Martin Rand - Building a startup - lessons learned
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Transcript of Martin Rand - Building a startup - lessons learned
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Increasing yields through knowledge
Martin Rand
VitalFields.com
August 2011
Sept2011
Oct2011
Nov2011
Dets2011
Jan2012
Feb2012
Mar2012
April2012
Kept the team together
Found same service but better
First cofounder left
Pivoted completely
Drove to meet farmers
Building the new system
Start with plant diseases
May2012
Still weekly calls
Join an SWG accelerator
Sell car, quit Jobs
Vacation from house mortgage
June2012
July2012
Aug2012
Sept2012
Oct2011
Nov2012
Dets2012
Jan2013Reached out to Brazil, US, Kazakhstan
Nearly fatal car accident
Farming community on board
Investor demo day in London
No money
Internal disagreements
No paying customers
No real investment outlooks
Second co founder leaves
Signed distribution deal
Closed investment of €250k
Did PR, Personal sales, advertising
Half of Estonian market
First employee in Ukraine
Steady revenues
Nov2013
• What number of co- founders is optimal?• Everything on the line- 4x• Keep the team together, there must be a leader• Talk to customers right away, try to sell today• It will take a long time so prepare for the long
run• Some people just want to see you survive• Contracts are a weapon against the Teenage
Mutant Legal Hurdles• If everything is good beware it will pass• If everything is bad, don’t judge, it will pass• Get a few advisors- validator for many things• Investors- When will they commit?
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