If an investor is a fan of space, you should be with him
Alexey Moiseenkov, founder of the Prisma startup, during an open interview at the GoTech Forum, told about his rules on team building, communication with investors, entering foreign markets and promotion in the media.
You can do business with friends and you can make friends based on business. I am from the second category - I try not to mix up friends and business. The project team collected from those with whom I have already worked and I can rely on them. I knew everyone personally. This is important, as they have faith that your project will trample. Although the first user tests and said that it is not interesting to anyone. In response, we worked 24 hours a day. By the way, we are still sitting on the remote, and not in the same office.
By my example, I can say that working in a large company gives you an insider on how corporations are organized. This is good for networking, you can hire those with whom you previously worked. For example, we have several employees from Yandex. True, it is worth remembering that many people who stay up in large companies can be conservative in their actions.
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At the start of the project it is important to understand what you want to achieve in the near future. Usually the idea has major milestones - mission, goal. And you need to reach them, and not to engage in third-party projects. For example, we were offered to place images on T-shirts, but I didn’t do this. If you don’t focus on what you’re doing, then the likelihood of “smudging” is great. In this case, the entire product cycle, which was discussed at the start, begins to grow in time.
Our product was originally B2C. His task is to grow the audience to the maximum level. If you do this, then there will be no problems with monetization. In particular, we managed to sell filters to brands that reach a large part of the audience. That is, monetization did not occur directly. It turned out that the brand is paying, not the user. In Russia, this model also works. But in principle, we are not very actively working on this, as we are more focused on technology. At the initial stage, I did not even have an understanding of the cost level of the filters.
In general, the rule is to grow and maintain an audience. If you are creating a B2B product, then sell. If both B2B and B2C, then you can, for example, begin to develop in the same city.
The Russian and foreign audience in the dissemination of our application turned out to be an important common feature - the desire for self-expression. The difference between the two audiences was that there were popular different filters in different countries. For example, in the USA - these are comic filters, in Russia - based on the works of artists. Why is that? If you ask Russia if a particular audience knows Aivazovsky, then everyone will answer in the affirmative. In the United States, the request to say whether the name of a local artist is familiar, rather, no one will respond positively to you.
I believe that the project does not need investors, if they can not give him anything but money. They can be taken in the bank. Although, if you do not want to take, for example, a loan, it means that there is uncertainty about the future of your company. In my opinion, it is necessary to look for investments for a specific task. But for now, I see that for the most part startups are just looking for money.
An investor is one who can help you in the local market. In China, we need exactly the Chinese investor. There it is necessary to produce a local product, then you will be noticed. If you adapt to local players in a closed market, you will definitely get a marketing opportunity. In this country, we are currently available only for iOS. To release an application on Android, there is a condition to have a registered company in China.
When negotiating with investors should know his preferences. For example, he specializes in a specific area of ​​activity. Or just loves space and at a meeting you can show him solidarity with it.
Another rule is when an investor asks for your value, then you need to put yourself in his place and ask the question: “how much would I buy my company for?” And then your whole skill is what markup can you make from above. If you are very arrogant, it will be immediately noticeable. If you are sure that you can move about 50% from the price, then with a high degree of probability, the negotiations will be successful.
In the end, they invest in people, not in what you do. A successful product is only confirmation that you have a great team.
For a Russian startup, raising money abroad is a huge barrier. Only Russia should not be its market, and most of our companies are focused only on it. And as soon as you come to the Valley, the first investor asks you a question: and what, besides Russia, do you have? And usually there is nothing. If you are a B2B startup, you need the ability to conduct sales abroad, if B2C, then you must have users from other countries.
In the same question the location of the team is of great importance. If you somehow cannot position yourself as a company from the Valley, then they ask you where the team is and whether you are going to transport it to the States. This question must be answered "yes." And then follows the next - and when? And here you need to competently show yourself. I say this - “there are very strong engineers and scientists in Russia, so I can’t transport the entire R & D department here, but I’m hiring class-based employees." In general, it is necessary to find a very competent argument. But you cannot be far from investors or the target market. If you want to hire in the USA, you can hire in the USA. Specialists there are twice as expensive as in Russia.
From my team I have not transported anyone to America. In the near future, perhaps, I will do it, if someone needs it. But now it does not limit us.
In any viral product, the first wave, the starting point, is needed. It could be anything - an article in the media, a post from a blogger or something else. Further, the presence in the media has no effect. The Techcrunch article satisfies only the ego of the project manager; in our example, she did not have any influence on the product itself. I have never seen an increase in traffic after articles in the media. But it helps that the key people for you can learn about the project.
This publication is based on the video of Alexey Moiseenkov's performance, posted in the official account of Gotech on Youtube.
Team and project start
You can do business with friends and you can make friends based on business. I am from the second category - I try not to mix up friends and business. The project team collected from those with whom I have already worked and I can rely on them. I knew everyone personally. This is important, as they have faith that your project will trample. Although the first user tests and said that it is not interesting to anyone. In response, we worked 24 hours a day. By the way, we are still sitting on the remote, and not in the same office.
By my example, I can say that working in a large company gives you an insider on how corporations are organized. This is good for networking, you can hire those with whom you previously worked. For example, we have several employees from Yandex. True, it is worth remembering that many people who stay up in large companies can be conservative in their actions.
')
At the start of the project it is important to understand what you want to achieve in the near future. Usually the idea has major milestones - mission, goal. And you need to reach them, and not to engage in third-party projects. For example, we were offered to place images on T-shirts, but I didn’t do this. If you don’t focus on what you’re doing, then the likelihood of “smudging” is great. In this case, the entire product cycle, which was discussed at the start, begins to grow in time.
Our product was originally B2C. His task is to grow the audience to the maximum level. If you do this, then there will be no problems with monetization. In particular, we managed to sell filters to brands that reach a large part of the audience. That is, monetization did not occur directly. It turned out that the brand is paying, not the user. In Russia, this model also works. But in principle, we are not very actively working on this, as we are more focused on technology. At the initial stage, I did not even have an understanding of the cost level of the filters.
In general, the rule is to grow and maintain an audience. If you are creating a B2B product, then sell. If both B2B and B2C, then you can, for example, begin to develop in the same city.
Lecture hall
The Russian and foreign audience in the dissemination of our application turned out to be an important common feature - the desire for self-expression. The difference between the two audiences was that there were popular different filters in different countries. For example, in the USA - these are comic filters, in Russia - based on the works of artists. Why is that? If you ask Russia if a particular audience knows Aivazovsky, then everyone will answer in the affirmative. In the United States, the request to say whether the name of a local artist is familiar, rather, no one will respond positively to you.
Investors
I believe that the project does not need investors, if they can not give him anything but money. They can be taken in the bank. Although, if you do not want to take, for example, a loan, it means that there is uncertainty about the future of your company. In my opinion, it is necessary to look for investments for a specific task. But for now, I see that for the most part startups are just looking for money.
An investor is one who can help you in the local market. In China, we need exactly the Chinese investor. There it is necessary to produce a local product, then you will be noticed. If you adapt to local players in a closed market, you will definitely get a marketing opportunity. In this country, we are currently available only for iOS. To release an application on Android, there is a condition to have a registered company in China.
When negotiating with investors should know his preferences. For example, he specializes in a specific area of ​​activity. Or just loves space and at a meeting you can show him solidarity with it.
Another rule is when an investor asks for your value, then you need to put yourself in his place and ask the question: “how much would I buy my company for?” And then your whole skill is what markup can you make from above. If you are very arrogant, it will be immediately noticeable. If you are sure that you can move about 50% from the price, then with a high degree of probability, the negotiations will be successful.
In the end, they invest in people, not in what you do. A successful product is only confirmation that you have a great team.
Investments abroad
For a Russian startup, raising money abroad is a huge barrier. Only Russia should not be its market, and most of our companies are focused only on it. And as soon as you come to the Valley, the first investor asks you a question: and what, besides Russia, do you have? And usually there is nothing. If you are a B2B startup, you need the ability to conduct sales abroad, if B2C, then you must have users from other countries.
In the same question the location of the team is of great importance. If you somehow cannot position yourself as a company from the Valley, then they ask you where the team is and whether you are going to transport it to the States. This question must be answered "yes." And then follows the next - and when? And here you need to competently show yourself. I say this - “there are very strong engineers and scientists in Russia, so I can’t transport the entire R & D department here, but I’m hiring class-based employees." In general, it is necessary to find a very competent argument. But you cannot be far from investors or the target market. If you want to hire in the USA, you can hire in the USA. Specialists there are twice as expensive as in Russia.
From my team I have not transported anyone to America. In the near future, perhaps, I will do it, if someone needs it. But now it does not limit us.
Promotion
In any viral product, the first wave, the starting point, is needed. It could be anything - an article in the media, a post from a blogger or something else. Further, the presence in the media has no effect. The Techcrunch article satisfies only the ego of the project manager; in our example, she did not have any influence on the product itself. I have never seen an increase in traffic after articles in the media. But it helps that the key people for you can learn about the project.
This publication is based on the video of Alexey Moiseenkov's performance, posted in the official account of Gotech on Youtube.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/319468/
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