Interview mit Alex Farcet, Co-Founder des Startupbootcamp Berlin

Wie ihr vielleicht mitbekommen habt, arbeite ich seit einigen Monaten beim Startupbootcamp Berlin- einem der führenden Accelerator Europaweit. Ich lerne hier täglich neue, hochmotivierte Startups kennen und habe einen einmaligen Einblick in die Welt der Venture Capitalists.

Nachfolgend lest ihr ein Interview mit Alex Farcet, Co-Founder des Startupbootcamps. Da Alex leider kein Deutsch spricht, ist das Interview auf Englisch. Viel Spass beim Lesen und ich hoffe ihr lasst euch inspirieren.

What can you tell me about the concept of Startupbootcamp?
Startupbootcamp is a startup accelerator.  As opposed to an incubator which protects startups we’re like the rocket booster on the space shuttle; we give an intense short burst of energy (in the form of mentorship) and launch startups into orbit.  We have over 400 startups apply to each program and we select the best ten.  They relocate to the program city and receive €15K in micro-funding, 6 months of free office space, connection to over 100 mentors (most of whom are serial entrepreneurs) and exposure to hundreds of investors at Demo Day which concludes the program.  The value-add from teams point of view is the mentorship, the intense focus, the Startupbootcamp brand and the investor exposure.

Why pick the Startupbootcamp over the many European or US based alternative programs?
We’re building the biggest and most active network around our seven programs in six cities (Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Eindhoven and Haifa) – and we’re only getting started, we’ll be in Africa, Latin America and Asia in a couple of years.  In 2013 alone we’re producing 70 new startups which are going to be active alumni and add value to the next batch of teams.  We also have over 100 highly engaged mentors network associated with each program which is a huge asset for our startups.

Do you see differences with the Culture of Entrepreneurship between Europe and the US, or within parts of Europe itself?
Generalisations are always risky but I would say that in Europe there is still some stigmatization of entrepreneurs, especially those who have failed before.  In the US if you rise from the ashes you’re an even bigger hero than if you were successful the first time around.  In Europe there is still a conservatism pushing young talents toward traditional careers.  Of course crises like 2008 make a lot of bright people ask themselves tough questions (“if big institutions can blow up and if there is 30%+ youth unemployment, shouldn’t I create my own job?”).  This in turn produces new generations of entrepreneurs.  There is also an explosion of very active startup ecosystems like what we’re seeing in Berlin.

In terms of Europe, when we talk about internet and software entrepreneurs, they have more things in common than differences.  There is a significant educational and normative movement around Steve Blank’s “Customer Discovery” process, Eric Ries’ “Lean Startup” concept and Alexander Osterweilder’s “Business Model Generation”.  The vast majority of entrepreneurs we meet (and note that 90% of teams joining a Startupbootcamp program are international, mostly European but also Indian, American, Brazilian, etc.) are using these concepts and get their news from the same blogs.

Finally, there are 300,000 active Angel investors in Europe but according to one estimate we have over 3 million individuals with the financials means to be active private venture investors.  That’s a big upside to go after. The UK and in particular London is still the European capital of “Venture Capital” and the government, from David Cameron down, is very focused on incentivizing more Angel (private) investment through special schemes like the “Enterprise Investment Scheme” which gives a 50% tax break on venture investments.  Some European countries are very far from that.

Is there a recipe of personal and professional qualifications to become a successful entrepreneur?
That’s the beauty of entrepreneurship, there’s no diploma or qualification.  ‘All’ you have to do is build something customers want to use. That being said there is certainly a skill set to entrepreneurship.  When we select teams to join Startupbootcamp we of course look at the originality of the idea or product and the market potential.  But at this early stage we know it’s mostly about the quality of the team.  Being an entrepreneur is such an uphill battle that we focus a lot of soft skills like persistence, coachability, communication and sales ability, and raw as well as emotional intelligence.  Next you’ll ask me how we spot those… we just know it when we see it ;).

Do you have any advice for young entrepreneurs?
There’s a sweet spot in your life where your experience curve and your fear curve are at the optimal meeting point, and the art is to find that sweet spot.  What I mean by experience curve is that many successful entrepreneurs start by solving a problem they observed in the market.  They may have spent 5 to 10 years in an industry and launch a company by saying “no one else is solving this problem so I will!”.  By fear curve I mean that the older we get the more is at stake.  We tend to have a family to support, maybe a mortgage to pay and there is therefore a lot more to loose.   In general I would err on the side of start as young as possible, stop talking and dreaming and get going.  I love this quote by William Shatner (aka Captain Kirk):

“The idea behind saying yes is it’s easier to say no — especially as you get older. It’s easier to say no, I will not entertain that idea. No, I will not take a fresh look at something. No, I will not meet that new person. It’s easier to stay at home. It’s easier to insulate. It’s more difficult and more dangerous to say yes to opportunity. But saying yes to opportunity is saying yes to life.”

What do you look for in new contenders for a ticket to Startupbootcamp?
A great idea solving a real customer problem.  At least 2 cofounders, one of whom is technical, the other with sales skills. We don’t discriminate based on CVs, diplomas, or work experience.  We’ve had a team of 4 PhDs, a 19 year-old autodidact and a 48 year old with white hair!  What really matters are drive, persistence, energy and the soft skills I mentioned earlier.

What can a fresh participant expect from Startupbootcamp?
The program is divided into two phases.  First we have 12 to 13 weeks of acceleration which lead up to Investor Demo Day.  During this phase, startups focus on customer discover, product building and investor readiness.  The second phase is post Demo Day and focused on raising external funding.  We do additional demo days in London and we also run a Silicon Valley tour.

I don’t expect you do that out of generosity, whats in it for the investors?
Each startup gives Startupbootcamp 8% equity in their company.  We want founders to consider Startupbootcamp a co-founder.  We don’t take board seats, we don’t have preferred shares or any other form of control, we like to say we’re on the same side of the table as startup.
We want to accelerate success but also accelerate failure.  What I mean is that we’re not worried about startups failing fast, it’s probably better then surviving zombie-like for 5 years, burning a lot of investor money but not delivering a return for everyone.
We’re seeing ‘failed’ co-founders get on board with startups which are joining more recent Startupbootcamp batches, which is a sign of a healthy ecosystem.  A second time entrepreneur joining a new startup is huge asset who brings a ton of experience to the team.

Cheers,

oOBiagioOo