Slides from Pawel's talk at Hive61 in Poznan that, amongst other things, covered our view on the Polish startup ecosystem.

1. @
Poznan, 29.1.2014

2. About .9
The Angel VC:
•Up to 1m EUR
•Berlin-based
•SaaS
•Marketplaces
About me:
•Born/raised in PL
•Moved to DE at 17
•Worked in finance
•Startups since 2008 (angel,
TE, Point Nine)
Quite active in Poland (incl. previous private involvement of team):

3. Crowdsourcing works

4. Topics for today
1) Point Nine’s investment criteria
2) Going international
3) Polish vs. German / Berlin startup community

5. Investment Criteria

6. Criteria: stage = .9
Seed
Series A
Investment
Round Size
€100k - €1M
€1M - €10M
Sources
of Capital
Family & Friends
Angels
Grants
Crowd-funding
Venture Capital
Super Angels
Point Nine Capital invests between €100k and €1M during Pre- A
and A rounds in companies at various revenue stages
Later Stage
Series B, C and D
€5M - €25M
Venture Capital
Growth Equity
Pre-IPO
Private Equity
>€20M
Late-Stage VCs
Corporate VCs
Hedge Funds

7. Criteria: geo
Company based in:
•Europe
•Outside: English speaking markets
Target market:
•Global / international / multi-local

8. Space: SaaS, marketplaces, et al.
We love SaaS:
•vast experience:
•big trend, great business model if done right
We love marketplaces and network effects:
•examples:
•hard to get scale, but durable and powerful once there
Fast growing consumer
Exceptions happen, esp. for amazing teams

9. Going International

10. Going International
1. “Flat” global / international product from the start
•
Esp. applicable for SaaS
2. Multi-local:
•
Esp. in marketplaces: Delivery Hero, Brainly, Docplanner

11. “International” product
Examples:
!
!
“Easy” to start, can be centralised for long time
Typically competitive, expensive marketing
Sales might still need to be local, esp. to larger accounts

12. “Multi-local” product
Examples:
!
!
Logistical challenges to launch local versions
Frequent local competition, little global competition
International scale helps win local markets
Tough and expensive (but well possible) if physical goods
involved (e-commerce)

13. 3 thoughts on the ecosystem in PL

14. 1. Talent: engineers vs. managers
We are proud of our IT/analytical skills

15. 1. Talent: engineers vs. managers
We underestimate the commercial side
Lack of management/sales/marketing talent
They are needed a lot!
…but do not have to wear suits :-)

16. 1. Talent: engineers vs. managers
…and sometimes it feels like this
Can do this:
Can’t do that:
Which one is harder / more important?

17. 2. Decentralisation is good…but not in tech!
No-one knows which is the key city in Poland for tech:
!

18. 2. Decentralisation is good…but not in tech!
Hubs are very important in tech due to cluster effects:
•
SV, Tel-Aviv, London, NY, Berlin best known
•
Urban, attractive areas to live in (young ppl!)
•
All skills, financing, entrepreneurial drive in one place
•
We all know this…

19. 2. Decentralisation is good…but not in tech!
…and we are building technology parks in forests…
!
Germany (and others in Europe) had similar ideas
There was no political plan for tech in Berlin

20. 3. International isolation - PL scene is … Polish
•
Berlin is part of the international tech ecosystem
•
Is Poland? Certainly not yet, hopefully getting there
•
Internationality key - best practices, (commercial)
talent

21. 3. International isolation - PL scene is … Polish
We cannot reinvent all wheels ourselves
!
!
!
!
!
!
esp. in commercial areas, like marketing, sales, general
management..
!

22. 3. International isolation - PL scene is … Polish
What can we do?
Gov programmes (KFK) seem to promote international
isolation (check www.pawel.ch)
International investment works best - facilitate it! (a few
internationally oriented VCs have appeared: Protos,
Giza, Innovation Nest)
Initiatives help: