Video: http://youtu.be/60jz8hf03wk Startup AddVenture 2013 was held in Kyiv, Ukraine December 4th and 5th. It is the largest and most important startup event of the year in Central and Eastern Europe. Evan Nisselson - Partner, LDV Capital For many startups in Europe eventually coming to the US to fund raise, open to the US market, or completely move the company is a major milestone. Though the ecosystem in Europe is maturing, the force of the largest economy and the center of the startup universe in the US is hard to ignore. Evan Nisselson graciously gives his time to many European accelerators and events. He started multiple international companies and now heads LDV Capital an Angel fund in New York. He has advised numerous startups on how to look at the US market. Startup AddVenture returns to Kyiv December 3rd and 4th, 2014 - www.venturesummit.eu

1. European Startups:
If, When, Why, Where, How to raise $ in the U.S.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

2. Evan Nisselson
@nisselson
Entrepreneur ~19yrs: Silicon Valley, NYC, Europe
LDV Capital
$1M Fund, $25-50K + follow-on $
Focus: Digital Imaging/Video Tech & B2B SaaS
Geography: Europe, U.S.
Portfolio: Today 5 co’s; Croatia, Sweden, Canada, U.S.
Mentor:
500Startups, Seedcamp.com, Techpeaks, Mind The Bridge,
Lisbon Challenge, Tetuan Valley Madrid, Fi.co, NY Seed
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

3. What is my Goal?
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

4. Be Creative
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5. Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Solve Problems

6. Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Have Fun!

7. Make money while I sleep
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

8. European Startups:
If, Why, When, Where, How
To Raise capital in the US?
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

9. The goal is not
raising money!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

10. Money is a means
to an end!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

11. Case Studies:
Estonia, Sweden, Czech, Slovenia, Croatia, UK
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Local customer validation
Local accelerator and/or,
Angel Investors with domain expertise
U.S. Growth Opportunity
Positive growth trend
Entrepreneur DNA = Hustle

12. Apiary
Team: Czech Republic
Apiary is a developer tools platform helping companies build web API’s
Team: Deep tech expertise
- Springboard Accelerator = Techstars Europe
- Launched Invite-only Alpha product after Accelerator & beta in 14 months
- Dec. 2011: No clients, No Revenue, Angel round, $120K Esther Dyson, cofounder Heroku and others
- Sept. 2013: ~10K freemium users, no revenue, Seed Round $1.6M,
Flybridge, Baseline, Credo(Czech), XG.
Why: “Winning over the west-coast US tech market means the rest world will
follow. Found local founders & angels who supported us & they made
introductions”
How: “LOTS of meetings. Lots of intros by many. The key ones - done by
fellow founders from startups further along then ours”
Advice: “Find local people, ideally founders or angel investors who support
you, have them introduce you.”
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

13. Farmeron
Croatia & US
Farmeron is a B2B SaaS platform helping farmers manage their data online
and increase farm results with actionable metrics
Team: Farmers
May 2011: Created Angel.co profile
Fall 2011: Customers in Croatia; Angel Round: Seedcamp, TAG, 500Startups
Winter 2012: First hire in the U.S.
May 2012: ~30 customers & ~$10K Monthly Revenue, Seed Round $1.4M,
NextView, SoftTech, LDV, and angels
Oct. 2012: Launched Product and U.S. customers increasing
Why Raise $ in the US: “Most important customers are located in U.S.”
How did you Raise $ in US: “Through Angel.co and referrals to VC’s
personal network.”
Advice: “Do it only if your customers are actually in the U.S.!”
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

14. Narrative
[formerly Memoto]
Team: Stockholm, Sweden
Narrative clip is a wearable automatic camera making 5 megapixel photos every 30 seconds
Team: Serial Entrepreneurs
Dec. 2011: 50k euro non-equity loan from Swedish Government
July 2012: 500k euro seed from Passion Capital and Angels in Europe
Oct. 2012: Launched Kickstarter Campaign
April 2013: ~$700K Pre-Order, 300k€ convertible+loan Passion, LDV, SEBank
Aug. 2013: ~$1M Pre-Order, 50% US Customers, Series A, 3M€ True Ventures, Passion, LDV
Dec. 2013: Shipping to early Kickstarter supporters?
2014: Plan to open US Office
Why: “US is a key market for us”
How: We were planning to fund raise in Silicon alley but a lot of U.S. VC’s are also coming
to Europe. True Ventures pre-empted our fund raise - met with Passion Capital in London,
then us in Paris, gave a great term sheet and having a stellar reputation.”
Advice: “Either make plans to move U.S., work very hard for several months researching &
getting quality intros to firms that do invest in Europe. They are few and very picky.”
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

15. GrabCad
Team: Estonia, UK, Boston/US
GrabCad helps engineers get products to market faster connecting people, content, tech
Team: Mechanical engineers and manufacturing expertise
Jan. 2010: Seed €256K Astrec Baltic, Eesti Arengufond,
Feb. 2011: Seedcamp
August 2010: Launched Beta product
March 2011: Techstars Boston [moved execs to Boston]
June 2011: ~3000 users, Freemium. Seed $1.1M Matrix, Atlas, NextView, Angels.
Jan. 2012: ~4000 users, Series A $4M Matrix Partners, Atlas Venture
Oct. 2012: ~250K users, Series B $8.15M CRV, Atlas, NextView, Matrix, David Sacks
Nov. 2013: ~950K users
Why: “Be close to ecosystem (smart money, customers, talent)”
How: “Hustle”
Advice: “Move to US, otherwise don’t waste investors or your time. Investors want to be
close to you so they can help you.
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

16. Transferwise
Team: UK, England
Transferwise is an online peer to peer money transfer platform
Team: Banking and peer to peer expertise
March 2010: Founded company
January 2011: Beta Launch
August 2011: Seedcamp
April 2012: Revenue ~1K, Seed, $1.3M IA Ventures, Index, TAG, Max
Levchin/Paypal, Errol Damelin/Wonga, David Yu/Betfair...
May 2013: Revenue ~10K British Pounds, Series A: Valar Ventures [Peter
Thiel], SV Angel, IA, Index, Kima
Why: “Better investors. Better Terms”
How: “By showing great customer satisfaction and more than 20% month
over month growth”
Advice: “Have a great growth story.”
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

17. Zemanta
Team: Slovenia, NYC
Zemanta recommends your content to a diverse network of engaged
communities around the web, bringing new readers to your site.
Team: Deep expertise in product and tech
Sept. 2007: Angel Round $100K Seedcamp, TAG
March 2008: Product Launch and added ~10k active users yearly until 2010.
July 2008: Seed Round $1.5M
Sept. 2008: $750K Union Square Ventures, Eden Ventures
Nov. 2013: $2M Union Square Ventures, Social Starts.
Why: “because the U.S. will ultimately be our market and we wanted to be
closer to our customers - advertisers. ”
How: “We were meeting vc's at events in 2008, Fred Wilson asked to join the
already closed round and we accommodated.”
Advice: “You need to tell your idea to 1000 people, to hit 200 relevant ones,
1-2 actually have the power to do something life-changing for your company.”
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

18. Summary
If:
CEO DNA = Hustle, Coachable, Domain Expert, Passionate
Local Customer validation and growth trend
Local early investors
Large addressable market in the US
Why:
Need expansion capital for US Sales, Marketing, Dev.
Need a U.S. office and U.S. employees to grow business
When:
After validated locally
Customer growth trend locally and U.S.
Local Accelerator graduate helps but not mandatory
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

19. Summary
Where:
Where your customers are!
Where the best new team members can be hired.
How:
Target investors with domain knowledge
Angel.co
Co-founder will be based in U.S. or at least frequent U.S. trips
Tech team remains in Europe
Sales and business team planned for U.S.
Leverage early investors
Hustle!!!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

20. Only ~1% Raise Capital
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21. Hustle = “No” really means “Not Now”
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

22. Lets help each other,
Solve problems,
Be creative,
Have fun,
Improve the world we live in,
Make money while we sleep.
#carpediem
Wednesday, December 4, 2013

23. Love the Living of Life
@nisselson
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
www.ldvlabs.com

24. Wednesday, December 4, 2013