Nordic Startup News Early Stage Startup News From The Nordics
Phillip Moehring one of 30 employees at Angellist, visited Mesh in Oslo to give some tips about how to raise money in the Nordics.
AngelList was originally a blog started in Silicon Valley, based on the idea of tracking funding and investors for startups. It is now a home for startups and investors around the world, and has become the go-to platform for the startup ecosystem for raising rounds, finding investments, and recruiting talent. Uber, DuckDuckGo, and many other unicorns have used AngelList to raise their first rounds.
Angellist became so successful that if you are a startup, not having your listed on the site company site is actually a disadvantage. Here is a link, so you can make one!
At Mesh, AngelList provided some tips for startups looking to raise investment. As Phillip explained, “How can we screw up, when we know how it works.”
Tips for funding in the Nordics
1) If you are not on the same page as the investor, don’t go through with the deal. In the seed round, misalignment of goals might be a small bother, but if you raise Series A, that investor will have a seat on your board, and annoy you for the next 5-10 years. You have to love to work with your investors, since you will be calling them on a Saturday night for ideas.
2) Don`t look for seed investment from corporates. Although corporate investment might be tempting at an early stage, the grip of corporate engagement can be lethal for a company.
3) if you do accelerator or incubator, be the best of the batch, and try to become the poster child of the initiative. This will make life a lot easier.
4) The best investors are ex-entrepreneurs. They know your real struggles, and they can come up with real solutions.
5) London or Berlin are way more liquid than the Nordics. Go there for a week, set up a network, and get funding there.
