by ggomes | Apr 13, 2016 | Uncategorized
One of the hottest topics on Startup Fundraising is what you can do to raise the odds of being funded whilst identifying what are the red flags that scare investors. As this is a long-term commitment and you’ll need much more than just somebody with a checkbook, you should also ask yourself: Why would I choose them?
We know it’s not easy to refuse offers from investors but don’t let your urge to get your idea off the ground make you strike a deal with the first investor that makes you an offer without thinking twice. Whilst some investors will help you others can make your life more difficult.
You should be aware of investors that don’t have real experience in building companies and who fire away opinions about everything and anything without giving enough thought to really understanding your project – “VC Seagulls” as Mark Suster calls them:
“They would swoop in for one day to check on things, shit on you and then fly away. Seagulls.”
We know you’re short of time so here are 3 tips that you can easily remember when the time comes to look for and choose an investor:
– What are you looking for? (beyond the money)
Define your Goals: in what area(s) of expertise do you need help, what kind of resources and contacts do you need, what are your biggest barriers and main challenges you face?
– What can their Portfolio tell you?
Do your homework and look for other startups funded by the investors you’re talking to. Not just the ones they show you, the “successful” ones, but all of them – try to reach out to some of the founders in order to understand the reasons behind a successful relationship or a troubled one.
– Are you on the same page? You’ll be seeing your investor more than your own shadow and both are things you can’t run away from, so ask yourself a few questions. Are they aligned with your vision, culture and interests? Do you see yourself working with somebody like them? What does your gut tell you? – You’ll need somebody you can trust, who advises you on a regular basis and that doesn’t turn their back on you during hard times.
Extra tip: Joining an accelerator can be an important step in your fundraising efforts. Not only can you test, validate and improve different aspects of your Startup, but you’re also able to grow your own network (remember it’s always better to be introduced to an investor by someone than cold emailing) and some of these programs have already done some of the filtering for you, offering you the chance to meet of the best investors in the ecosystem.
2nd Extra tip: If you want to get great insights on fundraising in a surprisingly informal and slightly unexpected startup conference, see what we’ve got planned and who the The Top Speakers and Investors you’ll meet at LIS Summit,
whilst the early bird price is in effect. Do you have any other tips to suggest? Share your doubts or past experiences.
by ggomes | Apr 5, 2016 | Uncategorized
Talking to investors is usually associated to stress that may even include sweat pouring down your forehead, stuttering and feeling like you’re on your final judgment day – all contributing to the “myth” that all these meetings are conducted in a formal and tense atmosphere.
Actually it doesn’t have to be like that and at Beta-i we’re deconstructing that image: The Lisbon Investment Summit is the proof that to receive great insights on serious investments you don’t need serious meetings or formal talks. You will need to take it seriously.
On the 7th and 8th of June, #LIS16 is back with another two-day event where every attendee can talk with top speakers, in a casual ambience with a lot of unconventional surprises prepared for you.
Speakers & Investors
Speaking of top speakers and investors, we want to introduce you to all of those that have so far confirmed their presence so far in Lisbon, including:
Ragnar Sass: Serial Entrepreneur, Co-Founder of Pipedrive, a sales management tool with more than 100 000 users across 140 countries and Co-Founder of Garage48, a non-profit organization that promotes Entrepreneurship by organizing events in different parts of the world. He’s also a mentor with a focus on funding, hiring, traction and marketing.
Luciana Lixandru: Principal at Accel Partners, where she’s focused on early and growth stage investments in software, Internet and digital companies. Accel Partners has created an impressive portfolio in the las three decades, helping to build companies like Facebook, Groupon, Spotify, Dropbox and Rovio.
Saul Klein: One of the most regarded tech celebrities in Europe, Saul is an Entrepreneur, Investor and Operator. He was part of the original executive team at Skype, co-founded Seedcamp, Lovefilm International, The Accelerator Group and Kano between others, and also was a partner at Index Ventures and a board-member at Codecademy.
Meet here the 30 or so speakers already confirmed, stay tuned for the upcoming exciting news and reserve your ticket to the most relevant and irreverent Investment Event in Lisbon before they sell out.
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by maria | Jul 29, 2015 | Uncategorized
Diogo Vasconcelos was the Portuguese politician who inspired the creation of the European Commission Innovation Competition back in 2012, only a year after his death. He dedicated his work to innovation (including helping in Beta-i’s early stage) and the support of decentralized models to address some of the major global social challenges. The European Social Innovation Competition is now already on its 3rd edition, organized by the UE and supported by NESTA, Kennisland, Shipyard, Impact Hub and Matter&Co.
Yesterday, 28th of July, 30 projects were selected semi-finalists from a list of over 1400 candidates applying for the 50k prize with ideas related to New Ways to Grow, the sustainable value and inclusive society projects requested by the jury in this 2015 edition. One of the short-listed projects is the Portuguese Padaria Pão com História, focused on education and youth through the implementation of a bakery located in a vulnerable district. The bakery intends to create lasting jobs and reduce school drop-out and absenteeism. Know more about it here.
Over 40 countries contributed with applications on social matters which are considered great concerns for the Europeans. Ideas on how to promote inclusion, education and youth, employment, health and aging population, climate change, food waste and environment were the most approached ones.
In November, 10 finalists will be selected, 3 of which will each be awarded a €50,000 prize at the awards ceremony in Brussels. You can follow the competition for the latest semi-finalist profile updates and competition news on Twitter #diogochallenge.
Want to be the next Portuguese idea selected for the European Award?
Do you have an idea on one of these above mentioned topics or any other? Would you like to apply to future editions of the European Competition? Start working on your idea now by applying to the national wide reference in pre-acceleration, Beta-start. Applications are open until the 31st of July.
The post The Portuguese Who Inspired the Creation of the EU Innovation Award appeared first on Lisbon Summit.
by maria | Jun 9, 2015 | Uncategorized
It’s been a few days since the Lisbon Investment Summit ended and guess what? It’s time to celebrate it. With this in mind, we have decided to make one last list, the list of the big moments. From the winner of the Caixa Capital Award to the best talks and workshops we have summarized #LIS15 in 10 big moments. Because these moments deserved to be shared with the world and sometimes writing it down is just the best way to do it.
1. Our own Ricardo Marvão inventing the energizer to absorb energy from the audience
Ricardo was the host of the main stage but just before he got started he spoke of an interesting idea that he came up with on the way to the Palace. He thought of creating something he called the energizer. This invention of his would absorb the energy from people and inspire those who need inspiring. He then conducted his first experiment on stage by facing his hand palms to the audience while asking for people to show a little more enthusiasm so that he absorb it and get #LIS15 started.
2. Getting to know startups who have rebuilt Lisbon
Many startups are coming out of Portugal and that’s what we wanted to show to the world. However, we had some of the pioneers on stage. We had Uniplaces, Talkdesk, Feedzai and Seedrs talking about how they grew their companies into successful businesses and how they’re planning to expand globally. When most of these startups first started most people in Portugal had no idea what a startup was… Things have changed over the last few years and most of the entrepreneurs who were at #LIS15 prove it.
3. Alex Barrera ironically saying to investors: “your time is up!”
Well, we knew the reversed pitches would be interesting because we love turning the tables… But Alex Barrera raised our expectations. The man with the hat and also a journalist at Tech.eu took the stage with the energy and enthusiasm to make everyone laugh. All the investors had 3 minutes to pitch their VCs and when the time was up, Alex just said: “Your time is up – it actually feels good to say this to an investor…”.
4. Stephan Morais saying that Lisbon is right after Berlin and London as a startup city
Stephan Morais, Executive Director at Caixa Capital, considers Lisbon as a top startup city in Europe right after Berlin and London… Who knows what comes next?
5. The Jazz concert in the garden
The garden had a grove and that grove asked for something more than just a regular coffee break with drinks and finger food. There’s was a Jazz band setting up the mood for networking and we honestly hope it inspired many deals.
6. The Lisbon Challenge Startup Pitches
Yes, we’re a bit biased on this but to see the progress of the Lisbon Challenge startups was memorable. Great pitches and presentations from the entrepreneurs in the house. All the videos are coming soon… Stay tuned!
7. Those workshops and discussions in the attic
Some people say attics are haunted. Well, this one most certainly was. Haunted with new trends, interesting discussions, and wild crazy ideas. We talked about the Digital Single Market, the importance of failure and success, lean innovation, growth hacking and much more. It felt good to pull up our sleeves and get things done at a tech conference.
8. The One on One meetings in the garden
The garden was full of benches and sofas so that the more than 170 one on one meetings could take place. The entrepreneurs had mentoring sessions with the speakers while enjoying the breeze. We bet this helped ideas flow…
9. Everything happening on Twitter and Periscope
During these 2 days, we had over 2000 tweets and some people had loads of fun using Periscope. From videos to photos, from quotes to jokes you could follow all the action on Twitter through the hashtag #LIS15.
10. The suspense of the awards…
We had several awards to give, together with our partners. But better than the awards is just the suspense and opening of the envelope. But don’t worry if you missed it, we’ll do a recap of the awards pretty soon on the Lisbon Challenge blog 🙂
11. Understand how can big corporations help startups succeed
We had big names on stage from companies such as NASA, Airbus, Ogilvy and Cisco to talk about how they can help startups grow. It’s important to have strong startup ecosystems and big corporations are interested.
12. Taking off to the sunset cocktail on a classic Beetle
We wanted to surprise our guests and speakers and so we took them for a ride. We had sunset cocktail prepared but other than crossing the city in a regular car we decided to go for a more classical approach. Great way to see the city and enjoy the great weather.
13. “I’m on a boat”” – The Sunset Cocktail
We wanted to be different this time so we took some inspiration from our ancestors who took off on caravels to discover a whole new world. We rented a catamaran for the Sunset Cocktail and we had a couple of drinks aboard with our speakers, partners, and guest. It was pretty memorable to drink that gin and tonic with a gorgeous view over Lisbon and the bridge (yes it looks like the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco but our is actually prettier).
14. The true Portuguese Party
The Lisbon Investment Summit had to end with a bang… And so there was a traditional Portuguese party with sardines and popular Portuguese music, that some of the speakers actually thought was German. Oh well, the complexity of the Portuguese language strikes again…
Thank you all for coming and see you next year!
The post Top 14 moments of the Lisbon Investment Summit appeared first on Lisbon Summit.
by maria | Jun 3, 2015 | Uncategorized
To say content is evolving would be an understatement.
As technology is making it not only possible, but easy to stay connected with the world 24/7, everyone can now be a content creator, anytime, anywhere. The results have been nothing short of spectacular: around 2 billion photos are shared everyday, and growing fast. So the challenge becomes: How can we make what we have to say stands out from the crowd?
Storyo is a Portuguese start up that believes the future of content lies in making storytelling as quick and easy as any other content out there, by using our data. A free mobile app, available for iOS and Android, it uses data embedded in the photos we take to automatically create a narrative of events, fetches elements from the web to enrich the story, and delivers it in beautiful videos. And at #LIS15, Storyo and Beta-i are partnering up to invite attendants to create their own #LIS15 stories, and experience both a new way of sharing their experience of the main seed & early stage investment event in Portugal, and a glimpse of what contextual storytelling might bring to the future of content.
The post Storyo and The Future of Content appeared first on Lisbon Summit.
