Am 11. Mai wurden ich auf ein Panel vom Entrepreneurs Club in Berlin eingeladen. Das Panel setze sich aus verschiedene Startup-Gründer und VC-Investoren zusammen. Im Auditorium befanden sich ca. 70 Unternehmer und zukünftige Gründer. Die Veranstaltung fand im Frannz Club in der Kulturbrauerei statt.

Die Veranstaltung sollte dazu beitragen die Dos & Don’ts im Umgang mit VCs zu diskutieren.

Wie kommt man als Unternehmer an einen VC ran?

Wann sollte man mit der Suche nach Kapital starten?

Welche Startups sind für einen VC interessant?

Was kann ein VC für das Startup tun?

Auf welche Klauseln im Investment-Vertrag sollten Unternehmer besonders achten?

Welche Vor- und Nachteile haben Finanzierungsrunden, die in Tranchen mit Mile-Stones durchgeführt werden?

Für mich als VC war es sehr interessant die Erfahrungen, Meinungen und Erwartungen von verschiedenen Gründern zu erfahren. Außerdem habe ich viele neue Unternehmer und deren Cases kennen gelernt.

Der Entrepreneurs Club hat eine erstklassige Veranstaltung organisiert. Die Diskussion was nicht wachsweich wie so viele andere Panel-Diskussionen sonder es wurden Fragen aus Sicht von Unternehmern und aus Sicht von VCs besprochen.

The German Internet start-up battle

There is lots of noise in Berlin. Numerous Internet start-ups have been founded and seed-funded in the last years. 2009 was dominated by new (mainly copied) ecommerce cases. As an early stage VC investor (Target Partners) who sees the majority of the investment cases in Germany it was quite astonishing to see the “rat-race” which is currently taking place. The German Internet and ecommerce incubator scene was ruled from the European Founders for some years. Due to the fact that this concept seems to work others tried to copy this approach. The result is that three or even more incubator organizations are often competing with their start-ups today. A good example is the battle of the German copy-cats Sponsorpay, Gratispay and Deal United. Every start-up is supported from a different incubator an is doing more or less the same.

I highly respect the power and the experience of all involved people – in the supported start-ups as well as in the incubator organizations. But I am honestly asking myself if it is a good thing or a waste of resources that such kind of competition looks sometimes like an end in itself. Well, time will tell and in the meantime we all have some interesting things to observe.

The deal flow in 2009

This year was really an interesting one. We’ve seen more deals than ever before. Statistically the ratio of pure Internet case has decreased and the percentage of technology cases has increased. Which is a good tendency because we believe that technology can make the difference. If I compare the deal flow in 2009 with the deal flow some years ago it is more than obvious that the German start-up market is growing. There is no proof but I think this is the result of various causes, e.g.:

• Public stories about successful entrepreneurs are motivating other people
• Active business angels are supporting entrepreneurs and their ideas
• Social media are connecting and inspiring entrepreneurs
• Seed investments are possible again because of the establishment of the High-Tech-Gruenderfonds and some business angel networks

I hope that this trend will continue.

The investments in 2009

Will be posted in some days…