Cap Table Solution Startup Quotabook Joins 500 Startups’ Program
Take a look into how Quotabook is trying to narrow the gap between startups and stakeholders in managing equity data
Successful B2B startups all have one thing in common: they witness problems existing in the market and figure out solutions to fix them. Anything manual and repetitive becomes the motivation for starting a business. For Quotabook as well, inefficiencies spotted in managing equities for startups and VCs drove the start of the company to provide a SaaS-based cap table, stock option and investor relations software. While working as venture capitalists in Korea, three co-founders, Andy, Dan, and Phil, experienced how manual and insecure equity data was being managed and shared. While excel spreadsheets were not built as a tool of collaboration, surprisingly in the startup ecosystem that is supposedly the most innovative and efficient, it was and still being used to represent sensitive details of company ownership and stakeholder relations.
Seeking for better ways to tackle such discrepancy, Quotabook participated in 500 Startups Korea’s “Pre-Series A Program” that supports early-stage startups on product optimization and growth schemes through tailored mentorship and training sessions. Below are some questions from 500 Startups and answers by our co-founders on participating the program as the only B2B SaaS business.
What expectations did you have prior to joining this Pre-Series A Program?
Andy: I think the program’s name is self-explanatory: we had high hopes on building the overall structure and process for post-investment growth. By participating, we were able to systemize the sales procedure, starting from generating leads, onboarding them to Quotabook and leveraging certain tools during the process. So as a result, we gained what we came here for.
Any particularly memorable session that still has influence on your day-to-day business at Quotabook?
Dan: Marketing session was the most impressive, especially because I realized that the message we need to bring to our potential customers shouldn’t be about our features, but about the problems they face. For instance, our four major clienteles would be venture capitalists, their operations teams, startup founders and their management teams. Each segment is facing different types of issues and problems and thus expresses different types of needs. Also, they are at different stages of market sophistication level which needs to be taken into account when delivering value propositions. We now understand that it’s not enough to set a single customer target to build and market our product.
Andy: Before we would have simply thought that our product is suitable for someone working in the startup/VC industry but now, we can clarify and define potential clients as someone who has certain pain points.
Seems like the program helped Quotabook out directly with its business development. What would be the overall comments?
Andy: Things you can learn through this program would be only obtainable if you are a serial entrepreneur. Any founder new to starting a business must take part in it when given the chance. It will also provide you opportunity to network with participating startups, after which Quotabook, with one things leading to another, was able to land on a successful deal🚀
Want to learn more about QuotaBook? Click here to request a demo!
Make equity simple with QuotaBook — QuotaBook is a global equity management platform with a mission to create an ecosystem for private companies and their investors and employees. Leaving spreadsheets and manual works behind, every stakeholder can connect online and sync crucial data on equity such as cap table or employee stock options. It is the leading platform used by top startups and VCs in Asia, backed by Y Combinator.
