Philip Reicherstorfer

The fall of seat based & the the rise of usage based pricing is a major trend in SaaS. Hear more about it from the experts at m3ter at Money20/20.

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Voodoo didn’t buy BeReal for €500MM. Per reporting, the cash consideration in Voodoo’s acquisition of BeReal is €166MM, with the remainder of the €500MM “valuation” being paid out if performance targets are met in an earn-out. I don’t think that Voodoo’s acquisition of BeReal is motivated by cross promotion. Voodoo states that BeReal features 40MM “active users,” which is vague. I’d estimate BeReal has MAU in the 5-10MM range, with the 40MM number representing a longer timeline. This isn’t enough MAU to justify the price solely on the basis of cross promotion, especially given that BeReal’s MAU is likely stagnant. Further, Voodoo’s own social media app, Wizz, is growing faster than BeReal in the US: it sits at Top Downloaded rank #17 in the Social Networking category vs. 27 for BeReal. The CEO of Wizz, Voodoo’s social media app, will become the CEO of BeReal. My sense is that Voodoo may integrate the functionality of BeReal into Wizz at some point to accommodate BeReal’s core demographic and serve a larger TAM. If cross promotion does factor into the equation, it’s likely from games into the social media properties. Voodoo is a much more valuable company with a scaled social media property than an operator of a hybridcasual gaming portfolio, the titles in which are volatile from a growth perspective (see the chart below). BeReal was something of a gimmick, and it may work better as a feature than a standalone app. If Voodoo can use BeReal’s core mechanic to grow Wizz into a scaled social media property, with strong retention and long-term engagement, it can pair its existing advertising infrastructure with Wizz to service ads not just in its social media footprint but against an audience network across its published titles. But in the meantime, I’d expect traffic to move from Voodoo’s games to Wizz as it scales that property.

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Great insights from Adam Agius on what to consider when raising debt for a search fund buyout. Most relevant to the UK market, but a worthwhile read for all searchers. There's more debt capital keen to support search acquisitions than ever before, but approaching it naively can be very costly...

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One of the funnest and intellectually entertaining podcasts I have heard in recent times. Riveting episode featuring many provocative quotes by Delian Asparouhov who says it like he sees it, and Harry Stebbings pushes back hard (the one on US v Europe was a highlight). I particularly enjoyed the passages on what a junior VC can do to succeed in venture (do the stuff a GP or senior VC cant do, says Delian), as well as on Founders Fund and how it is run incl decision-making on ICs. Delian seems to both hate and love Benchmark. He cant stand what Bill Gurley did to Travis Kalanick, yet the admiration for Benchmark, likely the closest in style to Founders Fund (small close-knit team, not Blackrock of venture that Sequoia and A16Z have become) comes through. Younger VCs will find the section where Delian describes how a junior VC can succeed in venture particularly interesting. Delian recalls how he flew to Portugal on short notice to meet the Sword Health founders, and did the deep research to understand their IPs and then convinced the Khosla Ventures team to back them. "Harry: What are your single biggest lessons on how to succeed in the world of junior VC? Delian: [00:23:00] if I, if I were to sort of boil down, I think what the success ultimately, you know, um, came down to, It was just a willingness to do things that the GPs weren't willing to do….one line mantra is extraordinary careers when you're a junior in venture do not get built sitting behind a desk in an office and, you know, behind a laptop. you have to be willing to go meet with founders in person, figure out how to, you know, sort of understand their businesses and how to convince them to even spend time with you when you're not, you know, one of the big generals.....And you have to be willing to do those types of things as a junior VC and gamble on this sort of top of funnel aperture, you know, on opportunities in a way that, the GPs are not, you know, I always say.” More notes of what I found interesting at https://lnkd.in/gzsvKdZU Link to episode: https://lnkd.in/g_C2Tzjj

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How it felt to look at the download and revenue chart of a billion-dollar app for the first time… Starting my own business was never easy. When I first embarked on this journey, the responsible department in Germany for supporting new entrepreneurs told me bluntly, "we cannot support you in any way because we have no capital." That was my first encounter with the frustrating bureaucracy of German officials. It was then that I realized the path ahead wouldn't be easy. But I persevered. I would rather fail on my own terms than succeed while being dependent on the ideas of others. “F*ck them,” I thought, and continued striving forward. Against all odds, I eventually found myself in an extraordinary position. I had just closed a deal with a billion-dollar company by pulling an all-nighter and developing a killer proposal. This proposal convinced the Head of Growth in Los Angeles that my services were crucial for their go-to-market strategy in Germany. When I finally got access to their App Store Connect and Google Play Developer Console, the reality of my achievement hit me. Looking at the download charts of one of the fastest-growing unicorns made me reflect on my journey. From struggling to land my first client by handing out business cards at Berlin startup events, to working with a unicorn – it was a surreal and gratifying moment. But this is just the beginning… Below is a screenshot of the proposal I spent countless hours preparing. I still remember those nights at WeWork, working tirelessly until the early hours. 😁 Oh yeah, happy times. #Entrepreneurship #StartupLife #BusinessJourney #Perseverance #SuccessStory #BusinessGrowth #BillionDollarClub #AppGrowth #DigitalMarketing #MobileMarketing #BerlinStartups #GoToMarket #Innovation #BusinessStrategy #EntrepreneurMindset

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Sharing a few thoughts from my annual migration for #SuperReturn #SuperVenture in Berlin. 1) This continues to be the best VC/LP/PE event annually. Many are at the conferences, and almost everyone has a representative in town. Any managers or LPs not in attendance should consider it next year. 2) The European emerging manager scene is on fire. I met with almost a dozen, some old friends, some new, all as sophisticated as their US counterparts with thoughtful strategies and impressive growing portfolios. 3) Europe lacks the concentration that SF provides the US. Many startup hubs, some larger, but everyone in Europe is spending way more time on planes than their US counterparts. 4) Nobody knows where the market is going, and fundraising has been tougher in the last 18 months than before, but most agree a lot of money is still being put into the venture ecosystem. That's resulting in a return to deal pace & valuation acceleration -- is FOMO back? TBD 5) In an ironic twist, there seems to be strong interest from US LPs in European managers, and from European LPs in US managers. What did you see? What interested you this year? Welcome thoughts. P.S. the conference logistics were tough this year. To all those that shared the burden, thank you. Let's hope next year is better. cc: Dale Chang Stephan Eberle Patrick Murphy Carmen Alfonso Rico 🍫Jaime Novoa Sebastian Blum Paul Pruijmboom Jasper Masemann Marie Schildt David York Lior Litwak Karey Barker Maximilian Claussen Ameer Awadiyeh Jonathan Heiliger Oana O. Philipp Moehring

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📰 Great to be featured on the latest Sifted article by Amy Lewin Joe Schorge, Maria Rotilu and I share our thoughts on the topic of ''How many new #VC funds does Europe need?'' and the ''rise in solo GPs across Europe'' 💭 TLDR: In my opinion, Solo GPs are fantastic! They truly do care and are super useful with great networks, hunger and high-speed. However many solo GPs don’t lead deals at pre-seed, and the European ecosystem could do with a few more funds that do. But there are exceptions, such as Germany’s Gloria Baeuerlein, Finn Murphy, and Max Claussen, to name a few. Full article here: https://lnkd.in/dWXUFsWb

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I'm speaking at SuperVenture 2024 on the 5th of June in Berlin. The topic of the panel is emerging VC managers: time to shine or out of their depth? Are LPs fleeing to established names and those that cut their teeth during previous cycles? Or is now the time for emerging managers to bring something different to the table? Is volatility leading to true innovation and disruption? We’re on track to see approximately 44% of the total LP capital committed to US VC funds since the start of the year go to just two large established VC platforms, according to PitchBook data. While many established VCs maintain their allure, there is a subset of LPs who are making a deliberate choice to increase their allocations to specialist emerging VC managers - managers who have spun out from established funds and have an attributable track record, founders with deep operational experience turned funders or academics with deep domain expertise. There is non-trivial added complexity when it comes to emerging VC selection – given the large number of funds needed to be screened and the more complicated referencing and DD process. Data highlights how important it is for GPs to identify & back ‘big winners’ early on to drive fund returns. Typically, ~5% of invested capital in a few winners drives most of the return (>50%). The VC model is built around investing in early-stage companies each with the potential to more than return the whole fund. Who has the right to win? Who will the best founders (and LPs) decide to partner with? #SuperVenture #VC SuperReturn

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Without Venture Capital, the US economy would be half its size (public markets). Europe continues to underappreciate the impact that VC has on the broader economy. Next to its big brother Private Equity, venture capital is often discarded by larger investors as “not in our focus”. And I get it - as an asset class it has to further mature. But already today its impact is massive. According to a recently updated paper of researches at UBC and Stanford, Venture capital-backed companies account for 41% of total US market capitalization and 62% of US public companies’ R&D spending. Among public companies founded within the last fifty years, VC-backed companies account for half in number, three quarters by value, and more than 92% of R&D spending and patent value. In Europe, data is less readily available but various sources point to it being in the 20-25% range - obviously less but still quite significant. What other data do you have on this point?

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One of the oldest questions in European tech is why Europe has never produced a truly global tech giant... 🇺🇸 100% of the founders of the most valuable US tech companies are technical, but 30% of European unicorn founders have technical backgrounds. 🔧 In Europe, we've seen a >800% increase in technical talent, e.g. leaving unicorns after layoffs to become founders. European technical talent has an immense opportunity to contribute to closing this gap. Here at Antler, we're dedicated to giving you an unfair advantage in achieving that. The stats above are taken from our recent "Europe's New Tech Founders 2024" report. Later this month, we're hosting an exclusive Ask Me Anything session (AMA) with Antler's UK partners, who will share insights from the report so you can learn from the technical founders Antler has already backed. Links below 👇🏼

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We are excited that Finom one of the leading fintech hyperscalers in Europe, decided to tackle bookkeeping and taxes by testing Norman’s embeddable solution. I’ve been wondering why the term hyperscalers is attributed only to large cloud service providers like Azure or AWS. Clearly, there is a cohort of fintech hyperscalers that design IT and business in a way that allows them to scale and grow across geographies, products, and sales channels. In core segments of banking and fintech, it is particularly hard because of regulation and other factors. Operational excellence and a particular mindset are a must-have for this category. The payout is huge, as leading fintech hyperscalers have already turned profitable while maintaining high growth levels or are heading in that direction, driving contribution margin and LTV to new highs. We are learning from the best, so Norman ‘s architecture envisions the build-out of multiple accounting and tax products for different cohorts and types of clients across geographies. If you share our vision and want to discuss our embeddable solutions and plans, please reach out to Peter. We are very excited to explore partnership opportunities as a key element of our GTM strategy. norman.finance https://lnkd.in/d2cF7eTa

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“RIP Good Times all the time” Roger Ehrenberg’s top guidance to founders references Sequoia’s 2008 RIP Good Times presentation (https://lnkd.in/eaD4RkaU). He encourages pre product market fit founders to be super cash conscious and hyper metrics driven. They should plan for 30 months of runway with the seed raise and not ramp up spend until they demonstrate real customer traction. “Overpower uncertainty by controlling what you can — burn is one of those things.” — Before Roger even writes the first check into a company, he spends a lot of time with the founder(s) aligning on the metrics and measures of success for the next round. They codify this into a hypothesis document, where they: 1) List the hypotheses and secrets the founders think they know that others don’t and articulate how they can be validated in 12-18 months 2) Identify the 2-3 key questions they want to answer with the seed round as they reach for product-market fit (which may overlap with the list above) — How does Roger define product market fit in a B2B context? “Product-market fit is when you’re able to sell in a way that’s not heavily consultative or requires over-servicing accounts to ensure success.” — What if founders don’t find product-market fit in 18 months? Roger recognizes that some of the most exciting companies have platform-like characteristics that take years to play out. Some of their best companies needed extensions — The Trade Desk needed a few before raising their Series A. How does Roger decide when to bridge a company? He looks at a combination of how the founders have performed and the likelihood that the company can bridge the gap between current state and a Series A: Founder attributes for bridge: 1) Have they been great at executing? 2) Are they resourceful? 3) Do they move fast? 4) Do they have grit? 5) Have they found a pocket of willing early adopters that prove their early hypothesis? Future state: 1) Founder is clear on what the future state of the company needs to look like to raise the Series A 2) Founder can articulate what the gap is between that future state and where they are now If there is a clear line of sight to that Series A, then an extension makes sense -- Tomorrow, I'll dig into IA Ventures' fund model. Thanks for reading! You can keep up with all the posts at https://lnkd.in/eXbktFxZ

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The market is evolving… In Q1 and clearly in April we are talking to more and more startups focused in getting their ducks in a row for a Q3 & Q4 fundraising / exit push. Why is that: ✅ There is more appetite from investors to deploy capital in 2024. ✅ There is more confidence that valuations have reached their floor and are starting to increase. ✅ Startups have managed to ride out this challenging period and are now producing the type of metrics that investors will require. ✅ Startups have extended runway as long as they can but now need to bite the bullet. ✅ More mature profitable businesses are looking to secure a partial or full exit. We are not out of the woods yet and obviously a lot of firms are still battling to survive but getting the financial ducks in a row is critical to execute within the appropriate timelines that the business needs. If you are ready to plan for this year or the start of next, then drop me a note and we can discuss your options in identifying a market leading CFO or Finance Leader for your business. 👍

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Simple, brilliant, and illustrates the point on innovation, capital formation and a thriving entrepreneurial community that’s a key ingredient for the health of the overall economy as well!! By the way if you haven’t already, get his latest book the Venture Mindset 🫶🏼🙌🏽 Ilya Strebulaev

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🚀 "Funds under €250m have gained share. Smaller funds now represent 57.6% of capital raised so far in Europe, compared with 41.6% in 2023" This is a BIG win for smaller funds in a tough fundraising environment "The run rate of activity for European VC fundraising this year implies capital raised will reach €19.1 billion, compared with €22.1 billion in 2023." Supply is reducing. Demand is rising. The pace of technology development is greater than ever. The US is a 2.0x premium to Europe at Seed. Talent is cheaper than in the US and is the same quality. The opportunity is very much there to take advantage of for LPs. LPs who don't back VC vintages in 2024 and 2025 will look back with regret. #venturecapital #VC

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I'm delighted to announce the launch of the TempoCap Liquidity Indices, which, on a quarterly basis, track the largest European VC-backed exits since January 2020. We are tracking three main types of exits: all cash, cash and shares, and public listings.   We struggled to find this information in a single place or in a comprehensive format, so we decided to compile it ourselves from a range of data sources. Of course, we may have missed some exits, so please don't hesitate to get in touch if we have.   Here are a few notable trends from the data: 🔴 On all cash exits: A limited number of these were above $1 billion in Europe over the last nearly five years - we counted only five. Out of the top 15 cash exits, six were companies from the U.K., four from Germany, three from France, and two from Scandinavia - including the largest, Tink. 14 out of the top 15 exits were to strategics (with only one PE buyer), and 60% of buyers were U.S. companies. The average time to exit from the founding date was ten years. 🔴 On exits for cash and shares: There have been a limited number of these above $1 billion in Europe over the last circa five years, too —we counted only four. The U.K. had five companies out of the top 15, and interestingly, two each came from Poland and Germany, while the largest, Wolt, is Finnish. Again, 60% of buyers were from the U.S. The average time to exit from the founding date is nine years. 🔴 On public listings: Here, all 15 listings were above $1 billion—but some didn't stay above that level post-IPO, and three are no more! Out of the top 15, seven (or nearly half) came from the U.K., three came from Germany, and the largest, UI Path, came from Romania. The average time to IPO from the founding date was 11 years. We have researched various sources to ensure that we have the most accurate information possible, but if you've spotted something that needs to be corrected or a company that needs to be added, please let us know at harrie@tempocap.com.

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Two of my favourite things. VC performance and the Ryder Cup 🇪🇺 IRR as a standalone metric should be taken with a pinch of salt. Here its definitely more relevant on the left hand side than the right. 🤯 BUT. Europe has better ‘performance’ in the last two decades, yet the US seed price premium of 90% is at its highest in ten years. The faces of IPO and M&A activity are strongest in the US, but European Seed seems a great entry point right now. #VC #venturecapital

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I couldn’t be prouder to be a Venture Partner at Isomer Capital (aka the best European FoF - at least for me) as we just announced the launch of our pioneering £100m secondaries fund. This fund is dedicated to acquiring stakes from LPs in various VC funds, tapping into a massive and largely unexplored market. 🌟 Key Highlights: - Focused Investment: Primarily targeting stakes in VC funds, with selective investments in private companies. - Robust Funding: Already over 20% funded, thanks to strong support from Nordic family offices and a German foundation. - Market Potential: With a growing number of private tech companies and a VC liquidity crunch, Europe's VC secondaries market is poised for rapid growth. - Track Record: This isn’t Isomer’s first foray into the secondaries market. As a firm we’ve done several secondaries deals with portfolio companies and VC firms, including early-stage VC Seedcamp (in 2021) and mobility giant Bolt (in 2023). - Expert Team: Welcoming the amazing Omolade (Rachel) A., formerly of Coller Capital, as a principal to lead this initiative. 💡 Investment Strategy: - 65-75% of the fund will buy "LP interest" stakes in VC funds. - 15-25% will be directed towards stakes in companies. - Up to 15% reserved for flexible investment opportunities. 📈 Looking Ahead: We're targeting returns of 2-3x, with significant distributions expected in the next 4-7 years. As one of the few players in this space, we're not just participating in the market—we're driving it forward. Read all about it here: https://lnkd.in/dc7sbC3G #VentureCapital #SecondariesFund #EuropeanVC

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Upon request: Here again the recording from #TATW2021 - Apologies, the stream gets interrupted. Find the video here: https://lnkd.in/erzK2QBc Is TEAL working? If not, why not? And how can we develop the TEAL vision further to craft organisations that are both human-centric and adaptive, and to build momentum towards an environment that enables collective flourishing and a "good society"? 1. The evolutionary thesis behind TEAL and Spiral Dynamics is wrong - A new paradigm for society and business based on virtue ethics 2. The practices that underpin TEAL are not coherent and insufficient to move away from our dominant utilitarian script - A new organisational metaphor based on "aliveness" and "virtues" 3. The developmental psychology behind TEAL is leading to inertia rather than action - An innovative and action-oriented new framework for the "three lives of a leader"

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