Herman Kienhuis discusses finding funding for startups. He outlines various funding options for startups including friends and family, crowdfunding, supplier credit, informal investors, strategic investors, venture capital, and bank loans. He then discusses investment criteria that investors consider like the team's experience, the product solving customer needs, the market potential, and the business plan and financial forecast. Finally, he provides tips for approaching investors which include connecting on social media, sending a teaser email, proposing a short introductory call, meeting in person, and presenting an investor pitch deck and product demo.

1. finding funding
utrecht, january 22, 2013
herman kienhuis (@kienhuis)
investment director sanomaventures (@sanomaventures)

2. •introduction
•funding options
•investment criteria
•approaching investors

3. chemical engineering /
mckinsey / mba / sanoma
finance & strategy / product
development / recruiting
family-man / music-maker /
vintage-lover / internet-geek

4. Sanoma Corporation: European
media & learning group, based in
Helsinki; presence in NL:
• Sanoma Media: #1 magazine
publisher (a.o. Libelle, Donald Duck,
VTWonen, Autoweek), #1 online
publisher (a.o. NU.nl, Kieskeurig.nl,
Startpagina.nl, Viva.nl)
• SBS:#2 commercial broadcaster
(SBS6, Net5, Veronica TV), #1 TV-
guide publisher (Veronica Magazine)
• Malmberg: #1 educational publisher

5. SanomaVentures
• Venturingarm of Sanoma
Corporation, started in 2012
• Strategicinvestor in early-stage
internet start-ups
• Offering:
cash, media, network,
expertise and mentoring
• Focus:
online consumer media,
marketing services, video, mobile,
e-commerce, e-learning

6. SanomaVentures Portfolio
•fashionchick.nl
•veilingacties.nl
•vault79.com
•scoupy.nl
•peerby.com
•trulyyours.nl
•virtuagym.com

7. •introduction
•funding options
•investment criteria
•approaching investors

8. start
>20.000 stock exchange
private equity
20.000
10.000
capital need (EUR x 1000)
venture capital
5.000
2.500
1.000 bank loans
strategic (corporate) investors
500
250 informal investors
100
50 crowdfunding
supplier credit
friends & family
25
preparation start-up inital growth fast growth consolidation maturity
high risk low risk
development phase
(source: ABNAMRO)

9. • family & friends: quickstart, trust
• crowdfunding: creative projects,
creating ambassadors
• supplier credit: quickwin, co-creation
partner
• informal
investors: cash, network,
involvement
• strategicinvestor: cash, customers,
expertise, network (and potential exit)
• venture capital: cash, industry network
• bankloan: cash (at lower cost),
government guarantees

10. •introduction
•funding options
•investment criteria
•approaching investors

11. criteria
•team: complementary experience
•product: solving customer need
•market: customers, price, competition
•plan: roadmap, marketing, cashflow
•deal: funding needed, valuation

12. People: mindset vs. experience
1.Team: commercial + UX + tech
2.Track record in getting things done
3.Unique skills, assets, relations
4.Focused, decisive, persistant, passionate

13. Product: execution vs. uniqueness
1.User-centric design; new solution for
existing customer need
2.Effectively simple UX
3.Technical performance and scalability
4.Proven examples

14. Market: bottom-up vs. top-down
1.Target audience segment (“Q”)
2.Launching customers’ reviews
3.Alternatives and (future) competition
4.Pricepoints (”P”)
5.Customer acquisition cost

15. Plan: realism vs. hockeystick
1.Resource planning & recruiting
2.Focused product roadmap
3.Concrete sales & marketing agenda
4.Financial forecast (e.g. 24 months
cashflow) based on tested assumptions

16. Deal: cards on the table vs. NDA
1.Funding required
2.Shareholding willing to give away
3.Investor characteristics, value-add
4.Request for term sheet

17. •introduction
•funding options
•investment criteria
•approaching investors

18. connect: introduction, linkedin, twitter
mail: teaser, demo-invite
call: propose 20 min. skype
meet: at lunch, at event, ..
pitch: investor deck, product demo

19. www.sanomaventures.com
@kienhuis / @sanomaventures