1.
Lessons Learned in Venturing
Herman Kienhuis & Ruben Timmerman
Sanoma Media Matters
Hoofddorp, June 11, 2014

2.
agenda
the investor - introduction to herman & sanomaventures
the entrepreneur - introduction to ruben & springest
the investor - lessons learned
the entrepreneur - lessons learned
Q&A

3.
the investor

4.
chemical engineering / mckinsey /
mba / sanoma
finance & strategy / digital product
development / venture capital
family-man / music-maker /
vintage-lover / internet-geek

5.
Addressing all three horizons of growth
defend and extend
core businesses
(TV, newspapers,
magazines, local online
assets, educational books)
PROFIT
build emerging
businesses
(marketing solutions,
international online,
learning solutions)
REVENUE
create viable
options for the
future
(Innovation Lab,
SanomaVentures)
INNOVATION

6.
Geographies

7.
Consumer Media
Consumer web
services
Mobile & Tablet
publishing
Online Video &
connected TV
E-commerce
Advertising &
marketing services
Lead generation &
Marketplaces
Commerce services
Education
Pre-school educational
apps
K12 ecosystem
Personal/professional
development
Scope

8.
capitalneed(EURx1000)
>20.000
20.000
10.000
5.000
2.500
1.000
500
250
100
50
25
Incubators/
accelerators/
angel investors
start
development phase
friends & family
venture capital
Sanoma
Ventures
(€0.1-1.0m)
pre-seed seed early-stage /
venture
growth later-stage
• Very difficult to screen (no
metrics available)
• Low success rate
• 5-7 years for return
• Competition from VC’s
• Limited ability to acquire >15%
stakes
• Much capital required
• Less investors, lower
valuations
• User metrics available
• 3-5 years for return
sweetspot
Stage

9.
SMART MONEY
•customer reach: Sanoma media package (in
addition to cash)
•mentoring: Sanoma business owners act as
sparring partners
•expertise: Sanoma design, development,
marketing and sales specialists and industry/
domain experts & knowledge
•network: Sanoma corporate customers, suppliers,
partners, other ventures

10.
R&D: Create access to external talent and innovations; reduce cost of
experimentation; 24 investments in 3 years
!
Growth: Create options for future growth; build up a portfolio generating
>€20 mln revenues in 2017
!
Value creation: Support startups with expertise, network and media as an
investment currency; manage portfolio companies to positive return and
create 5 ‘exits to Sanoma’ (acquired) in 6 years
!
Transformation: Facilitate knowledge exchange, bringing new insights
into Sanoma, supporting its transformation
!
PR: Help build Sanoma’s innovation and growth story towards
advertising-, labour-and capital market
SanomaVentures’ objectives

11.
L.Druege@vdz.de

12.
L.Druege@vdz.de
ROOMLR
SOCIAL
SHOP

13.
L.Druege@vdz.de
STAGE OF INVESTMENT
>EUR
0.25mln

14.
L.Druege@vdz.de
AREAS OF INVESTMENT

15.
L.Druege@vdz.de

16.
the entrepreneur

17.
Springest:Your Learning Source
Learning is fragmented. People and companies need a guide.
We’ll be the Amazon of Learning.
Springest.nl / .de / .co.uk / .be / .com / .ru

18.
People
regularly discover, buy &
review learning products
Companies
help employees grow, get
education + budget compliance
Publishers
monetize their content via
our API & white label
Learning providers
local or online, get clicks,
leads, sales & branding
Software vendors
enable their apps with learning data
What: Learning marketplace

19.
Cloud perspective

20.
Inspired by Jeff Bezos‘ Amazon Flywheel
New
Users
User
Experience
Learning
content
Learning
Providers
Flywheel, chicken, egg

21.
how: holacracy / agile

22.
how: data driven product

23.
how: data driven product

24.
how: internal awareness

25.
the investor:
lessons learned

26.
team, team, team

27.
dedication & focus

28.
invest in stuff you know
something about

29.
push what goes well

30.
and get out of
the way

31.
accept limited control

32.
and have patience

33.
the entrepreneur:
lessons learned
(the hard way ;))

34.
choose leverage

35.
solve existing problems

36.
conquering country cliches

37.
scaling by teaching

38.
sales is marketing is product
2800 providers = 1 accountmanager + 1 support

39.
extreme transparency

40.
focus on (in)security

41.
get started
@kienhuis | @rubzie |#smm14
Questions?