JFDI Mentor Marc Bernegger spoke with 50 JFDI and local founders on Tuesday at Plug-in@Blk71. He shared learnings from his experiences with two companies from startup to exit.
What lessons did he share?
Build a team with complementary skills
“It is easier to modify your business idea than your founding team, especially in the beginning.” Since you have limited resources, make sure the founders have complementary skills, note duplicate ones.
Focus on one thing
“Do one thing right instead of doing everything a little bit. Find the sweetspot of your service, focus completely on it and avoid distraction.”
Pick your investors wisely
“We integrated successful angels and advisors into the company. Search for experienced well connected supporters for your business idea and give them shares of your company. If you don’t have industry experience, tie up with investors and mentors who do.”
Customer Value is #1
“Focus on customer value. You have a product with a unique selling point (USP) and an audience that is willing to pay for it. Concentrate on USP and generating real customer value. A lot of young entrepreneurs focus on the technology, the look and the feel…but customer value needs to come first.”
Marc is a serial entrepreneur based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Aged 20, he founded party website usgang.ch which he exited through a trade sale to listed media group Axel Springer in 2008. He went on to co-found online event registration system amiando which was awarded Global Technology Pioneer status by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2010. The business was sold to listed business platform XING the same year.
In 2010 Marc was recognized as Newcomer of the Year by SwissICT, the largest ICT trade association in Switzerland. Marc is now a Partner in the listed investment company Next Generation Finance, Founder & Partner of the crowdfunding platform c-crowd, member of the board of the Pioneers’ Club PCU and an angel investor in several startups.
You can follow Marc on twitter @marcpbernegger