YouSaid · the spoken record

Ari Helgason

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22
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2015-07-08
most recent
2015-07-08
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1
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  1. “So almost recent investment at dawn was the automile series. So automile is a connected car platform. They have a hardware dongle that's kind of a Fitbit for your car, I guess is one way to describe it. You plug it into the car and then it kind of tracks where you're going and some other diagnostics data. The reason we invested is that it's an exceptional team tackling the fast growing connected car market. Connected cars are kind of a nascent category, but they're tackling that market and they've solved some very tricky engineering problems in doing that. The first application they have is fleet management and mileage tracking, which they're building a very nice business around, but the long-term opportunity is huge.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “So you had Jason Lemkin on recently. And I think his blog, Sasta, is excellent. There's a lot of great content on there about how to build SaaS businesses. I'd say in terms of kind of a general read, ABC.com, Fred Wilson's blog is very good. Lots of kind of combination of interesting thoughts on a kind of macro level with more specific applicable advice for founders as well.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “I'd say time management, you have lots of people that want to talk to you and you just really have to be careful to focus and to make sure that you're playing to your strengths, that you're investing in things, that you understand and where you can add value rather than kind of jumping around and picking up every opportunity that might be interesting for whatever reason, even though it's very easy to get excited about things that kind of fall outside your core focus. But I think that focus is very important.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Success, I'd say Elon Musk is probably not a surprising answer, but just the amount of impact he's had, the kind of audacious companies he's building is unparalleled.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “So right now predictable revenue by Aaron Ross and Marilou Tyler, it's a brilliant book that outlines a kind of powerful sales process for building recurring revenue in SaaS businesses. It's based on the model that Salesforce use to get from zero to $100 million in annual recurring revenue. And I really think it should be mandatory reading for every software CEO or salesperson.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “I think you just need to walk around the city of London to see the logos on the buildings there and in Canary Wharf. If you're building something that enables financial institutions or banks to serve their customers better or your customers are here in London. And I think if you're trying to hire teams that have that financial services experience, then London's by far the best place in Europe and one of the best places in the world to do that.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “So at dawn we look at two things. We look at enterprise software, which is Mainly Saas, but also a lot of open source stuff, some on premise cybersecurity stuff, and the second vertical we focus on is FinTech. So those are really the two markets that we understand quite well through having built a portfolio in those spaces and having had some successes there. And also they're just in their own right, very interesting markets.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “to the cloud that allowed new entrants, new sass entrance to capture market share, were kind of seeing a repeat of that in the enterprise software space of new entrants that are coming in with mobile solutions. So you had cloud CRM and now you have a new generation of mobile CRM. And because of that shift in the market, new entrants are able to capture market share.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “So I'd say a billion, but there are some interesting things about markets that often don't get mentioned when people are talking about those top line numbers. So we've invested in businesses that are addressing markets that are today smaller than a billion dollars. But what we look for there is that the market is growing very, very fast, allowing a new entrant or a startup to kind of capture a significant chunk of a new market. The other thing we'll look at is what are the dynamics of that market? So certain markets have are changing in ways that make it possible for new entrants to capture market share. Typical cases when software moved from on-premise”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “So I'd say there are lots of meetups, lots of conferences sort of accelerated demo days, places like that. I often go out to events and go on panels and things like that. So without mentioning, if I start mentioning specific events, I'll probably miss out a lot of good ones. But it's quite easy to find those. Another way to get in touch would be via Twitter. I'm quite active on there and it's usually a better way to catch my attention than sending an email. So those would be the main ways.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “So I think pretty much every investor will tell you that you should get introduced by someone they already know. We listen to portfolio CEOs or our venture partners, really anyone I trust I'll take an intro from and that's pretty much always going to lead to at least the call or a quick meeting. At dawn we also respond to all inbound direct approaches but they're just not as powerful as getting an introduction from a trusted party. I'd say failing that to network your way in go to events where VCs are in attendance. It's a good way to meet them.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “So typically a series A is raised when you've figured out your business model, you've found that product market fit and you're ready to start just scaling out the business. So it's really kind of once you're comfortable that the core engine of your business is working and you're ready to build on that, that's the correct time to go out and raise a series A. That can mean very different things for different businesses. So I think the best thing to do is to start off some quite casual investor conversations, whether they're phone calls or sort of half hour chats to just check whether what do they think of what you're thinking of raising both the amount and the stage you're at and take that feedback on board and if that's positive then consider kicking off a proper process where you Go out and talk to everyone in the market.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “We look at things like how engaged customers are, the customer churn rate to figure out what's the sustainability of how you're selling. So there are really a lot of different factors. I think the tricky thing about getting exact numbers is that typically VCs and founders alike are quite cagey about releasing those numbers. So the best thing for a founder to do is to speak to people who've raised money, speak to the VCs and kind of get the feedback on what KPIs make sense for your particular business at Series A.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “So ours would be for a SaaS business, for example, we want to see a business that's doubling annual recurring revenue run rate year on year at least, approaching, fast approaching 100,000 pounds a month in revenue or kind of about to get there. We look at businesses that are slightly over there, but that's kind of our sweet spot for SAS Series A. But other investors are going to have their own ideas of where they want a business to be. And it's not just about that top line number. There are important things to look at in terms of customer acquisition cost versus lifetime value, really to understand how the business will scale going forward.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “So, different investors have very different sweet spots for the metrics that they want to see depending on the business and the risk profile that they're comfortable with.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “A sort of sweet spot somewhere between insane audacity and being too conservative. And I'd say founders should err on the side of being audaciously ambitious, but you should always have a story and a clear picture of how you're going to achieve those milestones. It needs to be kind of sanity checked. It can't just be shooting for the stars and not knowing how you're going to get there. But as long as you have a story of how you're going to achieve those goals, then that's fine.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “So there's really no set of magic numbers or magic key performance indicators or KPIs that are applicable in every case. I'd say the most important thing to focus on as a founder is to understand what success looks like for your business. So where is value being built in the business and what objective measures can you use to track how that value is being built? So focus first on building a great business and second on impressing investors. Investors get excited by good businesses and ambitious teams that move fast. So just set ambitious goals and have a plan to hit them.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “I absolutely agree with that. When the money is there and is available, take it. Things tend to take longer than anticipated. And the reality is that when you have a cash buffer, your options are extended. You have the advantage of picking your timing rather than having to play to someone else's schedule. And if you're running out of cash, whatever you're trying to do, you're in a weaker negotiating position. So cash just ends up buying you more options. And the fundraising climate can change, the hype cycle can move on from whatever your particular business is doing. So when cash is available, my recommendation is to always take it given that it's the right partner.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “I do agree with this, but my phrasing in the article may have been slightly misleading. I think as a founder you are responsible for having enough money in the bank to at least keep the lights on and preferably have some cash to grow the business as well. And there are really only three ways that this happens. One is being profitable. The second is burning cash, but being on track to becoming profitable. And the third is making sure that you're going to be able to get funded again if you're not profitable. So the fundraising part, the constantly fundraising part only really applies to the last scenario. And what I really mean is that if you're going to run out of money, it's never too early to begin preparing for the next round. You really have to have a plan from the beginning as to how you're going to get that next bunch of”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Absolutely The interesting thing is that you have to take kind of a broader portfolio of view. You have to look at kind of a lot of different things and become not necessarily expert in many things, but just kind of get a passing familiarity with a lot of things and then dive deep into a few of them. It's less stressful than being in the trenches as a founder, but it appeals to me in that you can kind of take a step back and think more strategically and be more analytical rather than having to be in kind of animal mode every day.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “So we did a marketplace, went through Y Combinator, spent some time in the US, eventually the marketplace business didn't work, but the SaaS business is still going strong. I decided to try something else as my co-founder took over as CEO of that business and decided to go into VC. So I came across Dawn, which was a venture firm founded by entrepreneurs that had an exceptional portfolio in the first fund, and they just launched their second fund. So it appealed to my entrepreneurial instincts to be part of that second fund from the beginning and kind of help to build out the team.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “So I was born in Iceland, grew up in Denmark in the UK, my brother taught me programming when I was eleven, and I was always quite excited about technology and playing around with computers. I started my first business right out of university with a co-founder. We made sales and supply chain management software for the fashion industry. Very good kind of bootstrap business, but quite a small market. We also launched an online marketplace for fashion designers, kind of a kickstarter for fashion So bootstrapping was really the only thing that we considered feasible. I had absolutely zero track record. I didn't think any investors would even consider backing me. And we had very low personal burn rates at the time. So bootstrapping just seemed like the way to go.”

    2015-07-08 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20 VC 052: How To Make The Leap From Seed To Series A with Ari Helgason @ Dawn Capital · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source