Keynote I held at HHL Spinlab Demo Day at Porsche in Leipzig. The slides obviously need to be presented. But the keywords I talked about are on the slides.

1. Can public grants hurt
entrepreneurial mindsets?
Spinlab, Leipzig
Joerg Rheinboldt, November 2018

4. Who are we?
4
We are a diverse team. We are tailormade.We are early-stage.
We are Europe’s most ambitious early-stage VC and accelerator, powered
by Axel Springer and Porsche.

5. 5
To grow start-ups from good to great.
The tailormade structure of APX
gives founders the space to strive and
have an impact globally.
What do we
promise?

6. What is our focus?
● We invest very early
● We are a digital investor at the core
● We are focused on digital user-centric
business models.
6
Media
TravelMobility
Lifestyle
Fintech
Health
Care
APX

7. How do we work?
● Due to very different stages of
companies, we developed
two separate processes:
Pre-Seed selection
Seed selection
● People make companies
successful at the early stage
● Timing is crucial:
Where can we add value that is
more than money?
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8. We our Team
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Anne
Events
Bao
Marketing
Constantin
Dealflow &
Selection
Corinne
Program
Emrah
Closing & Portfolio
Henric
MD
Joerg
MD
Katy
Brand &
Communication
Melanie
Finance &
Portfolio
Sarah
Campus
Sonja
Closing & Portfolio
Tilman
Venture
Development
Yoni
Venture
Development
Robert
Project Mgmt

9. 9
102 Investments and
many more financing rounds
5 years of investing
N26, Zizoo, Careship, Blogfoster…
5 Non Profit Organizations
12 Artists in Residence
Our heritage
Axel Springer Plug and Play

10. Why this?
Why now?
Why you?
Why APX?
10

11. 11
Grants
Every company needs a financing strategy.
Should grants be part of it?

12. Dream → Hypothesis →
Plan → Execution →
Traction
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13. Six “readiness” dimensions investors look at
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Goals
Dimension Sub-Dimension / Description
From Vision to Product
Long term view, "big" (billion-dollar) vision vs. first product to roll out
(6 months)
Users / Customers
Growth (traffic/users/app downloads/churn/retention); Engagement
(conversion/session length)
Financial Model
How will this make money? Unit economics / margins, Burn rate
(monthly), financial projections, forecasted financing needs
Product Plan & Roadmap
Milestones to product launch (infrastructure, backend, UX/UI, etc.);
new feature launch (UX/UI changes, payment flow, etc.)
Sales / Marketing
Marketing channel launch plan, leads, qualified leads, customers
acquisition cost, etc.
Team Hiring goals and org. structure; key hires; outsourced roles
Tailormade: Venture
Development & Program

14. Six “readiness” dimensions investors look at
14
Goals
Dimension Sub-Dimension / Description
From Vision to Product
Long term view, "big" (billion-dollar) vision vs. first product to roll out
(6 months)
Users / Customers
Growth (traffic/users/app downloads/churn/retention); Engagement
(conversion/session length)
Financial Model
How will this make money? Unit economics / margins, Burn rate
(monthly), financial projections, forecasted financing needs
Product Plan & Roadmap
Milestones to product launch (infrastructure, backend, UX/UI, etc.);
new feature launch (UX/UI changes, payment flow, etc.)
Sales / Marketing
Marketing channel launch plan, leads, qualified leads, customers
acquisition cost, etc.
Team Hiring goals and org. structure; key hires; outsourced roles
Tailormade: Venture
Development & Program
Financing
Strategy!

15. Dividend Orientation
vs.
Venture Path
15

16. Captable
&
Capital Structure
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17. Independence
&
Signalling
17

18. 18
Application
&
Formalities

19. 19
Governance

20. 20
Long Term
Consequences

21. Epic
vs.
Granular Failure
21

22. Networks
22

23. Cooperation &
Coopetition
23

24. Speed and Focus
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25. How do you stay connected with APX?
Follow us
@joinAPX @joerg
@joinAPX @rheinboldt
@apxvoices @joerg
Or email us
hello@apx.ac
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