Scaling Lessons from Seed to Expansion to Exit
Welcome back to Scaling at Speed.
Anybody there? It's okay, we know many of you in the tech industry will be checking emails from the beach this August. Not me, though.
I'm still here and excited to bring you some engaging and insightful summer literature. This month, I've compiled a key learnings edition of the first six months of founder insights from our Scaling series.
So if you missed a newsletter or simply weren't quick enough to be an early adopter, you can catch up on everything the industry leaders and founders we've profiled have shared. Keep scrolling for access to the scaling playbook, built from first-hand founder experiences, to help you grow your company successfully.
And, when you're back grinding in September, we've got a real treat for you in the form of a Scaling at Speed interview with Oliver Prill, the CEO at London's SME banking giant, Tide.
An excerpt from Patterns of Success: Scaling Lessons from Seed to Expansion and Exit👇
Unsurprisingly, one of the main drivers of early traction for any business is finding out if there is a market for your product or service. Ideas are great, but if nobody wants them, then things can become tricky.
Take Opal - the company spent time and money working to discover that its initial expectation that Gen Z mental health would be a driver for screentime reduction, productivity-focused professionals actually kicked off the process.
Similarly, Yokoy had faith that a market existed for their spend management solutions, but spent time both researching and iterating its product in the early stages, and in doing so, found a niche, an underserved area. By targeting the mid-market, they unlocked an entire category of businesses that weren’t on the radar of large existing companies or given serious attention by the many other startups in the spend and expense management space, giving them an edge.
As our General Partner, Markus Lang, puts it, “A crowded market usually means there is real demand. The trick is to cut in at a point competitors overlook, then own that niche so completely it becomes the launchpad for expansion.”
The company went on to be acquired by TravelPerk earlier this year.
Upcoming Events: Will we see you there?
Catch the Speedinvest team attending & speaking at leading conferences and exclusive events across EMEA. We would love to meet you!
- Tech BBQ – [August 27-28, Copenhagen] We'll be in Copenhagen in August for the city's annual summer Tech BBQ. Join us and 10,000+ founders, investors, and industry leaders at the largest startup and innovation summit in Denmark.
- Out of Office – [August, Various Locations] Research has proven that taking a vacation not only improves our health and well-being, but also benefits the bottom line. That's why many of our team will be enjoying a healthy summer hiatus. We hope you'll join us!
👉 Check out future events we'll be attending on our blog.
From the Investors' Desk
From deep sector expertise to our take on the future of tech and venture capital in Europe, here are some of our recent musings from social media.
Our General Partner, Andreas Schwarzenbrunner, was interviewed by Austrian publication Trend about how Europe can play an important role in the global AI race.
Our Partner, Fred Hagenauer, opined on Coinbase's new advert in the UK, and highlighted some of the ways that the country can address its current shortcomings.
Our Senior Associate Varun Rekhi appeared on the Wave Talent podcast to discuss why founders should be questioning VCs, what growth investing looks like outside of Silicon Valley, and more.
👉 What else we're reading:
Palantir’s valuation is a triumph of ‘number go up’ - The Financial Times
High costs and thin margins threatening AI coding startups - TechCrunch
How Podcast-Obsessed Tech Investors Made a New Media Industry - Bloomberg
Thanks for reading — see you next month,
Have feedback, suggestions, or topics you'd like us to dive into? Email us at press@speedinvest.com.