Stephan Soroka🇺🇦

Simplify to Build Faster and Better Products. I sat down with Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO of Kaspi.kz (NASDAQ:KSPI), a $24 billion behemoth traded on the Nasdaq and the leading tech platform in Kazakhstan. Product launches at Kaspi are approached with a philosophy of drastic simplification. Instead of overwhelming consumers with a fully-featured product from the start, they identify the single most important and necessary feature and release it first. Additional features are introduced incrementally in the following months, leading to an iterative approach that allows the team to gather and incorporate consumer feedback continuously, ensuring the product evolves based on actual user experience and needs. Links to full Fintech Leaders episode ⤵⤵⤵ Substack: https://bit.ly/3z7UGF6   Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4evnszN Apple: https://apple.co/3VMXjVu Youtube: https://bit.ly/3VPjR8s

137

4 komentáře

h1 took a few months to build but our new founder co-pilot was years in the making. In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, we launched an initiative to help founders polish their decks and strategize their next raise with Hi Ventures feedback. Our objective was simple: support as many entrepreneurs as possible with professional, one-on-one feedback as they prepared to talk to investors. Every week, our team took turns reviewing decks. It took hours, but over the past four years, humans at Hi have reviewed hundreds of decks. Founders received tailored feedback and a list of potential investors that fit their opportunity. We know it's not much, but on the margin, it may have made a difference—especially for founders without easy access to capital or mentors. As LLMs got better, more consistent (and easier to program!), Jimena Pardo decided to productize our initiative. Together, we built h1. This simple co-pilot does everything humans did and more. It’s consistent, instant, and always available. It’s not as good as a call with a VC associate, but it’s a start.As we go deeper into becoming better VCs and exploring the potential of AI, this has been an amazing learning experience. Take a look at h1.0, link in comments. If you have time, test and send your feedback. We hope h1 is helpful :)

61

8 komentářů

If you are focusing on demand generation as an early-stage startup You may be doing it wrong, and here is why 👇 As an early-stage startup, you shouldn't act like an enterprise company. You want to bring your product to people who are ready to buy. These people are already looking for solutions like yours. You need to capture the existing demand before you start doing demand generation. If there is a demand for what you are selling, start investing in channels that will put your product in front of the right audience. Don't start marketing from the top of the funnel; start from the bottom and move up. So, what are some of the channels you can use to bring your product in front of the right audience? I usually work with B2B SaaS PLG companies, so we generally use: Ads ( for capturing demand in short term) Content ( capturing demand in short and long term) Outreach ( short term) If you don't know where to start, ask your customers about how they look for a new product. P.S: You don't need to do 10 channels at the same time you can do one at a time but do it right What do you do when there is no established category and demand for your product? If there is no demand for what you are selling, try to focus on pain points of your ICP or their current solution E.g: If there is no category called "content calendar software" You can still focus on a current solution, "creating a content calendar with sheets" If you focus on the current solution of your ICP, you can educate them about your product. or You can focus on educating people on how they can create content calendar and use your software to educate them. #seo,#saasmarketing, #gtmstrategy, #contentmarketing, #growthmarketing

20

6 komentářů

Full time #Investor Egor Romanyuk on 24SIX9 founders community TGIF told the advice about clear pitch delivery importance… Founders, please, check background of person to whom you DM with your pitch and adopt your pitch for person background, add big numbers, where’s network effect, what’s your average client ROI, how you attract partners in order to sell together with them, etc… don’t send tens of messages for just “seeking of money without any return” perspective, you just wasting your and your colleague in venture landscape time 🕰️ the most important resource!

18

2 komentáře

"“European startups tend to rely much more on public funding sources or traditional bank loans,” Meyers says. “Atomico’s [report] also reports that VC and limited partnership funders all have a decreased appetite for investing in Europe. This suggests that we have more and more small startups in Europe, but they are fighting over a pool of increasingly sceptical investors,” he says." #sifted #startupfunding #startups #vc #venturecapital #funding #publicfunding #investors #investmentstrategies #investmentmanagement #roi #europe #policy #eu

1

Starting a business is CHEAP. Let's run through what we use for everything we build. It's less than $50. Website -> Framer ($30) ↳ I made a short guide on how we built https://lnkd.in/dsrUZQ-X in 1 day. If you want it, tell me what you had for breakfast in the comments and react to the post. I'll send it over. Planning -> Milanote (starts at $0, then only $10) ↳ An absolute hero of tools. Seeing everything visually on a board-like design is game changing. Turned organizing, planning, braindumping and taking notes from tiring to exciting. Domain, email, meetings, files -> Google (Starts at $0) ↳ Needs no introduction. Always cheap and reliable. Designs -> Canva pro ($12) ↳ Does 80% of our design work for us. Communication -> Slack/Telegram ($0) ↳ Organization needs Slack. Small, few people teams can rely on Telegram just as well. Marketing/Leads -> Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin ($0) ↳ We are one foot in the new era where gatekeeping information is becoming not even worthless, but harmful. Change is becoming so fast, that it's not the information, but an ability to act rapidly is valuable. Less is more. With these few, you can do A LOT. So leave the comments cause I'm genuinely very interested in what people eat, get the guide, and try it for yourself.

13

5 komentářů

Thrilled to have joined the stage today at the invest.austria conference for a panel on "Investing in Our Future Plate". It was inspiring to be on stage alongside my Triple Impact Ventures portfolio founders, Gregor Tegl from Arkeon and Philipp Stangl from Rebel Foods, as well as food-tech investors Sara Böcking from ZINTINUS and Stefan Rathgeber from Graphit NeoTaste. We discussed the major forces driving Foodtech investment—climate impact, food security, and healthier nutrition—and how these themes are shaping the future of what’s on our plates. As the founder of inoqo and an investor, I shared my motivation to champion climate tech and food-tech innovation. With one-third of global GHG emissions and 70% of biodiversity loss tied to the F&B sector, I believe this is one of the greatest investment opportunities of our time. Together, we can make climate action central to the future of food. #ClimateTech #FoodTech #InvestAustria #SustainableInvesting

55

3 komentáře

Angel investors play a pivotal role in Europe's startup ecosystem, with over 40,000 actively contributing to the growth of innovative companies, according to Janne Jormalainen, president of EBAN - European Business Angel Network. While this number lags behind the US, it is steadily increasing each year. A significant trend is the shift towards syndicates and funds, which allows angels to diversify their portfolios and reduce risk. 📌 EBAN 2022 Statistics: ▪ Leading Countries: UK, followed by Germany and France. ▪ Top Sectors: Fintech and B2B SaaS. ▪ Emerging Focus: AI and defense tech. 📌 Challenges: ▪ Lack of Unified Market: Different investing rules and tax systems across countries. ▪ Untapped Capital: Pension and life insurance funds could significantly transform the economy if redirected into startups. Reflecting on this, it’s clear that the business angel community is not only growing but becoming increasingly professional and strategic in its investments. Yet, for this momentum to truly benefit Europe’s economy, there is a pressing need for tax incentives and harmonized regulations that encourage more investment. Unlocking even a fraction of Europe’s dormant capital could drive substantial economic development and innovation. This insight was shared by Zosia Wanat, senior reporter at Sifted.

12

1 komentář

NYC & Nasdaq should be the premier destination for global tech IPOs. But Why? I sat down with Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO of Kaspi.kz (NASDAQ:KSPI), a $24 billion behemoth traded on the Nasdaq and the leading tech platform in Kazakhstan. - Interestingly, Kaspi IPOd in the London Stock Exchange in 2020, but decided to move to Nasdaq three years later -The US market is much deeper and more liquid, and has allowed for 20x greater trading volumes compared to LSE - The US market has provided Kaspi access to a much wider pool of sophisticated investors who understand their business model - A successful IPO on Nasdaq gives a tech company a "quality stamp" and validates their business model anywhere in the world Links to full Fintech Leaders episode ⤵⤵⤵ Substack: https://bit.ly/3z7UGF6   Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4evnszN Apple: https://apple.co/3VMXjVu Youtube: https://bit.ly/3VPjR8s

140

4 komentáře

💸 Here are the 1️⃣0️⃣ #FoodTech news and deals of the week that you should know about: 🇦🇺📲 AgriWebb, an Australian startup, raised $7M for its livestock management software. It helps players alongside the value chain access and share data on the stock and emissions. 🇸🇪🐄 Volta Greentech, a Swedish startup, raised $2.95M for its “next-generation” methane-reducing cattle feed additive. This space is exciting and moving fast: from a handful of companies working on red algae, there is now a wide ecosystem of research, large companies, and startups developing a range of solutions to reduce the impact of animal farming. 🇸🇬 🌾 Rize, a Singapore-based startup, raised $14M to make rice cultivation more sustainable through data analytics and precision agriculture techniques. 🇺🇸🍼 ByHeart, an American startup, raised $95M for its infant formula. This is quite an impressive story of a company that built from scratch an end-to-end production capability for a very complex product (and which also benefited from good timing with the shortage of formula in the US). 🇺🇸🍴 Restaurant365, an American startup, raised $175M for its foodservice management software with features ranging from accounting to workforce. 🇨🇭🤖 mimic, a Swiss startup, raised €2.3M for its robot arms with humanoid hands. They are here to solve the increasing labour shortage in industries such as food service. 🇮🇳🌱 Niqo Robotics Robotics, an Indian startup, raised $13M for its spraying technology for agriculture, which aims to reduce the use of chemicals. As for most of the new wave of agriculture robots, it is made to integrate with existing equipment. 🇩🇪🌱 hexafarms, a German startup, raised €1.3M to make indoor farming more efficient and increase yields through AI. 🇺🇸 🍽 Cheetah Technologies, an American startup, raised $14M for its integrated ingredient delivery platform for restaurants. 🇬🇧 🥑 OSY Group, a British startup, raised £750K for its antimicrobial packaging technology that increases the shelf-life of food produce. Industry news & trends 👉 To get all our insights on the future of the food industry, sign up to our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gBKHaVRJ All the article's details, links, and more analysis are in the link in the first comment! #startup #foodtech #agtech #deal #fundraising

32

2 komentáře

IF ONLY PADDYPOWER DID CRYPTO - THEY DON'T, AND NEITHER DO CARLSBERG Nevertheless DECENTRALISATION IS coming... READY OR NOT #onchainsummer2024 Imagine an (almost!) UTOPIAN future where you could invest in crypto and NFTs Safely, securely and smartly with guidance from the brightest crypto minds on the planet 🌎 Chasing mind-blowing returns on capital... A place that DEMOCRATISES access to crypto and NFTs Why would you need this? Reliable forecasts suggest: 1 billion crypto wallets by 2025 4 billion crypto wallets by 2030 Now, no one's suggesting putting the HOUSE 🏠 on it... Not even an unpowered PADDY on a shedload of CARLSBERG would do that, would he? But to have NO SKIN in the game... Not even an allotment - a small GARDEN Well, frankly that's feeling like a bit of a RISK given that the rate of adoption of crypto... far exceeds the rate of adoption of the INTERNET Anyways, stay tuned... for news on how... TO GROW 🪴 YOUR GARDEN #onchainsummer2024

5

1 komentář

Last Week in European VC Vinted, Europe’s leading second-hand fashion marketplace, secured a €340 million secondary investment led by TPG, valuing the company at €5 billion. This investment recognizes Vinted’s profitable growth, with a 61% revenue increase in 2023. The funds will support Vinted’s expansion and reward employees and early investors. Other investors in this round included Baillie Gifford, Hedosophia, The Invus Group, FJ Labs, Manhattan Venture Partners, and Moore Capital Management. Moneybox, a London-based fintech, has reached a £550 million valuation following a secondary share sale after reporting its first annual profit. The savings and investment platform, founded in 2015, saw an 84% increase in valuation from its March 2022 Series D funding round. The recent £70 million investment was led by Apis Partners and Amundi. This secondary share sale allows Moneybox’s 35,000 investors to sell 10% of their holdings. #secondary #europe #liquidity

17

🔍 Exciting Search Engine Upgrade at Vinted! 🚀 Vinted, the popular second-hand fashion marketplace has successfully migrated from Elasticsearch to Vespa. Here's why it matters: • Scaled to handle 1 billion searchable items • 2.5x improvement in search latency • 3x boost in indexing speed • Increased ranking depth to 200,000 items • Halved server count while improving performance This move demonstrates how cutting-edge search technology can significantly enhance user experience and operational efficiency in e-commerce. Kudos to the Vinted team for this impressive upgrade! 👏 #SearchTechnology #Vespa #EcommerceInnovation #TechUpgrade

11

2 komentáře

Ulrik Lehrskov-Schmidt has founded & exited multiple companies. He's an advisor and board member to numerous startups and enterprises. And for the last 8 years, he's run WillingnessToPay.com, a B2B SaaS Pricing consultancy, where he's consulted with over 150 clients ranging from startups doing $1M in ARR to enterprises with $1B+ in ARR. Not only that, he's written a best-selling book called the Pricing Roadmap, and published dozens of excellent videos on youtube to share his expertise on B2B SaaS pricing & packaging, negotiation, company building, M&A, and SaaS monetization. In this clip, he describes why pricing & packaging becomes so complex for SaaS companies to manage. It stems from two places: 1. Dual sources of complexity from product & sales that amplify each other 2. Not having a clear monetization strategy Listen or watch the full episode now👇 YouTube: https://lnkd.in/d6pipMFT 🎥 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/dDK9pCrw 🎧 Apple: https://lnkd.in/dnbRiiEe 🍏 Key Takeaways about SaaS pricing, packaging, negotiation, and monetization: - Feature-based analysis is a popular approach, but may be more academic than practical in B2B contexts. Unless you’ve got a clearly understood category and feature set (e.g. in commoditized markets), avoid overly academic analyses. - Relying solely on quantitative methods can lead to flawed insights. Intuition and diverse data sources are critical in resolving internal dissonance about product value and pricing. - Pricing should be a series of ongoing negotiations with your customers, not a one-time event. Play an infinite & collaborative game with your customers – find a way to make expansion a shared goal that results in gain for both parties. If you're building a B2B SaaS startup and focused on pricing, packaging, and monetization, I highly recommend this episode.

28

4 komentáře

CHARTS SHOW POSITIVE TRENDS FOR EUROPEAN VC MARKET: A number of metrics and key trends show clearer skies to start 2024 in Europe, as startups in the region raised about $17.4 billion in the first quarter. That represents an increase of almost 19% from the same period during the prior year, and nontraditional investors appear to be making their way back to the market, the data shows. After ending 2023 on a sour note, European VC deal value has bounced back in Q1 with an increase of 19.1% YoY and 16.2% from Q4. Fewer rounds took place than in the previous quarter as investors prioritized quality over quantity, according to PitchBook’s Q1 2024 European Venture Report, sponsored by J.P. Morgan. https://lnkd.in/gmmMst9r

22

7 komentářů

Missing List of Useful Contacts? 🔥 if yes Pear VC, Antler, Surface Ventures and others! You will get: ◼️ First and Last Names of the whole investment team ◼️ LinkedIn URLs ◼️ Validated emails ◼️ Titles: analysts, associates, principles, investment directors, partners Connect with me and leave a comment to get it. ❗ Get tailored lists of investors matched to your unique needs, complete with contact information for seamless outreach at https://taskinfinity.com/ For more lists visit https://lnkd.in/dpSAUEYb #vc #funds #fundraising #startups

4

6 komentářů

To Launch a New Service, Customers Must Love Your Existing Products. I sat down with Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO of Kaspi.kz (NASDAQ:KSPI), a $24 billion behemoth traded on the Nasdaq and the leading tech platform in Kazakhstan. Mikhail philosophy is that to launch new products successfully, customers must love your existing ones because if current customers don't love a company's products, they won't adopt or recommend any new products being launched. Customers who dislike existing products will spread negativity and not give new products a chance. Ensuring high quality of current products builds trust and loyalty that carries over to gaining adoption of new services. Links to full Fintech Leaders episode ⤵⤵⤵ Substack: https://bit.ly/3z7UGF6   Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4evnszN Apple: https://apple.co/3VMXjVu Youtube: https://bit.ly/3VPjR8s

78

4 komentáře

A mounting challenge for CPG companies: Private labels are dominating the US market. According to a recent Jefferies survey, 51% of consumers now buy more private-label products to save money. And with good reason – the average grocery bill is up 26% from 2019. This rising US trend is taking a page from the private-label playbook in Europe, where store brands account for about 40% of grocery sales. With recent line launches, US consumers have more private-label options than ever: • Walmart launched Bettergoods in April, which features plant-based products. •Ahold Delhaize, owner of Food Lion, Stop & Shop, and other chains, offers an organic line called Nature’s Promise and a premium line called Taste of Inspirations. • Store-brand champions, Aldi and Trader Joe’s have been dominating market share. Stronger supply chains have historically given CPG companies the edge in quality. Now? That gap is closing. Since pandemic supply disruptions have settled, companies like Walmart and Costco have gained market share. More store-brand advantages have emerged: • 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Target exec Carlos Saavedra said a lack of innovation in the last decade prompted its launch of Figment, a kitchenware brand. • 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Owning its distribution, Aldi churns out approximately 100 rotating products a week called “Aldi Finds.” • 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀: Inflation has shifted preferences toward US store brands priced 20% lower than national brands on average. What does this mean for those entering the CPG space? Companies that build remarkable brands and innovative products will own market share. In the meantime, “me too” brands will fall by the wayside.

37

5 komentářů

Founders should be able to sell secondary whenever they’d like to do so. If you make something - and that thing is valuable - you should be able to sell it. Actually selling that secondary can be tricky. Let's go through the actual steps (or read the whole essay https://lnkd.in/eajr238N): 1. Get the term sheet. 2. Negotiate “normal” major terms: dollars in, price, board, etc. 3. Don’t forget about re-vesting. Founders often do. 4. Sign the term sheet. Go out and start figuring out allocations for the remaining dollars. 5. If you’re lucky enough to have more demand than you do space, you have the opportunity to sell some secondary. Figure out how much excess demand you have. 6. Talk to your lawyer and your accountant about what you want to do. Ask them to explain the pros and cons of selling secondary as common shares vs. preferred shares (which is a bit out of scope for this essay). 7. Decide how much secondary you want - ideally this is “reasonable,” which is a moving target. One good way to frame “reasonable” is to give a clear reason as to why you want to sell. This is particularly important in early rounds. Good reasons include: “Need to pay off student debt” and “Just had our first kid after years at below market salary.” Less good reasons include “Need a new Porsche” and “LinkedIn ghostwriter prices went up.” 8. Go to your new lead investor and say “Hey! Great news! We have 2x demand for available shares. It would mean quite a lot to me and my cofounder if we could take (insert reasonable amount here) off the table because (insert reasonable reason) here. Obviously as our lead, you get first access. Sound good?” 9. Work with the buyer to figure out if you are selling common shares or preferred shares. (a) If you are selling common shares, and the buyer is willing to buy these at the same price as preferred, great! Just make sure that you aren’t creating any challenges around voting by giving those shares to an outside party. Also, talk to your lawyer and accountant. (b) If you are selling preferred shares, go back to your lawyer and accountant to make sure you’re not creating any issues for yourself. You’ll also need to confirm with your existing investors that they are ok with you doing this because it will change the preference stack - which impacts them. 10. Triple check your numbers. 11. Complete your transaction and close the round.

16

1 komentář