From finding co-founders, to managing initial finances, to coming up with a product and finding external funding. He will share his experiences in these and other topics, from the point of view of a software developer who quit his day job without a clear plan ahead. Jānis has more than 7 years of software development experience. In 2015 he left his day job and in early 2016 co-founded a B2B security startup called Notakey. Currently it has distributors in the Baltic States and Finland, as well as partners in Switzerland such as Credit Suisse and UBS.

1. 0 to startup

2. Partners
Paying Clients
EUR 280K
Team of 6

3. Last surviving
maintainer of a
PHP4 app in 2070

4. “CEOs always act on leading indicators
of good news, but only act on lagging
indicators of bad news.”
https://medium.com/software-is-eating-the-world/
andy-37e10d4780bc#.c66t5kjj9
- Andy Grove

5. doin' it
2 kids and a
mortgage?

6. Phase 1:
consulting
8 months
product idea + co-founder

7. EUR 25K loan
(buffer)
Financing
Child benefits
25% reduction
in income
Work
Savings

8. Brainstorming

9. Prototyping

10. Prototyping

12. You will need
some luck…
…and a team

13. Luck + team =
community
Always pay it forward and never
forget to pay it back. It’s how you
got here and it defines where you’re
going…
- @briansolis

14. Phase 2:
validation
6 months
accelerators -> product ->
1st client

15. Remaining
buffer
Financing
Credit cards
45% reduction
in income
Accelerators

16. “A ‘startup’ is a company that is
confused about three things: (1.) What
its product is. (2.) Who its customers
are. (3.) How to make money.”
– Dave McClure, 500Startups

17. Apply to
everything
Cold-call
everyone

19. 0
10
20
30
40
'000 EUR
10K cash
25K
"on-paper"
value
5%
95%
3 MONTHS
5% EQUITY

21. 0
5
10
15
20
'000 EUR
20K cash
NO EQUITY
+ LIVING EXPENSES
2 MONTHS

22. Prototype = demo
Product = details

23. EUR 50K
EUR 50K
EUR 50K

24. Digital signatures and logistics
2FA (API, VPN, Win, PAM) Federated ID

25. Prototype = demo
Product = details
Company = engine
Phase 3

26. It’s a
moonshot