, and how do you get all these little pieces into the cube? It’s practically impossible, but you have to do it. Just like in real life…
Introduction to the Federal Association of German Startups, North Rhine-Westphalia Regional Office
There is a lot of volunteer work in the sprawling state of North Rhine-Westphalia; 16 million people live within a 50-kilometer radius of Cologne. The funding landscape is highly fragmented: each of the many cities does its own thing. The BVdS is trying to counter this with the name “NRWalley.”
Now that the boss, Lorenz Gräf, is here too, here’s some background information—though, naturally, it’s not much different from what we have here.
CAPNMIC ventures, a venture capital firm that provides business support for the digital sector. First impression: look at all those quotes (on the wall)—
I’m curious to see if anything real will come of it.
Hannes Rohde, a principal, is a founder himself and actually comes across as very genuine. He’s not really into corporate deals, and neither are his colleagues Lukas and Jan. About 50 pitch decks come in every week—so that adds up to quite a bit of material, for example, on which ideas are currently very common.
Now it’s time for the pitches and questions from the VC community.
Continue to Eyeo, the maker of Adblock Plus.
Founded 7 years ago, it now has 130 employees from 30 countries—a hotly debated and legally contested company. Founder Till talks about the challenges of ad-based funding: oversupply, falling prices—and even more intrusive ads as more and more people use ad blockers.
Anyone who installs an ad blocker wants to see the right ads and should allow acceptable ads. In return, advertisers should pay a share of the additional revenue.
The criteria are established by a nonprofit organization. The program is still open source.
Fascinating: The Legal Department at a Startup. A presentation by in-house counsel Kai Recke.
Next stop: Düsseldorf, at the Factory Campus. Or to the Factory Campus? We’ll see.
The owner is an individual. Give them a call…
Approx. 4,000 square meters; expansion to 34,000 square meters planned
Total project cost of approximately 100 million by 2020, including the university and biotech laboratories.
Next stop: Trivago. Not really a startup anymore—it’s a unicorn.
Peter Vinnemeier, one of the founders, recounts the company’s journey, “From rowboat to frigate.”
Founded in 2005, hired its first employees in 2006, experienced hypergrowth starting in 2008, and went public in 2016 (which was probably the biggest mistake it could have made).
He now serves as a key advisor to Trivago. He has focused on the hotel sector, particularly since 2008.
A word of caution about focusing on funding rounds: focus on the product, small, low-commitment funding rounds…make do with what we have, take a pay cut.
Now consolidated financial statements.
Marketing-driven, focusing exclusively on what is measurable. “Entrepreneurial passion—the power of proof.” Mathematicians have been with the company since 2009.
Executive Management and Board of Directors, plus the Leadership Team.
Despite all the success: Keep an eye on the company culture! Maintain trust, keep politics to a minimum, and minimize friction. The founders knew each other very well, but they have very different personalities—one of the keys to their success.
Think for yourselves; no outside philosophies. Two years ago, the organization was restructured into pillars: Marketing, Hotel Search, and Advertiser Relations (such as Google, bidding on hotel prices). There is no longer a CTO; each individual division sets its own direction, and departmental boundaries have been broken down. Each pillar has its own management structure, with coordination still handled by Peter Vinnemeier in an advisory capacity.
Now with 1,200 employees, actively working on our value system. The core value system must be shared. We’ve been in the new building since June.
Now the focus is shifting from growth to profitability.
A little side note: round lamps aren’t just cool here in the Startup Lounge!
And now, one last farewell photo
and on to Amsterdam.
