Capitalising on coincidences — how a stolen product led to a large Enterprise sale
Wherever possible, we aim to try out products we consider for investment ourselves — not only as part of a screening or due diligence, but also when we have already invested. Two months ago, Andreas Giessler, the founder of Theftex, sent me a novel tracker that they co-developed. I was curious about the accuracy and geographical coverage. Unfortunately, the tracker never arrived at my office. But since you can track tracking devices (yes, really), we found out that it must have been “lost” somewhere in Berlin-Neukölln.
A few days later, Theftex had an appointment with a big logistics firm. As real world example, Andreas integrated “my” tracker that had been lost a few weeks ago into the presentation to show what his product is capable of. The logistics firm was thrilled and said that currently their highest losses do in fact occur with shipments from Hanover to Berlin, and they couldn’t find out why.
As a result, the logistics firm did not only become a customer — we also heard that a criminal sub-contractor was identified and reported in the aftermath of the presentation on the basis of this one tracker, which was intended for me. They had most likely scanned packages with metal detectors and speculated on being able to capture mobile phones and other valuable objects.
Pain for some, opportunity for others
The fact that a smart product from a small startup can uncover a huge loss to a corporation and significantly limit future losses is indicative of the relevance of relative magnitudes. As a rule, a large company reacts to a problem only when it has crossed a certain pain threshold. Before that moment, there is usually a lack of attention, resources and the cost-benefit ratio for a solution.
For a startup, the situation is quite different: Small problems from the point of view of large firms can be enormous sales potentials for young companies. If, however, a company does not have a big, world-changing claim of its own, but wants to develop one customer group after another “bottom-up”, the relevant question for us investors always becomes: “How big can this get?”
I have had the best experience by looking at the speed of iteration in this case: How fast and capital-efficient can new products be developed? How cleverly, flexibly and effectively do entrepreneurs sell? And most importantly: Can the team also scale quickly if product/market-fit is given?
The Helvetia Venture Fund invested in Theftex about a year ago in a pre-seed round — and in a one-man show without a pitch deck. Today many big names within transport and logistics are customers or piloting the products. The company is still young, but when I look back on the last 12 intensive months, it is not difficult for me to imagine how the cumulative added value of the speed of innovation will continue to pay off and bear fruit.
