Conexo Ventures @ Web Summit
Tl;dr: Yeah, it is that time of the year, Web Summit’s aftermath! Lots of madness to get to the centre stage for the opening night, startups struggling to find investors (and investors struggling to find startups), walking back and forth in the Web Summit’s conference floor and people going crazy with Spot, but what is the point and real value of all these? What startup folks must know for other editions and other similar events? Below you will find 7 main takeaways from Conexo Ventures in what regards Web Summit, which actually will be also applicable and useful to any other relationships you aim to create with investors in the future, in addition to some action-oriented intelligence.
I and Isaac de la Peña were the Conexo Ventures’ representatives at the Web Summit (WS) heading there with the main objective of meeting new startups from Portugal and Spain. For Isaac it was the first year, but for me having the benefit of having attended the four previous editions of Web Summit while I was working at Portugal Ventures, I decided to made this post towards sharing action-oriented intelligence, tips and also basic knowledge in what concerns investors and WS itself towards helping you to improve in the future.
Takeaway #1 — First things First
This first takeaway might seriously hurt your entrepreneurial heart and spirit every time you are heading to WS. Are you imagining your company getting your round of funding right there at the WS with some investor you never talked before? Or eventually a few days or weeks later? Or simply shake hands towards investment? Just forget it! I think it will be easier to find a needle in a bunch of needles! From a VC point of view, which is ours, the VC business it will always be relational, not transactional, and being so, Web Summit, it’s a place for people to meet each other.
Apart from that, and if you’re really looking for funding get ready to listen things such as: Not convinced, Not excited, Too Early, Don’t get it, Not for us! Get used to it, VCs say much more times No than Yes.
Takeaway #2 — Plan your agenda ahead
If you don’t plan your agenda ahead the most likely thing to happen is that you won’t maximize the outcome for the price you paid for your entrance at the WS. An easy thing to do is to separate the people you really want to meet from the people you do not think are critical for you, for example dividing them in two groups such as: “Fundamental” and “Nice to talk” and for each group prioritizing also the persons. Once you have this you can start planning your agenda more effectively and ahead of the event. Another advantage of doing this in advance is related with the fact that if by any reason some people cancel meeting with you it will be easier for you to replace them by others you have in your pipeline — if they are still available, of course.
Takeaway #3 — What investors really want to see (at WS or in any other place in the world)
There is a lot of information out there regarding what VCs look for in startups, but it is always good to recap:
Big market — Broadly speaking to forecast/measure the upside potential;
Disruption — An Exit is likely to happen fast innovation is the path to follow;
Exceptional strengths — To make the startup scale and win, fact based is a plus;
Trustworthy and capable team — It’s all about people, particularly in early stage;
Execution speed — How a startup can grow quickly from the point where is in;
Capital efficiency — Limited amount of money to achieve awesome results;
And What are the guidelines to do communicate this in an effective way?
Stand out and impress — In the best way possible and fact based (is always more appealing to show what you’ve done instead of showing what you’ll be doing — Facts vs. Expectations) to create a first a very good first impression;
Build a personal, valuable, trustful relationship — Remember, it’s all about people and you’re basically asking to VCs to marry with the startup;
Relevant storytelling and clear demonstration — Focus in what matters most, Market, Business Model, Management and Execution;
Make your startup easily understandable — don’t get lost in details, but make sure you cover at least topics such as: Team, Problem & Solution, Technology, Business Model, Market, GTM Strategy, Competition Landscape, Current Metrics, Funding Needs and Use of funds, Future Achievements, Exit scenarios or new rounds of funding;
Provide reasons to believe in your startup — VCs assess the past but invest on the future.
Be aware that to do this at the WS most often without a pitch deck to support you, it means you’ll need to have your speech very well trained and reduced to minimum in order to cause an immediate good impression and impact.
Takeaway #4 — Don’t show up full of ambition if you have no realistic credible plan
Do you like bullshitting? No, right? When nowadays having a startup is becoming really trendy in opposition to have a purpose towards a real disruption opportunity (at WS that is becoming pretty much the norm) it starts to get difficult to stand out and impress. Thus, to gain a “theoretical competitive advantage” when presenting to potential customers, partners, investors, people start bullshitting, this is not new, it’s also called lying and it’s around since ever, the difference is that now you will get caught and unmasked much more rapidly so why to do it? I don’t know… Just be realistic, ambitious and never lose credibility. So, try to privilege the investors with whom you might have a more instantaneous fit.
Takeaway #5– Keep pushing but don’t be a pain for the people
While the chances exist, it will be very unlikely to get an investor’s attention and time if you decide to reach him out of nowhere just because you saw he’s using an investor’s badge (some of the investors carry badge back to front for people not be able to see who they are, it’s true!). Actually, it’s a bit irritating to be approached by someone that you never saw in your all life and that wants to present you something and asking you money — it’s like going in the direction of a restaurant that you really want to go for dinner and along the way all the other restaurants you pass by invite you to get dinner there. Thanks, but no thanks! Fortunately, WS organization has managed to create a nice mobile app where you can reach out to investors without being inconvenient.
Takeaway #6 — Centre stage? Didn’t make it!
If you are going WS for the conferences that’s ok, the centre stage is one of the main places to go. Unfortunately for me and Isaac, we simply didn’t had time for being there and if in the future you are going on work, probably you will not get there too. The good part is that conferences are recorded and became available afterwards, the last one we saw here at the office was Welcome to the future of mobile robots from Marc Raibert the founder and CEO of Boston Dynamics, but many other are available online, so if you missed it, go check if it is here, more than a thousand videos are listed.
Takeaway #7 — Get ready to exercise your brain and body
Get ready to be exhausted at the end of each day and get prepared for need of recovery after the all event. Apart from meetings which follow a speed-dating style, where you try to get the most of it in the shortest time possible, the distance you’ll be walking it will be surprising, from three days at the WS I made a total of 16,9km, which means 5,6 km every day, but I’ll not be totally surprised if I see people make something like 10 or 15km on a daily basis at the WS.
Overall, the outcome of WS it was positive for us and we have a lot of work ahead of us to process. A huge shout-out to all the companies and investors we had met!
See you next year!
