From Pioneers Festival 2014 in Vienna, Austria. Erik Bovee, founder and partner in SpeedInvest, early stage venture fund based in Austria and Silicon Valley, explains the complexities of doing the impossible: raising money and achieving a big exit multiple.

1. How to do Everything Perfect
Raising Capital and Getting Acquired in Silicon Valley
Erik Bovee, Partner/Founder SpeedInvest
October 2014

2. How to do Everything Perfect
» First understand the requirements
» Second do everything perfect
Understanding the requirements in great detail is essential, and this is the one thing that few EU
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companies do when coming to the US.

3. The Hard Part – Raising Money
Rule # 1
» VCs are EVIL
Rule # 2
» …but they communicate and operate in very specific ways
» (Well, not really Evil, they are just NOT like you)
Secret VC Rule Book and Priorities
» SV Dealflow is AMAZING!
» ‘I worked really hard when I was younger… and I can’t quite remember what that is
The 2/20 model of most Venture Funds means the GPs are completely risk averse in the short
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term, but required to take a few, carefully selected HUGE risks in the long term
like’
» Could this be a 1B dollar company?...No? Next!
» My Burning Man Costume MUST ROCK!
» Is Truckee really the closest private airport to Tahoe?
» Here, have some milestones!
» …Would you like another milestone?
» Would you be open to a syndicate? (if you hear this, you are really, really close,
but they won’t invest)

4. How to do it Perfect – Raising Money
» Find a Billion Dollar Opportunity
» Create the perfect Pitch and then Rehearse a lot
» Know a bunch of VCs already from HBS (Stanford is OK, too)
» Create a window of opportunity
» Market Conditions are changing
» Hard Deadline for Closing the Round
» Time your conversations – gentle competition
» ‘We’d like to talk to your other investors?’
» Sure, just send us terms first
» DO NOT try to BS references!
» Have a great brand – 2 previous exits 100M+
» Be really, really fabulous
» Burning Man costume Tips
VCs benefit from a long process – unless the opportunity is disappearing
BE CAREFUL of getting VCs together early unless you have a TON of leverage
A very specific set of circumstances MUST come together at precisely the right time for you to
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raise a big US A-Round

5. Plan B– Raising Money
» You have a nice, small $100M dollar opportunity
» You come from Australia…sorry, Austria. Where is that again?
» Try raising closer to home: bar is lower in terms of risk and LOTS more seed and series A
There is nothing wrong with a Silver Medal, and you can try again in 4
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years!
money than 3 years ago
» Use public money. Use it A LOT.
» Build a great business
» Get International (US) Customers
» Move to SV in 2 years and try again
» Build US VC relationships
» Hire US BD, DEL corp, and get an office
» Series A or Series B

6. The Totally f$&@(# Impossible Part– Getting Acquired
Assuming You Did Everything Perfect Until Now…
The Requirements: Leverage, Leverage, Leverage
» Everything has to be perfect
» You Need a Growth Story
» You Need a Plan B (IPO/Fundraising, Super Growth)
» …You Aren‘t for Sale
» …No, seriously, we aren‘t for sale
» …I mean, sure if the price was right, we would be open to discussing it, but we
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need to bring in our board and investors
If the circumstances are right, open the M&A
Pipeline CAREFULLY!

7. The Totally f$&@(# Impossible Part– Getting Acquired
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Get the Messaging Right
Creating Leverage Through PR and Marketing
» Broadcast health and growth
» Hit Every Milestone with punishing accuracy
» Regular blog Posts and News items
» Web site updates
» Job postings
A Quiet company is a Dying Company

8. The Totally f$&@(# Impossible Part– Getting Acquired
Get organized!
Defense Through Awesome Planning
» Create Corp Dev A-Team
» Agree with Shareholders, Execs on everything
» Define Limits and ‚no go‘ terms
» Set a ‚Strike Price‘
» Meet Regularly
» Begin to prep early due diligence stuff – biz case, roadmap summary, product
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docs
» Rehearse the story. Learn to love it.
If you aren‘t organized, the buyer will use this as leverage

9. The Totally f$&@(# Impossible Part– Getting Acquired
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Get organized!
Clean House!
» Clean up your cap table!
» Protect Key employees
» Define and Execute IP Strategy… fast
» Build your business case: US expansion plan?
Use this time pre-term sheet to clean up as many critical issues as possible

10. We DID EVERYTHING PERFECT… Where in the F&$# is my term sheet?
» There is a high likelihood you won‘t get to that stage
» Corporate Development is a black box –tightly aligned with company culture,
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strategic planning, and the weather
» You have little control and your M&A pipeline quickly shrinks to zero

11. OMFG IT’s a TERM SHEET!
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» Break out the cham… wait, what? Only 12M dollars?
» Did you manage the process correctly?
» Did you create leverage?
» The secret to pricing….fear.

12. OMFG IT’s a TERM SHEET!
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» BE prepared to walk away
» Do NOT think you can change terms later

13. The FINAL Push
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» Purchase Agreement
» Lawyers
» Due Diligence
» Don‘t freak out. Get enough sleep.
» …Reps and Warranties

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Thank you for your attention!
@ebovee
Erik Bovee – Founder/General Partner
p: +1 831 239 0061/ e: erik@speedinvest.com

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Q&A
Thank you Angelika!!!