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Startup Stories: Notes F Rom Fou Nders
Startup Stories: Notes F Rom Fou Nders
T O R I ES
RTUP S
STA N DE RS
ROMOU
F
F
NOTES
O N E E RS
T H E P I
1 Vo lum e 01
Issue 0
i
STARTUP STORIES
Welc
Star ome to
tup S
torie
Startups were nothing new in 2007 but Every startup that launches today has But one thing hasn’t changed. It’s the
there was something that resonated for the benefit of leveraging all of the tremendous passion and personal drive of
me that wasn’t there prior to joining failures, successes and knowledge of entrepreneurs to still turn these ideas into
Tumblr. There was a new admiration that those companies that came before something big. This series is dedicated to
grew beyond the company itself and them. The advancements in AWS have these founders, their stories and the grand
sparked an appreciation for the people reduced the overhead that companies visions they helped turn into a reality. I
who built these companies. These were traditionally needed to build applications hope reading and learning about these
individuals who took a dream and created by eliminating the need to provision data founders encourages you to take your first
it with little more than 0s and 1s. Out of centers and hire massive engineering step towards building the products and
nothing, they built communities, online teams to launch a product. Today, there experiences of tomorrow.
stores and games. These new companies are small teams of two to five people
The future is filled with a world of
changed the way we connect, create, building autonomous vehicles, machine
community, sharing and helping. When
shop and share with individuals around learning driven radiology, drones for
you do take that first step, we’re all here
the globe. commercial construction and more.
to help you along the way.
These technical accomplishments have
been made easier by the democratization
of technology through the millions of
customers building on AWS today. Our
Mackenzie Kosut
goal has always been to put the technical
Global Startup Evangelist, AWS
capabilities of the largest Fortune 500
companies into the hands of every
individual and today you have this at
your fingertips.
The Pioneers
Their path may not have been an easy one. But these tech
STARTUP STORIES
vanguards not only paved the way for those who’ve since followed,
they’ve also shown us what can be achieved if you have the vision,
01
talent and tenacity to take an idea from concept to reality. From Read how two expats’ irritation with
humble beginnings, these leaders have built pioneering global the status quo inspired them to change
brands and taken their organizations to new heights. the way money is transferred between
countries.
04
Find out how one man went from
selling encyclopedias door-to-door to
founding a global business that now
05
serves 70,000 companies.
Discover how a startup that was just
weeks away from going under went
on to raise $131 million in funding.
Transfer Elaia Freigeist Pipedrive Collibra
wise
Partners Capital
o n s of
STARTUP STORIES
g m il li
Savi n ey
l e m on
peop
ch gu ru w ith on e ey e fir m ly on the
A te
rikus is
future, Estonian-born Taavet Hin
the
adept at anticipating the needs of
oyees,
world. One of Sk ype’s first empl
no w th e co -f ou nd er an d ch ai rm an of
he’s
service
Money moving service TransferWise launched on TechCrunch TransferWise – a money transfer
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Partners Capital
STARTUP STORIES
to commitment’ improving people’s lives. Money should
Most people are afraid to take the first never be the driving force. Banks work like
step, but you need to be committed. If you that and the culture there isn’t particularly
think it’s an idea with potential, then leave appealing. At TransferWise, our culture is
your job and get started. Because if you very different – and let me tell you – it’s
keep procrastinating, it’ll never happen. a lot easier to get people out of bed in
We started working on TransferWise in the morning if they know they’re doing
our spare time, but quickly realized we had something useful. Hearing stories about
to quit our jobs. At the time, Kristo was a customers whose lives we’ve impacted
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STARTUP STORIES
‘I didn’t accept the status-quo as a exists on your smartphone. Who knows team is more important than ego. We’ve ‘In a high-pressured startup
what the next decade will bring? Progress got a long way to go together – there are
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‘There are other things in life than work’ ‘Life comes in phases: there’s a time for ‘Perfectionism never gets you anywhere’ At a glance
STARTUP STORIES
I’m no longer CEO. I gave up that role work and a time for family’ I have a poster in my room that says:
last year after seven years of what felt I’ve had a couple of kids and it’s wonderful ‘Done is better than perfect’. It sounds
like running a marathon, in a sprint. We’d to finally have the time to get to know negative, but it’s not at all. When you’re
built a company that was profitable and building a company, the most important Taavet Hinrikus moved from
them. My kids are two and four and were
Estonia to the UK in 2007 to
growing fast and I could see there was born while the business was at its most thing is to just get started, but so many
work for Skype.
a long journey ahead. While seven more frenetic. Five days after my son was born, people have a tendency to lock themselves
years of it would have been amazing, I had to go to Australia for 10 days for in a dark room until their product is He was frustrated with the
there are other things to do in life. The work. That’s not ideal, but I did what I had perfect. That’s the wrong approach, as expense and hassle associated
company is in a great place, so I passed on to do. Luckily, I have a very understanding you need to get your idea out to market with transferring money
www.transferwise.com
FOUNDER STORIES
PLAYLIST
Founder Stories
p tive
STARTUP STORIES
g dis ru
Ba ck i n s
s t ar tup
Pa uline Roux joined ve ntur e ca pital
r tec h
fund Elaia Partners in 2014, af te
ng
spending almost a decade worki
in investment banking. She’s one
of Elaia Partners was founded in 2002 by Xavier Lazarus and
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STARTUP STORIES
‘We help startups to turn their tech ‘We invest in less than 0.5 percent of ‘We’re not VIPs’
into sellable products’ the companies that apply to us’ It’s not nice for a management team to
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STARTUP STORIES
Notes from Founders: Elaia Partners
‘We’ve been supporting some of our ‘I’m the bad girl of Elaia!’ ‘Work is about more than money’ ‘It’s not all desk work’
clients for a decade’ I used to be an investment banker, so I used to earn much more as an Being an investor is different to how
Most companies we invest in are so new, I’m seen as the bad girl of Elaia! I spent investment banker and worked hard to people imagine. Sure, we help our
they have under €200,000 ($240,000) almost a decade dressing in suits, being get yearly bonuses. Here, I work for my portfolio companies, but we also have to
in revenue a month. It’s fine though, very serious and boring. My experiences portfolio companies to be successful. I raise funds ourselves to invest. We have to
because we need time to help them have taught me a lot though, like how owe it to my startups and my long-term make sure that our partnerships grow and
develop before they’re sold or go up to anticipate later stage challenges bonus builds over the entire portfolio develop and we’re constantly scouting for
for initial public offering. The average and problems so that you don’t make journey. I respect people who work for new companies to invest in.
duration of ownership is six years, but mistakes in the early stages. It’s helpful money, but in my opinion, it’s more
Each partner has a MacBook, a phone and
we’ve been supporting some businesses for companies that are growing super- important to feel fulfilled.
the technology to work from anywhere,
for around 10. We have to think long fast, as they often panic about managing
I want to have an impact on creating and so while we’re based in Paris, we all travel
term, yet we have to be very agile on a their growth. There is absolutely nothing
supporting startups and developing new quite a lot. Most of the companies we
daily basis because the companies are boring in what I do now; my motivation
ideas. My partner makes me feel good invest in go international very quickly, so
changing very fast. comes from seeing new tech and growing
about my job. He’s an entrepreneur with a we travel to their new location to say hello
as an investor. I also get a huge kick
When you’ve been there for a company startup, which reminds me why I do what and have board meetings in their new
when my portfolio companies build great
from the early stage, your interests are I do, because he’s the type of guy I could offices. It’s not dull desk work from the
teams. When people who are employed
very aligned with those of the founders. help to build a successful business. same spot every day, thankfully.
elsewhere decide to give up a great
You understand the challenges they’ve
package and high salary to take the same
faced at each step and know the path
risks that the founders took when they
the business has been on. It means we’re
started the business, it’s a clear indication
better placed to help the founders make
that they believe in the venture and want
good decisions.
to be a part of it. I love that! 7
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STARTUP STORIES
‘Think of the funding partnership as ‘When it comes to infrastructure, there’s
a marriage’ no value in doing something twice’
Startups can be tempted to just tell Most of our entrepreneurs need a very
investors what they think they want to robust and scalable infrastructure, so
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At a glance
STARTUP STORIES
Elaia Partners was founded in
2002 by Xavier Lazarus and
Philippe Gire.
‘It’s crucial to have a good relationship ‘I’m quite attached to my plant,
The French VC focuses on
between VC and startup’ Henriette’
disruptive tech startups and
Early companies and failing companies In my downtime, I try to spend time away
takes a hands-on approach,
www.elaia.com
FOUNDER STORIES
PLAYLIST
Founder Stories
Guidi n g a
on
STARTUP STORIES
w g e n er at i
ne
When software developer Alex Ko
launched his first company back
ch
of sta r tu p s
in 20 04, he had no idea he would
the
end up becoming an investor in
d
next generation of innovators an Freigeist Capital’s co-founders, Alex Koch, Frank Thelen and
nture
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STARTUP STORIES
Notes from Founders: Freigeist Capital
‘We invest in everything from potato ‘We don’t invest in startups if they don’t
chips to microchips’ want to run their servers on AWS’
We have a diverse portfolio with tech I’ve been pretty dependent on AWS
on one side and consumer products on since 2009 for all my own products and
the other. For example, we work with startups, because it has everything I need
Lizza, which makes low-carb pizzas to and it makes things simpler. We don’t
sell from its food truck, online store and see any point in working with startups if
supermarkets. And on the tech side, we they don’t want to use AWS. They’re just
have Lilium Aviation – an unbelievable going to waste time and money on server
startup building electric-powered jets that infrastructure when everything they need
can take off and land vertically. is already established on the AWS cloud.
‘We consider around 15 applications For e-commerce startups, we recommend
a day’ Elastic Load Balancing. We also use
Our CEO, Frank, has been a judge and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud for
investor on ‘Die Höhle der Löwen’ (a servers; Relational Database Service for
German version of ‘Dragons’ Den’ aka the databases; and Amazon S3 for data
‘Shark Tank’) since 2014 and all of the storage. We use caching systems like
investment deals he agrees to in the show ElastiCache; Auto Scaling for growth and
are actually made by Freigeist. We also many more services. For some startups,
receive a lot of applications. Every day, we like data intelligence or AI businesses, we
each take around five applications to have take advantage of some of AWS’s machine
a closer look at and then we’ll discuss the learning services such as AWS Deep
most promising ones together. Learning AMIs.
‘You need a great startup team to
attract an investor’
The three of us work well together
because we have complementary skills
– Frank is responsible for marketing
and networking; Marc does everything
legal and business-related and I’m the
technical guy. So when we’re considering
investing in a startup, we want to see
that the startup team has a good range
of complementary skills and that each
person is fully behind the business.
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STARTUP STORIES
‘If you want investment, you need to ‘Tech startups tend to attract higher ‘It’s not really about the money – ‘We try to make our whole team
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‘It may seem easy, and it is fun, but ‘You need to keep moving your At a glance
STARTUP STORIES
being an investor is hard’ business forward’
Sure, we’re independent financially and so I think Steve Jobs had the best advice
we can select the businesses we like and for startups: ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish.’
which investments appear the most fun. Every time a startup sees a potential Alex Koch, Frank Thelen and
But if we invest money in startups, we opportunity or development, they should Marc Sieberger launched their
have to make sure we’re doing a good job grab it. You need to keep innovating; first company together in
for them. One really challenging area right keep on finding ideas and ways to further 2004.
now is hiring, particularly for software your business. This could mean bringing They went on to launch a
companies. Good software engineers are in new staff, installing new software, document management
www.freigeist.com
FOUNDER STORIES
PLAYLIST
Founder Stories
13
am li n i n g t h e
stre
STARTUP STORIES
les pr o c e s s
sa
s’
Timo Rein has almost two decade
pe rie nc e in sa le s - fr om th re e months’
ex
or in
selling encyclopedias door-to-do
lif or ni a, to 11 ye ar s as pa rtne r in a
Ca
tonia. Surrounded by post-it notes and frustrated with clunky,
sales consultancy in his native Es
Th e la tter po sitio n sa w him ha nd ling expensive software programs, Timo Rein and his colleague
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STARTUP STORIES
modified by the experience’ doing this?’’
While at university, I spent three months That job was a crash-course in
selling encyclopedias door-to-door in understanding human nature because it
California for the Southwestern Company. put you on the doorstep of strangers and
Two of my friends had already done it and you saw everything going on in their lives
I sensed they’d been genetically modified at that particular moment. The biggest
by the experience. They had a kind of calm revelation was a personal one. One of the
and confidence I wanted for myself. main things I discovered was just how big
a difference confidence can make. When
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Partners Capital
‘I wasn’t doing my job as a father, ‘Raise money when you don’t really ‘What can I do right now?’ ‘I’ve never managed to find a balance
STARTUP STORIES
husband and provider’ need it’ Everybody has a different way of trying between hoping for the best and
There was a saying when we sold door- When it comes to business problems, one to rebalance themselves when things go suspecting the worst’
to-door: ‘Everybody thinks of quitting. of our most challenging was four years wrong. The one thing that always helps When it comes to building an organization,
The point is that some people don’t.’ I’ve into Pipedrive, when we were looking for a me is asking myself: ‘So, what am I going mistakes are inevitable. I’ve found reading
never seriously considered giving up on long-term investor. I’d started negotiating to do now?’, because that’s the only thing and hiring people comes with experience,
Pipedrive, but there’ve been moments with various parties, but most seemed too you really have control over. It’s easy to but it’s a process that takes a lifetime
when I’ve struggled to find a solution concerned with short-term gains. think: ‘Everything’s going wrong and to master. I’ve never managed to find a
quickly enough. there’s nothing I can do.’ To snap yourself balance between hoping for the best and
Very early on in the process, we almost
out of it, you have to think: ‘Yes, it’s awful suspecting the worst and I’ve taken too
16
‘You should feel that if you don’t do underlying respect for each other. There
STARTUP STORIES
this, something will be wrong later in were fiery discussions between two of
your life’ my co-founders and they would fight like
Starting a business is a leap of faith. At crazy over some product questions, but
some point, you feel you’re literally falling that’s what happens when you’re building
so then it becomes about seeing where something everyone’s passionate about.
you land and taking those first steps.
It was a stroke of luck having people
It requires a very strong internal drive and who wanted to work with each other and
motivation, because as soon as you decide towards a goal, so we were willing to work
STARTUP STORIES
Timo Rein started his sales
career selling encyclopedias
door-to-door.
Almost two decades later, he
founded Pipedrive with Urmas
Purde, Martin Henk, Martin
www.pipedrive.com
FOUNDER STORIES
PLAYLIST
Founder Stories
‘Everybody wants a winning coach’ ‘Music clears my mind’ ‘It’s proven a worthy challenge’
I prefer a physical book to an electronic When I want to clear my head, music has I don’t think my former sales colleague
version because I like to underline stuff. to be one of the best drugs out there and co-founder Urmas or I could ever CONCENTRATE GET PUMPED
Something about that process really because it changes everything instantly. have imagined the scale of the
feels good. Right now, though, I’m in a Music is my coffee because I never organization we’d end up creating with
period where I’m almost allergic to books developed a habit of drinking that stuff. Pipedrive, so in that sense, it’s way
because it feels as though if I get into My early life was all about The Beatles, beyond anything we’d planned. On the
the wrong one, it’ll take me somewhere Bob Dylan, Mike Oldfield; then I moved on other hand, we had a clear vision of what
I don’t want to go. I’m more interested to REM and Nirvana and nowadays, I listen the product experience should be like
Deep Sleep Losing My
in learning about professional sporting more to Teenage Fanclub, War on Drugs, and still have that same vision eight years Solfeggio Religion
coaches where there’s such a lot of Simon & Garfunkel and The National. on. We wanted to build something that’s Frequencies REM
expectation because everybody wants a simple to use and really helps people in 528Hz
winning coach. Seeing how they approach sales. It’s proven a worthy challenge.
the job, deal with wins and losses and Spotify account & internet connection required
grow the team is fascinating.
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STARTUP STORIES
sen s e of th e
aki n g
It ’s hard to imagine a world witho
M
ut big
a ta
data; but back in 20 08, few peop
b ig d
le gave
chao s of
it much thought. Felix Van de M
aele
had the vision and foresight to sp
ot an
opportunity. At just 23, he co-fou
nded
one of Belgium’s first data govern
ance
STARTUP STORIES
‘We almost went under’ ‘We didn’t start making real money until
Our story isn’t one of easy success though. six years after Collibra’s inception’
At one point, we only had enough money Entrepreneurship often gets romanticized,
‘When we first started as a group of to keep us going for another two to three but in reality, it’s really, really hard and
twenty-somethings, it was hard to be months. We were in dire need. All of us requires a lot of sacrifices. You have
taken seriously’ founders had already cut our salaries to do it for the right reasons, or else
At first, there were so many people who by half because we didn’t want to fire you’re going to give up. When you start
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STARTUP STORIES
‘Finding funding in those early days
wasn’t always easy’
In the beginning, nobody wanted to
give us funding. It was very hard and we
were in Belgium, which only has a very
small investment community. We had
everything to prove and no track record.
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At a glance
STARTUP STORIES
Felix Van de Maele co-founded
Collibra in 2008, with Stan
Christiaens, Benny Verhaeghe
and Pieter De Leenheer.
As one of Belgium’s first
data governance platforms,
STARTUP STORIES
Notes from Founders: Follow the Pioneers
x elE
Taavet eli Ma
F de
H in ri k Van
us
Pa
u
Ro line
ux Alex Timo
Koch Rein
STARTUP STORIES
STARTUPS
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