21. 10k business ideas
1k firms started
100 VC funded
20 IPO
2
market
leaders
Nobel
Prize in
Economics
2006
Professor
Edmund
Phelps
Less than 10% of business ideas even get started
22. 62% of venture investments are <1x
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
x<0.5 0.5<=x<1 x=1 1<x<2 2<=x<5 x>=5
% Cost % Value
28. The extreme risk of 62% is definitely not for
everyone, including many entrepreneurs
and investors…..
.
29. In fact a 2% loss ratio for banks lending
to SMEs is already pushing the boundaries.
30. So if you feel comfortable managing risk, you
might as well shoot for the moon
31. The capital which survives, creates businesses now
accounting for 21% of US GDP…..
1978 1981 1987 1995 1995 1997 1999 1999 2005
and $1.4tn in new market value
creating 440k new jobs
with $545bn in new annual revenue
serving >1bn customers
Source: HIS Global Insight
32. And in Europe we are starting to build waves of similar dimensions
33. So what should you be thinking about
when you are starting a business…
Opportunity
Others
Ownership
38. Moving to Maslow’s Web
Communications
Clothing
Discretionary Non-Discretionary
Media
Entertainment
Shopping
Travel
Energy & Housing
Education
Food
Finance
Health
Safety
1993-2003 2004-2012 2012+
39. And in Europe we have no shortage of willing talent….
57. Mendeley extracts data
and fulltext from PDFs, ..
..share and discuss their
research in groups, ..
..lets researchers organize
and annotate papers, ..
62. A global research network with 2.6 million users;
the 15 largest userbases:
University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
Stanford University
MIT
Harvard University
University of Michigan
Imperial College London
University College London
University of Washington
Cornell University
Columbia University
University of Edinburgh
UC Berkeley
Sao Paulo University
University of Toronto
2,000 Mendeley Advisors
around the globe
69. To revolutionize the way researchers and students work and
create the world’s largest research community (2008)
To create the world’s largest research community and
shareable academic database, open to everyone (2008)
Wants to help researchers manage, share, and discover
academic knowledge (2008)
A “Last.fm” for research (2009)
The world’s largest research collaboration platform and
database (2011)
Mendeley helps people to organize and collaborate on
research projects and makes academic research
fascinatingly more accessible and transparent. (2013)
70. Vision: It’s the story you tell. It’s a
“fuzzy” understanding of what
your company stands for.
• Why fuzzy? Because it should
be robust for years.
• Can a vision ever be achieved?
Goals can!
72. Do something you
really, really like!
Develop your vision,
and translate it into a
great product
73. Our vision helped
Mendeley to create
(some sort of) reality
and self-fulfilling
prophecy
“In other words, ‘vision’ is a popular industry narrative
applied after-the-fact”? (Josh Miller, Medium)
77. “How Long Does it Take to Build a Technology
Empire?” (www.ipo-dashboards.com)
78. Because the journey is so long, vision
is so important – it keeps the start-up
together during high growth times.
You can only accomplish more
things through and with other
people, and vision helps to
achieve internal alignment.
79. But vision does more for the team…
Daniel Pink (2009):
Drive: The Surprising
Truth About What
Motivates Us
• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose
80. Mendeley’s vision was coming
from passion and was driving
us to take entrepreneurship as
a lifestyle.
The emotions are the
hardest part.
81.
82.
83. My Background
• Graduated from HEC School of Management with a focus
on Entrepreneurship
• Co-founded PriceMinister and created product & sales
platform
• Moved to Asia (Singapore / Hong Kong) to develop Club
Med’s Asia Pacific digital platform & TBWA digital offering
and met my creative business partner
• Exited PriceMinister in 2010 when acquired by Rakuten
• Moved to London and opened Shopcade end 2011 after
being obsessed with social and shopping implications
85. This applies to big and small companies
Read Clayton Christensen on “Disruptive innovation”
86. For today’s youth, keeping up with new fashion styles and
knowing where to buy them at the best price takes large
amount of time and effort.
16 – 25 year olds are hungry for novelty and not loyal to one brand. They constantly
hunt for the next “it” item using multiple sources, then go searching for where to go buy
the look at the best price. 50% shop at retailers who introduce new lines more
frequently than just once a season, and over 27% bought clothing from 5 or more
retailers in the last 12 months.
87. 87
Browse the hottest looks of the moment
Identify what people are wearing
Buy these items at the best possible price
88. How we get feedback and develop features
User centric design
We regularly meet with our correspondents, content partners,
and hold monthly events with fashion industry insiders to showcase
the app and get feedback to ensure product updates are based on fashion
industry needs.
Lean Startup Approach
We only develop minimum number of features that have a clear need
and iterate on them until there’s a correlation with improvement in
performance data. We are not afraid of dropping stuff. We often test on web
before porting it to mobile as it’s more flexible.
Data driven business decisions
We have an always-on dashboard of userbase, engagement, sales, and
marketing. We often test new things and see how it impacts data, such as
new product features
89. User centric design example
From blogger brunches held in LA and London
The bloggers wanted to see on Shopcade: more fellow blogger styles, ability
to see styles from other users, more emerging brands
So we launched:
“Looks” feature on Shopcade, so that both bloggers and our
community can upload their looks.
Shopcade Store, where emerging brands with no affiliate networks can offer
their products directly on Shopcade and be featured.
90. You want feedback from the right
type of people for your product
o We held a Bus Party during London Fashion Week with 600+ VIP attendees
including Amy Willerton (Miss Universe GB), Fran (Made in Chelsea), Jade
Ellis (X Factor), Diana Vickers (X Factor), Ella Catliff (LaPetiteAnglais), Lilah
Parsons (MTV), Hilary Alexander (Telegraph),V V Brown (Musician), Natalie
Suarez (Model), Vogue, Elle, Candid Magazine, Rough Magazine, Yahoo,
Rodnik Band, Fake Club, Alice Luker.
o Not only was everyone photographed and featured on Shopcade mobile
fashion app, they all gave feedback on the app.
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11jFMpNbzaY
92. Lean Startup Approach example
Conversion rate optimization
We discovered that contextualizing sign-up gates on users’ first visit based
on their intent and source led to quadrupling conversion rate. (ie. If they visit
Shopcade by searching for Motel Rocks skirts, we show messages about
Motel Rocks on the registration popup.)
94. Data driven business decisions
Which push notifications to send on mobile:
After testing via email “deal notifications”, where people are notified when
products they want on Shopcade goes on deal, we found that those emails
had a high click-through rate and led to purchases. Thus on mobile, we
ensured this is one of the high priority push notification over all others.
95. Weekly app downloads
Android iOS
Clear signs of necessity and addictiveness of
Shopcade is backed up by latest data and user response.
96. Do:
Get feedback from the right people
Get responses in real-life, not in the office
Preview your features to a small group of influencers
They already know you well and the market needs
and people generally want to be helpful
Really listen hard to criticisms
Don’t just think they don’t understand
Get the whole team to look at their data
Keep people accountable, and they will focus
on delivering results
97. Don’t:
Survey initial visitors about what they want
They may not be your core demographic after all or
not know what they want unless you show them
Plug your site on blogs/forums
Takes too much time and impact is not guaranteed
Launch on date
Launch on quality
Cool homepage ever
Show users what they want to see and keep it simple
98. Final thoughts:
The product is not everything
MYTH: A good product attracts users
TRUTH: A good product retains users
MYTH: PR and events will get you users
TRUTH: PR and events will get you noticed by
investors and partners and get you feedback.
=> You need virality and build a product people love
and want to share.
=> You need marketing plans to get awareness and
distribution.
99. Thank you
P.S. Download our new mobile app for iPhone and Android.
+44 786 799 3803
nathalie@shopcade.com
Twitter: @nathgaveau
shopcade.com/nathalie
99
102. “a talk that establishes the main
underlying theme”
“establishes the framework for the
following programme of events”
@rorystirling
@mmc_ventures
#fastgrowthforum
103. WHAT THIS IS NOT
@rorystirling
@mmc_ventures
#fastgrowthforum
127. VALUES
Why creating a high-performance culture
isn’t just beers and ping pong
27th Mar 2014 - 9:40am
Lord’s Cricket Ground, London
George Karibian
Founder, PaymentSense
128. battle scars
credit card processing
for SME’s
Finalist 2004
Finalist 2005
Finalist 2006
2013 – Ranked
24th in Europe
founded 2009
founded 2012
overdraft financing
for SMEs
founded 2012
tech payments platform
for mobile apps
founded 2000
rollover to PE 2010
online office products
for SMEs
telco
for SMEs
Finalist 2004
Finalist 2005
Finalist 2006
founded 2003
exit to PE 2008
5 startups | 400k customers | £100m+ turnover
130. • peter drucker
• clear goals
• stamp out failure
• fear
the pyramids
extreme perhaps – but built a masterpiece
131. • great past
• expense reports
• how would you handle abuse
• what xerox did
xerox
no different than the way they built the pyramids?
132. welch matrix
‘b’ players
• “we are family”
‘a’ players
• no brainer
• rock stars
• comp them
• develop them
• edge of comfort zones
• retain them
‘d’ players
• no brainer
• part with them
‘c’ players
• difficult to identify
• easy to deal with
• info bottlenecks
• credit for others’ work
• focus on reducing targets
• black boxes
• hold mgmt hostage
• political animals
• weed them out
• easy to identify
• difficult to deal with
• 2nd chancers
• training
• new role
• ease their move
b’s and c’s separate the few great companies from the many mediocre ones
a b
c d
results
+
+
-
-
values
a
c d
b
134. sunflowers
beware of the sunflower
a
a a
a a a
a a c a a
a c c c a a
a a c c c a a
a a c c c c a a
a a a c c c c a a a
a a a b b c b c a a a
a a a b b b c b c b a a a
a a a a b c a a a a a a a
a
a a
a a a
a a c a a
a c c c a a
a a c c c a a
a a c c c c a a
a a a c c c c a a a
a a a b b c b c a a a
a a a b b b c b c b a a a
a a a a b c a a a a a a a
a
a a
a a a
a a c a a
a c c c a a
a a c c c a a
a a c c c c a a
a a a c c c c a a a
a a a b b c b c a a a
a a a b b b c b c b a a a
a a a a b c a a a a a a a
a
a a
a a a
a a c a a
a c c c a a
a a c c c a a
a a c c c c a a
a a a c c c c a a a
a a a b b c b c a a a
a a a b b b c b c b a a a
a a a a b c a a a a a a a
135. the rot effect
have only ‘a’ players around your table… and real magic begins to happen
249. 1. What is your Desired Outcome?
2. Why are Revenue and Profit Important?
3. The Evolution of Revenue and Profit
4. Should You Focus on Revenue Growth or
Profit Growth?
5. What Does MVF Focus On?
250. 1. What is your Desired Outcome?
2. Why are Revenue and Profit Important?
3. The Evolution of Revenue and Profit
4. Should You Focus on Revenue Growth or
Profit Growth?
5. What Does MVF Focus On?
252. 1. What is your Desired Outcome?
2. Why are Revenue and Profit
Important?
3. The Evolution of Revenue and Profit
4. Should You Focus on Revenue Growth or Profit
Growth?
5. What Does MVF Focus On?
257. 1. What is your Desired Outcome?
2. Why are Revenue and Profit Important?
3. The Evolution of Revenue and Profit
4. Should You Focus on Revenue Growth or Profit
Growth?
5. What Does MVF Focus On?
258.
259.
260. Marketing Channel Optimisation
Landing Page Optimisation
Strong Sales Process
Strong On-Boarding Process
263. 1. What is your Desired Outcome?
2. Why are Revenue and Profit Important?
3. The Evolution of Revenue and Profit
4. Should You Focus on Revenue Growth
or Profit Growth?
5. What Does MVF Focus On?
264. • Demonstrate you can pull levers to generate
profit, or
• Have line of sight on profit in the future
265. 1. What is your Desired Outcome?
2. Why are Revenue and Profit Important?
3. The Evolution of Revenue and Profit
4. Should You Focus on Revenue Growth or Profit
Growth?
5. What does MVF Focus On?
266.
267. 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
£500k per
Month
Revenue
£1m per
Month
Revenue
£1m per
Month
Gross
Profit
£2m per
Month
Gross
Profit
277. WE HELP BRANDS MEASURE SUCESSS &
IDENTIFY TRENDING CONTENT
Source: Company Management
• Real-time benchmarking
• Customizable data clusters
• 2,000 preloaded brands
• Granular social reactions
• Plus the bigger picture!
278. WE PREDICT & IMPROVE CONTENT SHAREABILITY
Basic emotions
Primal responses
Cognitive responses
Intensity
Emotional valence
Schema disruption
Social motivation
Memorability
Enjoyability
Medium
Favourability
Interpanel agreement
and more...
279. AND ACTIVATE THE OPEN WEB WITH PAID MEDIA
Maximize peak sharing
Prolong burn-out phase
with Unruly
without Unruly
Brands use Activate to maximize earned media
• Make videos ubiquitous & shareable
• Maximize social spread and viral views
• Target super-sharers to slow burn-out
280. WHY DO SHARES MATTER?
50x
INCREASE
2006 2013
Source: Viral Video Chart
282. 5. Expansion Plans
5.2 Geographic Expansion
Today
Regional Hub
Local Office
Sales Presence
London
2007
Paris
2010
Sydney
2010
New York
2011
Stockholm
2011
San Francisco
2011
Amsterdam
2011
Berlin
2012
Singapore
2014
Chicago
2012
Hamburg
2013
Oslo
2013
EMEA
Americas
APAC
LA
2012
GLOBAL GROWTH
Seoul
2014
291. TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
International Winner,
Hot New Media and
Technological Platforms
Winner, Digital
Innovation
Winner, International
Impact Management
Team of the Year
315. Preparing your Business for Exit
1. Clear Proof Points
2. Scalable Business Model
3. Solid People
316. The 7 Great Myths of Preparing Your Business for Exit
1. I won’t be happy until I have made lots of money
2. I’ll sell when I’m ready…and I know when I’m ready
3. I know what my business is worth, and I’ll not sell for less
4. Big spreadsheets showing long term sales forecasts are pointless
5. You need a Big Vision
6. All investment is the same: it’s just money
7. Selling my business is what I do all day
317. Myth #1: I won’t be happy until I’ve made lots of ££££££
318. Your company reflects your personalityMyth #1: I won’t be happy until I’ve made lots of ££££££
No ! M&A enables you to achieve your goals in life
319. Myth #2: I’ll sell when I’m ready…
…and I’ll know when I’m ready
Maturity
Crisis of
Growth through
Size
Leadership
Autonomy
Control
Bureaucracy
Internal Growth
Creativity
Direction
Delegation
Co-ordination
Collaboration
External
partnerships
The Greiner Curve
320. Myth #2: I’ll sell when I’m ready…
…and I’ll know when I’m ready
321. Myth #3: I know what my business is worth…
…and I’ll not sell for less
Truth: You really aren’t the best judge. Honestly
Dream Value = 10-20x revenues
Tuck In: 2-5x revenues
Normal business:
3 x last year’s profits + cash at bank
322. Myth #4: Big spreadsheets showing long term sales
forecasts and market shares are completely pointless
Revenue and Valuation Forecast to 2018 - Assumptions and Summary
Core Planning Assumption: Increase in Money Under Management
Start Point £11.3m as at end March 2012
Organic Growth per month £200,000 = annual growth of £2,400,000
Investment Growth per month £300,000 = annual growth of £3,600,000
Market Growth Factor per annum 5.00%
Wastage from retiring clients per annum 5.00%
Revenues will be 3.00% of Funds Under Management
Split of Recurring Fees Income vs. Commission
Percentage of Recurring Fees Income will be 55% of Revenue initally and can be expected to rise
Valuation Calculation is Industry Standard: Multiple of Fee Income + Commission Income - Debt
Fee Income
multiple to be
used: 4
Low valuation = 3
Mid Market Valuation = 4,
Rising market valuation = 6
Summary: Organic Growth Model:
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
actual
Funds £m 11,300,000 13,700,000 16,100,000 18,500,000 20,900,000 23,300,000 25,700,000
Valuation £ 595,668 £ 615,256 £ 771,456 £ 927,656 £ 1,083,856 £ 1,234,900 £ 1,362,100
Investment Growth Model:
2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
actual
Funds £ 11,300,000 14,900,000 18,500,000 22,100,000 25,700,000 29,300,000 32,900,000
Valuation £ 595,668 £ 635,656 £ 809,556 £ 1,025,756 £ 1,281,556 £ 1,532,200 1,743,700
“There is nothing so practical as a good theory”
324. Would you hire them ? What for ?
They need goals/targets/appraisals
Myth #6: All investment is the same: it’s just money
“You can smell emotional commitment a mile away”
326. Preparing Your Business for Exit
1. Clear Proof Points
2. Scalable Business Model
3. Solid People – starting with …
You
327. Preparing Yourself for Exit
1. I won’t be happy until I have made lots of money
What are your goals in life ?
How will this business help you achieve them ?
2. I’ll sell when I’m ready…and I know when I’m ready
By the time you’re ready, it’s too late
3. I know what my business is worth, and I’ll not sell for less
No, you don’t. Honestly.
4. Business Models are pointless
The best possible value protection/creation strategy
5. You need a Big Vision
You need clarity about your purpose and your Road Map
6. All investment is the same: it’s just money
Choose the people, not the money
7. Selling my business is what I do all day
Beware…almost impossible not to take your eye off the ball
