The document provides lessons learned from starting a fashion startup. It advises founders to avoid being too "local" and instead build an international network online. It emphasizes focusing on customer problems and validating solutions quickly rather than prematurely adding features. The document recommends incorporating outside of one's home country for better opportunities and not worrying about investment until achieving traction. It also stresses the importance of balanced founding teams and proper vesting.

1. Sh*t
I wish
I’d known
before.
Startup
Lessons Learned.
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

2. Andreas Klinger
CWTFO of LOOKK.com
@andreasklinger
#swsofia
Slides: http://slideshare.net/andreasklinger

3. I am one of the Co-Founders
of a Fashion Startup called
LOOKK.com
Doing Startups since 2008
Previously Garmz.com
Mentor @ Seedcamp.
LeanCamp Evangelist.

4. LOOKK = Network to help
emerging fashion designers to
get to market.
* reach a larger audience
* build relationships
* monetize
(Think community + shop)

5. INVESTORS
Carmen Busquets
Dave McClure
Eden Ventures
Sherry Coutu
Tom Hulme
Seedcamp
500 Startups
TEAM (11 fulltime)
Tamas Locher
Andreas Klinger
Gilbert Wedam >
Simone Ospelt
Katy Richardson
Tammy Ksseibiova
Stefan Kanev
Radoslav Stankov
Veselin Todorov
Anguel Lazarov
Plamen Stoev

6. INVESTORS
Carmen Busquets
Dave McClure
Eden Ventures
Sherry Coutu
Tom Hulme
Seedcamp
500 Startups
TEAM (11 fulltime)
Tamas Locher
Andreas Klinger
Gilbert Wedam >
Simone Ospelt
Katy Richardson
Tammy Ksseibiova
Stefan Kanev
Veselin Todorov
Radoslav Stankov
Anguel Lazarov
Plamen Stoev

7. Half the team in Sofia.
Stefan Kanev
Veselin Todorov >
Radoslav Stankov
Anguel Lazarov
Plamen Stoev
Hackerspace
INITLAB.org

8. Sh*t
I wish
I’d known
before.
Startup
Lessons Learned.
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

9. Who wants
to start
a startup?
(or is currently in his first)

10. Who wants
to start
a startup?
(or is currently in his first)
yay!

11. Lessons
Learned
Europe
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

12. What do you see here?

13. What do you see here?
EUROPE.

14. What do you see here?

15. What do you see here?
EUROPE + useless rectangle.

16. Avoid the typical mistake:
Don’t be “local”
Lesson: Don’t restrict yourself
to useless rectangles called borders.
Go London
Go New York
Go Silicon Valley
Most important: Go Online
(Blog, OpenSource, Twitter)
Lesson: Build international network and
reputation.
Being “local” in Austria

17. Avoid the typical mistake:
Don’t be “local”
Lesson: Don’t restrict yourself
to useless rectangles called borders.
Go London
Go New York
Go Silicon Valley
Most important: Go Online
(Blog, OpenSource, Twitter)
Lesson: Build international network and
reputation.
Best example - this location…
Adel Zakout
www.openbuildings.com Being “local” in Austria

18. Avoid the typical mistake:
Don’t be “local”
No local legal entities.
GmbH, SARL, OOD, DOO, LTDa, A, BVO,
Sp. Zoo, SRO, TAA or OOO
Otherwise: Extra legal costs, worse Investor
interest, Suboptimal exits.
Mark my words: You will flip the company
and it will cost you loads of money.
Lesson: Incorporate UK LTD or US INC right
from the start.
No local state funds.
State funds are usually made for SMEs.
You will try to compromise all the time that
will slow you down.
Lesson: Read above. Being “local” in Austria

19. Lessons
Learned
Stages of
Startups
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

20. Startups have different stages.
In which different actions are needed.
Read: The Startup Owners Manual - Steve Blank
Or: Custdev.com by Patrick Vlaskovits and Brant Cooper
Source: Custdev.com

21. Startups have different stages.
Each stage: Different challenges.
Read: Startup Genome Report by Bjoern Herrmann and Max Marmer
Source: Startup Genome Project Report

22. Startups have different stages.
#1 Mistake by all (70%) founders:
Following the patterns of startups in later stages.
Read: http://prezi.com/nfvyxijdmj7v/startup-lifecycle-by-fred-destin/ (!!!)
Source: Startup Genome Project Report

23. Usually the main challenge:
“the hard part is finding the right problem
to solve.” - Kevin Systrom, Instagram
(Which includes finding the customer)
Lesson: Focus on Customer->Problem->Solution
Watch: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2738
Read: http://www.slideshare.net/saintsal/000-custdev-robfitz
Source: Startup Genome Project Report

24. Lessons
Learned
Investors
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

25. Don’t worry about Investment
until traction.
The job of low-level employees at VCs is it to keep
contact with you (email, call, interest, meet).
They are their radar. “Talking” ain’t “talking”.
Lesson: Have a “we don’t fundraise” attitude until you
have validated your customer demand with actual
traction.

26. Don’t worry about Investment
until traction.
The job of low-level employees at VCs is it to keep
contact with you (email, call, interest, meet).
They are their radar. “Talking” ain’t “talking”.
Lesson: Have a “we don’t fundraise” attitude until you
have validated your customer demand with actual
traction.
Exception: Look for domain expert advisors est
eb
h
that can become angels. ot
p ly t rs
ap bato
u
Exception: If you are first time entrepreneur i nc
get experience in via incubators and accelerators.
Read: http://andrewchenblog.com/2011/06/21/video- Whitebear
the-anatomy-of-a-fundable-startup-by-naval-
ravikant-of-angellist/
Yard.
Source: Startup Genome Project Report

27. Seed investors,
You, Incubators,
Angels
FFF Angels VC Investors
Focus on raising when you have traction in your stage.
Not earlier.
In general: Try not to raise if you don’t need to. (Builds up interest)
Source: Custdev.com

28. Don’t try to “poker” too much - play along these values - or you will waste time:
<- After Problem/Solution Fit
Expect 5-15% equity for the incubator round
And 20-25% for Seed and VC rounds.
Remember: It’s more about the people you can get into your
team (angels) and time you don’t waste on fundraising. Than
optimizing your funding.
Read: http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/silicon-valley-20-lean-startup-lean-vc-12956096
Source: Custdev.com

29. Lesson
Learned
Your Team
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

30. Teams
Single Founders
can do discovery and validation stage
alone. Mid/Long term they will be too
slow.
Vesting
should always be used.
One founder alone is too slow… Vesting = you get your shares over time not
all when you join. Thus when you leave
you don’t take 25% of your company with
you.
Read: http://blog.simeonov.com/2010/04/25/
founder-agreements-vesting/
Balanced Teams
“Balanced (Tech/Biz) Founding Teams
have had more user growth[…]” - Startup
…but more founders => more insecure decisions.
Source: Startup Genome Project Report

31. Lessons
Learned
Your Product
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

32. Never plan further than
you can throw…
You assumptions
and therefore your plans
are usually wrong.
You can’t parallelise your rollout
plan. You can’t already “work ahead”.
You won’t launch “in one month”.
Images: A guy who wants to rebuild
Spaceship Enterprise
Project Plan Timeline: 20 years.
Dude…
Still: He is less crazy than most founders i met.

33. Fuck your additional features.
Fuck your engineering.
Ship crap to learn gold.
Don’t try to push product by adding
features or “get ready to scale”.
Lesson: Validate your assumptions
earlier by shipping earlier.
Read: http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/
2009/08/minimum-viable-product-
guide.html
Read: The Lean Startup - Eric Ries

34. What is the core of your
solution?
Example: Bufferapp.com linked their
payment button to an 500-error page
until people complained.
Lesson: Try to focus only on the core of
your solution.
Read: http://blog.bufferapp.com/idea-
to-paying-customers-in-7-weeks-how-
we-did-it
Source: Googe Images & Bufferapp.com

35. Founders always think
they are further along.
They try to push user growth
artificially (“Sales”, “marketing”).
Instead: Create personal relationships
(to learn more) not bulk acquisition/sales
operation.
Lesson: You need 1->10->100 customers.
Lesson: Focus on retention not
acquisition.
Read: http://www.ashmaurya.com/
2011/10/the-10x-product-launch/
Startups that behave inconsistent with their
stage accelerate short term through aggressive
user acquisition but lose long term.
Source: Startup Genome Project Report

36. 5-7 Months 3-5 Months 5-6 Months 7-9 Months
Sh*t needs time.
But you see if you are on the right track early.
Read: The Startup Genome Project Report
Source: Startup Genome Project & Custdev.com

37. Your Goal
for
Startup
Weekend
Sofia
#swsofia – @andreasklinger

38. Do this - in instead of 5-7 months -
Source: Startup Genome Project & Custdev.com

39. Do this - in instead of 5-7 months -
in 2 days.
Source: Startup Genome Project & Custdev.com

40. Do this - in instead of 5-7 months -
in 2 days.
Source: Startup Genome Project & Custdev.com

41. SWSofia Tasks Cheatlist:
* Find a problem
* Have 5 customers with this problem
* Write down your potential solution
* (Customer -Problem-Solution)
* Call your 5 customers tonight
* Ask them if it is the right solution
* Ask about the problems
* Don’t sell
* Improve your solution
* Write down your improved solution
* (Customer -Problem-Solution)
* Build the solution
* Make them use it
* Always improve as early as possible
* Do Magic
* Survive
* Win

42. Thanks
for listening :)
(Sorry for being overtime)
@andreasklinger
http://slideshare.net/andreasklinger
More to read:
http://www.klinger.io