Posts Tagged ‘AWS Summit’
[AWS Summit Paris 2024] Winning Fundraising Strategies for 2024
The AWS Summit Paris 2024 session “Levée de fonds en 2024 – Les stratégies gagnantes” (SUP112-FR) offered a 29-minute panel with investors sharing insights on startup fundraising. Anaïs Monlong (Iris Capital), Audrey Soussan (Ventech), and Samantha Jérusalmy (Elaia) discussed market trends, investor expectations, and pitching tips for early-stage startups. With European VC funding down 40% to €45B in 2023 (2024 Atomico), this post outlines strategies to secure funding in 2024.
2024 Fundraising Market
Samantha Jérusalmy described 2024 as challenging post-2021 bubble, with investors prioritizing profitability (80% of VCs, 2024 PitchBook). However, Audrey Soussan highlighted ample liquidity, with early-stage deals (Seed/Series A) making up 60% of EU funding in 2023 (2024 Dealroom). Anaïs Monlong noted a tripling of VC assets in five years, driven by corporate interest in tech, especially AI (€10B raised in 2023, 2024 Sifted). Sectors like cloud-enabled industries and data utilization remain attractive.
Investor Expectations
Samantha explained VC business models: funds (e.g., €150–250M) seek 10–30% stakes, aiming for exits at €1B+ to return multiples (2–5x). A €1B exit with 10% yields €100M, insufficient for a €200M fund without multiple “unicorns.” Investors need billion-euro addressable markets. Audrey advised Seed startups to show €50K monthly revenue or design partners, while Series A requires recurring revenue. Anaïs emphasized strong tech cores (e.g., Shi Technology, Exotec) for industrial transformation.
Pitching Best Practices
Anaïs recommended concise pitch decks: market size, product screenshots, team background. Avoid premature valuation claims, as pricing varies widely. Target one fund contact to ensure follow-up, leveraging their sector fit. Audrey suggested sizing rounds for 18–24 months at the lower end, adjusting upward if oversubscribed. Overshooting (e.g., €5M to €1M) signals weakness. Samantha stressed pre-pitch fund alignment, avoiding large funds for sub-€1B markets.
Valuation Strategies
Samantha likened valuation to a “marriage,” advising entrepreneurs to build rapport before discussing terms. Audrey urged creating competition among investors to optimize valuation, but warned high valuations risk harsh terms or down rounds (lower valuations in later rounds). Anaïs clarified valuations aren’t discounted cash flow-based but market-driven, aligning with recent deals. All advised balancing valuation with investor value-add and long-term equity story to avoid Series A/B traps.
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[AWS Summit Berlin 2023] Go-to-Market with Your Startup: Tips and Best Practices from VC Investors
At AWS Summit Berlin 2023, David Roldán, Head of Startup Business Development for EMEA at AWS, led a 48-minute panel, available on YouTube, featuring VC investors and operators: Constantine, CTO and co-founder of PlanRadar, Jasper, partner at Cherry Ventures, and Gloria, founder of Beyond Capital. This post, targeting startup founders, explores go-to-market (GTM) strategies for B2B SaaS, emphasizing product-segment fit, iterative processes, and avoiding premature scaling in a competitive landscape with over 100,000 independent software vendors.
Defining Product-Segment Fit
Jasper introduced the concept of product-segment fit, arguing it’s more precise than product-market fit for early-stage startups. He emphasized that founders should target a specific customer segment where the product resonates strongly, rather than chasing universal appeal. For example, PlanRadar, serving the construction industry, found success by focusing on old-fashioned outbound sales to reach decision-makers in a niche vertical. Gloria reinforced this, noting that chasing a single “killer feature” often distracts from solving core use cases. Instead, founders should iterate based on customer feedback, ensuring the product delivers immediate value to a well-defined audience, avoiding dilution of focus across disparate segments.
Iterative GTM Strategies
Constantine shared PlanRadar’s journey, highlighting the iterative nature of GTM. With a five-founder team spanning commercial, industry, and tech expertise, PlanRadar prioritized early customer feedback over polished features. He advised launching minimum viable products to test assumptions, even if imperfect, to refine offerings rapidly. Gloria added that data infrastructure, like a well-structured CRM, is critical before Series A to track sales cycles and conversion stages. However, Jasper cautioned against over-rationalizing early GTM with tools like Salesforce, which can burden seed-stage startups. Instead, founders should stay hands-on, engaging directly with customers to build velocity in the sales pipeline.
Avoiding Premature Scaling
Gloria and Constantine stressed the dangers of premature scaling, particularly in hiring. Gloria advised against hiring product managers too early, recommending product engineers who can own the roadmap alongside founders until post-Series A. Constantine echoed this, noting PlanRadar delayed building a product management team until after Series A due to workload and complexity, hiring an ex-founder after a year-long search. Jasper highlighted that premature hires, like sales managers craving predictability, can push startups to scale in the wrong segment, leading to misaligned products. The panel agreed that founders must retain product vision, avoiding delegation to non-founders who lack the same long-term perspective.
Customer Success and Retention
Retention emerged as a key GTM metric, but its priority depends on stage. Gloria argued that early churn is acceptable to refine product-segment fit, but post-product-market fit, net retention becomes critical, reflecting customer love through renewals and upsells. Constantine detailed PlanRadar’s post-Series A customer success team, which segments customers (gold, silver, bronze) using usage data to allocate scarce resources effectively. He noted charging for onboarding, common in Europe, boosts engagement by signaling value. Gloria emphasized three pillars: activation (fast onboarding), engagement (tracking feature usage), and renewals (modularizing products for cross-selling), ensuring startups maximize lifetime value as they scale.