Konrad Kwiatkowski

🚀 We are part of Silo Teams 1,16M Pre Seed Round! 🚀 It is difficult to find and attract highly qualified tech talent. Retaining them is an even bigger challenge. Silo Team solves the problem of high turnover among developers and facilitates the onboarding, offboarding and retention of developers to manage the entire lifecycle of a software developer on a single platform. That's why I'm thrilled about Silo Team's recent round. Founded by Rasmus Stjernström and Ida Stjernström, Silo Team has just received a huge boost to drive its growth with an 1,16M investment. Here's why this matters: ➡ Developer turnover costs companies big time, anywhere from $67,000 to $180,000 per developer! ➡ Silo Team is tackling this with an advanced onboarding tool, aiming to cut those costs dramatically. ➡ Looking ahead: Silo Team aims to evolve into a comprehensive platform that enhances the entire developer lifecycle by leveraging AI to streamline knowledge management and automate key workflows. The round was co-led by Pitchdrive | Early-stage VC 🚀 and Fuel Ventures 🚀 and futher backed by Genesis Ventures, StartupIst Ventures and further Angels like Michael Proszynski, Ferdinand Dietrich and us! We are very excited to be part of the mission to significantly reduce developer turnover and play a pivotal role in tech development. Marco Raggl | Patrick Funke | Laura Raggl | Julian Sachs #investments #venturecapital #startups ___ ROI VENTURES 

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Should startups share all key metrics with all employees? Big companies usually have well defined rules on what data will get shared with employees and the public. In the case of public companies there are legal requirements about what "inside info" can be shared. A great asset of startups is to have a small and close-knit team that knows everything that is going on in the company so that they can seamlessly work together. However, sometimes startups founders want to share everything with their employees in the spirit of transparency. It's ok to not show everyone everything. You can have an honest and open company culture without giving everyone unfettered access to all sensitive company info. I think aside from a team's KPI's everyone wants a general sense of how the company is doing, so the analysis and viewpoint of company management is more important than the hardcore data.

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Anyone who has tried to compare Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) solutions with online research knows that it is VERY difficult. One problem is that MMM companies don't publicly show their solutions. There can easily be worries around this. We had them as well. "Buyers won't understand the solution - we need someone to provide a walkthrough” "Competitors will copy our product" We decided to take a different approach - we are the only MMM platform with a public no-signup product demo. Why did we do this: 👉 We have learned that MMM buyers conduct a LOT of research online before being in touch with us. We want to help them as much as possible. 👉 We want as many people as possible to know what they should expect from a modern marketing ROI measurement and optimization solution, so that they can demand the same from the rest of the industry. 👉 Being public challenges us to aim for a higher quality product experience. Just recently, we had a propsect reaching out to us. We suggested to start with a product demo. They said: "We can skip it - we have already spent hours in your demo!" P.S. We will be updating our public demo this week with latest features. It's surprisingly challenging to keep the demo features up-to-speed with the production version of the product 😄 I will keep you updated!

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Opinion: European startups need to start working with NGOs. For free. As a European startup founder, it's easy to say you believe in tech for good. It's good PR, it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, and it might even convince some people that you’re not in it for the money. But what do those words actually mean? As words, they mean very little. I know times are tough. Fundraising right now isn’t easy, and you might be facing down-rounds and bridge-rounds. VCs that were once on speed dial may no longer be returning your calls. But I’m here to tell you that actually investing in tech for good makes sense. The 2023 UK Charity Digital Skills report found that 49% of British charities are unable to afford the technology required to meet their digital needs. A staggering 92% of NGO employees worldwide said they lacked the digital skills to do their work. Across Europe, NGOs doing essential work to fix the existential problems we all face are wrestling with antiquated software and hardware, fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. Since the advent of generative AI, much of the talk has been how it can help us work smarter, invest better, and write better. Far less has been said on the way it could help NGOs fix issues like the refugee crisis or climate change. Few NGOs have the time or the money to invest in their own large-language model or AI-powered tools to help them do their jobs. Yet, European startups have the tech, the people, and often the investment to help them. In 2023, Polish non-profit Success Written in Lipstick Foundation wanted to launch a website in the run-up to the elections that would link female voters to candidates that represented their interests. We linked the Foundation with SPEEDNET , a leading Polish software development agency. The effort engaged over 500 influencers, and the website was visited 80,000 times during the election campaigns; 12.6 million people were reached via social media. It worked: 75% of women cast a vote in the 2023 parliamentary elections, outnumbering male voters for the first time. Another partnership was with Latin American non-profit The Lily Project, which provides sexual health education to rural teenagers to prevent cervical cancer, the leading cause of death among young women in Nicaragua. The Lily Project was paired with Cloud Primero B.V, a software development company from the Netherlands, which built an app, Chava App, for the NGO pro bono. The app provides total anonymity for users and can function on limited bandwidth and less high-tech mobile devices, a key consideration in rural Nicaragua. It has already saved lives. What do founders say about these partnerships? I encourage you to read my latest op-ed on Euronews where you'll find more info on the results and the impact of such collaborations. Happy to hear your thoughts. #techforgood #socialimpact #impactinvestment

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A great summary on the current state of startup investments by GeekWire I have seen this first-hand with my campaign to build my network of Angel investors Most Angels in the Seed / Preseed stage are currently requiring strong revenue traction early on This creates a big shift in the approach for early stage companies as the article outlines: "Tech startups have gone through a major mindset shift in the past few years. The era of growth-at-all-costs and easily accessible venture capital is over. The focus is now on demonstrating the ability to grow — but in a profitable and efficient way, without the need for additional investor dollars." Many early stage founders are bootstrapping longer, leveraging more friends and family, or bringing on early customer partners to pay the bills while they find the traction needed to get funds https://lnkd.in/dXg8kE8V #bootstrapOrDie #startups

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Product vs. Business Quite often I see when it's about startups people speak about the product. But the product (no matter how good it is) is just one piece of the puzzle. If you want your startup to succeed, then you should pay attention not only to the product. Once you bring your product to the market, it's no longer about the product. It's about the business. You need to market whatever you do. You need to account for your profit and expenses. You need to have people supporting and assisting your customers and so on and so on and so on... So many things that are not related to the product in any way. And all these things are crucial for success. If there's no proper marketing who will know about the product? If there's no accounting how would you know whether you make any profit (or when you need to fundraise to avoid getting bankrupt)? If there are no people to speak with customers how do you know whether the customers actually like your product or maybe have some problems? So while, for example, getting product-market fit is important, it will do you nothing if you are not thinking in terms of business. If you are thinking and operating like a business, then even without having a perfect product-market fit you can still get some sales and get some data, which would allow you to better adapt your product to the market. But if there's no business, then even the perfect market fit would mean nothing. So start building a business, not the product. Focus on getting to the market fast to get real customer feedback. Use that feedback to adapt the product to the market. You will quickly if there's money in what you do or not. And if there's no money, then just change. A successful startup is a business, not a product.

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Today we released new Rapyd Research in our ground-breaking report - 2024 State of Payments: High-Opportunity Industries. High-opportunity industries are fast-growing, highly profitable and have unmet payment needs. They include sectors covering Online Gaming, Influencer and Affiliate Marketing, the Creator Economy, Online Trading, eCommerce & Digital Goods, and Online Travel. This first-of-its-kind study looks at how high-growth industries are navigating payment challenges and opportunities including Generative AI, adoption of Virtual Cards and Multi-currency requirements. This comprehensive study covers insights from over 1,000 business leaders and payment decision-makers across ten key markets covering APAC, EMEA, North America, and LATAM. The report is packed with 70 pages of insights, analysis, and data including critical observations by Rapyd's Chief Regulation and Compliance Officer Dr. Shlomit Wagman, Chief Risk Officer Robert Gray, and General Manager of Disburse David Rosa. Grab your copy at URL in first comment! #rapydresearch #fintech #crossborderpayments

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Something is definitely going on with Alo Yoga, so I dug into it even more... In the last video, you saw that e-commerce sales growth was softening, from 80% YoY in 2022 to 61% in 2023. As a digitally native DTC brand, Alo needs to continue their e-commerce growth and not rely solely on their retail expansion to take on giants like Lululemon and Nike. As an investor, I’ve been hyper-focused on brands that have nailed their ideal customer profile, have strong repeat purchase rates, and are growing profitably. Figuring out how to do that is harder than ever with the current digital marketing landscape and consumer sentiment, but I have a solution. Black Crow AI is an AI and machine learning tool, backed by Imaginary, that DTC consumer brands need to leverage to increase their repeat revenue and bring back the 80% of customers that, on average, never repurchase. I’ve seen a tangible difference and impact for an up-and-coming competitor in the athletic wear space that has been able to unlock hidden value across their entire business with Black Crow AI and their predictive repurchase model. https://shorturl.at/IrRpM It enables quick conversions, upsell potential, and long-term retention for their existing customer base and can take the conversion rate for repeat customers up to 60% using custom-built storefronts and email/SMS flows. Now the question is, will harnessing the power of their existing customer base and turning them into repeat customers be enough to save Alo? Let me know what you think. https://shorturl.at/IrRpM #ai #machinelearning #ecommerce #marketing #businessbreakdown #aloyoga #startup #venturecapital

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A little bit of our secret sauce and how we try to turn venture building art into science. If you want to learn more I highly suggest our upcoming webinar. Visit Rokk3r's LinkedIn page for more details. #venturebuilding #corporateinnovation #JTBD

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Name an objectively better product than its competitors. How many can you come up with? I think Google is still much better than the second-best alternative, but can't think of many other examples. Tesla used to be one, but not anymore. It's also not really possible to win on "better". Yet, so many B2B SaaS companies continue to say "We're a better way to do X". They naively assume that as soon as the target customer sees this messaging, they'll be interested.  "Ah, this is better?" And then they buy you over the category leaders. They won't. Even if you build a new CRM startup that has *every single feature* that HubSpot has, maybe even a few more, AND you're cheaper, you still won't win. Hell, you won't even break into the top 20. You will most likely be ignored as "more of the same." You don't want to play the same game as the giants, where they have all the advantages. The market positions are extremely stable. Incremental innovation (you're a little better, a little faster etc.) is not enough to affect the market dynamics in a significant way. Better is usually an unexciting and unbelievable message.

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The concept of "product-market fit" became hazy over time, since its inception. That's a natural progression - PMF became a desirable target and de-facto threshold, so people/companies started looking for shortcuts to get there faster. One such shortcut was changing the definition to make it easier to achieve. I see the re-framing here by Alex and the Verissimo Ventures team as a return to the origins of the concept. In recent years I've often heard both founders and VCs debate whether a company reached PMF. There's a false notion you can determine PMF based on comparing the product's development state, and expectations of market demand/pull. When these discussions happen pre-monetization, or even pre-launch, they miss the point. This question can't be answered analytically, only through data. It's just too complex to predict. Remember this: for product-market fit, you need both a product and a market, and they need to have such great fit, that the product starts moving quickly, in large volumes. In B2B/enterprise, Verissimo's definition of product-priority fit is a good way to capture a major driver of that dynamic.

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Why do startups use tools that cause problems? Here’s one issue that arises: The Budget Buster: When Tools Eat Your Profits Those monthly subscriptions add up fast: Significant Costs: A typical small business might spend well over $375/month per user on various tools, which can quickly escalate with additional users. Hidden Fees: Setup fees, integration costs, and ongoing maintenance fees can inflate your expenses further, making budgeting a challenge. Zweelie's Approach: A single, cost-effective subscription that covers all your business tool needs, making budgeting simpler and more predictable. By consolidating your toolset, you can reduce overhead and allocate resources more efficiently. Check out https://www.zweelie.com and sign up for our waitlist for a launch discount!

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🚨You might never look at startup validation the same way after reading this.🚨 Hi am Nick, some of you know me as a seasoned Product Strategist and owner of axiomy - Product Validation and Design Studio, organizer of the Startup Activator 5.0 or even an owner of pizza places in Varna. I will share in a second, what unconventional techniques I use when validating business ideas (I have a lot), features or a whole software product. As It is just a LinkedIn post, I can't put everything I know in one piece but if you are interested in how I use these techniques, write a comment below and I will send you my case studies. My experience spans from FinTech to FoodTech, equipping me with a unique understanding of the diverse challenges faced by entrepreneurs. Having walked the challenging path of startup validation alongside numerous clients, I am well-versed in navigating the complexities of launching successful ventures across various industries. Long story short: We all know the orthodox ways to validate ideas but I've discovered some potent validation techniques that are often the least conventional. Here we go: 🔴 Wizard of Oz MVP - Don’t have the product yet? No problem. Create the facade of a functional product and manually handle the operations behind the scenes. It sounds deceptive, but it’s a goldmine for gathering user feedback without full-scale development. I’ve seen clients amass invaluable insights this way, shaping their products to precisely meet user expectations. 🔴 Prototyping on Social Media - This is where you turn likes, shares, and comments into a gold standard for product validation. I've worked with brands that crafted product mock-ups, shared them on social platforms, and gauged interest based on real-time user interactions. It's fast, it's public, and it can significantly pivot your product direction with minimal spending. 🔴 Fake Door Testing - Place a button for a non-existent feature and measure interest by the number of clicks it receives. This method helped one of my clients scrap a feature that would have wasted $200K in development costs. Turns out, not many were keen on clicking that shiny new button. 🔴 Sell Before You Build - Imagine selling your product before it even exists. Sounds tricky, right? But it's incredibly effective. This approach not only validates the market demand but also secures some initial funding. I’ve guided startups to use pre-sales as a litmus test for their product viability. 🔴 Letter of Intent - Nothing screams ‘market validation’ louder than a signed letter of intent from a potential buyer. It's a commitment that validates your idea like no other. Whether it’s a bulk purchase or a subscription before launch, these letters have helped my clients lock in demand and attract further investment. Whether it’s your first venture or the next big pivot, let’s validate your idea and pave the way for your startup’s success. #startup #ideavalidation #productdevelopment #strategies

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🌐 Interesting news from Infuture Institute! Since 2018, the Institute has been creating Megatrend Maps, and this year they launched an interactive platform for the first time. This is definitely a noteworthy development that allows for a deeper understanding and interaction with the latest trends. 🔹 Previous editions have mainly included trend definitions, but this year Infuture Institute has expanded the scope to include the causes and consequences of each trend, the technologies that support the trend, and the industries that are particularly sensitive to it. Interesting, for example, is the Megatrend Society of Burnout, which affects us all. Why? Because it affects us all. The "Burnout Society" megatrend draws attention to the increasing prevalence of various forms of burnout in society, from professional to social. This trend is due to constant social pressure, mandating the pursuit of excellence in every area of life, which in practice is impossible to achieve and often ends in frustration and exhaustion. This phenomenon is further exacerbated by ubiquitous social media, which promote unattainable ideals. The authors of the Trend Map convict that supporting technologies such as social media, communications, artificial intelligence, and applications related to wellness, mindfulness, time management and online psychological support are helping to combat burnout by offering tools to improve well-being and performance. 💡 I encourage you to visit the Infuture Institute website to explore the other megatrends shaping our society and labor market. #InfutureInstitute #Megatrends #Technology #AI

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Is the social selling buzz painting the whole picture? 🤔 Using social media in sales helps you tap into a powerful network of over 4.95 billion 🤯 users worldwide. I have tried many fantastic tools (and still use some), such as Taplio, lemlist, Expandi.io, Clay, Dripify Lead Conversations, and the list goes on. They can help you do outreach at scale and are invaluable for generating (connecting to) leads, with every tool having its own benefits. However, generating leads is just the beginning, right? When replies to your outreach drip in, managing follow-ups and keeping things organized will become a problem. (trust me, been there) So, what happens after the first contact? That's where RogerRoger comes in. RogerRoger adds to your sales strategy by seamlessly integrating communication and pipeline management into one platform. We complement your existing CRM and outreach tools by helping you manage follow-ups, delegate communication, and stay on top of your deals without missing a beat. I am curious: How do you manage follow-ups? Share below! 👇 #socialselling #inbox #LinkedIn

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Need advice! 🙏 Product vs Business: how should they work together, ideally? We just finished a massive restructuring project at inDrive. A big part of it was about achieving a better alignment for Product and Business. I suppose it’s a common challenge for many tech companies. Product is developing apps and digital services making sure it resonates with customers well. Business is leveraging them to drive results but it is also putting the right customer strategies in place. Who calls the shots? Who decides what is prioritized? Who takes responsibility when you don’t hit the target? What goals should be set in the first place? Product and Business can sometimes debate on the strategies seeing them from different perspectives. Or they can agree on the strategy but argue about the tactics, being pressured by different issues. And even if they see eye to eye on everything, there is always a question of who manages and leads the process. Sometimes, it can be a mess, to be honest. But if you figure it out, you will supercharge your brand’s growth. No doubt. Our team has made some progress recently, and our structure and backlog processes now make a bit more sense… But I’m really curious to learn how other teams approach this so I can leverage the synergy more. Please share anything you think could be relevant. What can I read? Articles? Books? How does it work in your org? How do you think it should work in a perfect world?

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🔴BREAKING NEWS: There’s a Chocolate Cartel!🍫 Oreo has been fined $366 million!!🍪 🤔What happened? ▪ Oreo maker Mondelēz International has received a hefty fine of $365.7 million or €337.5 million, the EU’s ninth largest fine ever! ▪ Mondelez is one of the largest producers of chocolate, biscuits, and coffee in the world with several brands under its umbrella like 5star, Cadbury, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Oreo, Toblerone, Bournvita, 7days, Freia, Milka, Sour Patch Kids, Chips Ahoy, Tang, and Triscuit, which it sells in 150+ countries!! 🧐Why? ▪ For anticompetitive behaviour. ▪ The EU’s competition commissioner accused Mondelez of restricting cross-border trade of chocolate, biscuits, and coffee products within the EU, forcing people to pay more! ▪ It also pointed to 22 examples where Mondelez was found to have engaged in anticompetitive agreements or concerted practices!  ▪ One case was highlighted where refused to supply a German trader to prevent its resale in countries like Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, and Romania, where prices were higher!! 😲Interestingly: ▪ The fine was reduced by 15% when the company accepted its wrongdoing! ▪ "This historical matter is not representative of who we are and the strong culture of compliance for which we strive," it said. ❓Should there be stricter punishments for such acts?? Follow Jobaaj Stories (the media arm of Jobaaj.com Group for more) #chocolate #toblerone #oreo #cadbury #eu #antitrust #fine #currentaffairs #news

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🤔 To bootstrap or raise funding, that is the question. 🤔 Over the years, I have discussed this topic with quite a few serial entrepreneurs, and it has been fascinating to learn about their decisions, why, and what they would do the next time. 💡 This post presents this decision into a nice framework of questions to help make the decision that is best for you and your company. #entrepreneurs #startups #bootstrap #VC

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Home health testing kits are promoted at every step. The trend for continuous glucose monitoring even for non-prediabetic users is growing daily. More and more products that help us study our bodies and optimize our diets are popping up on the market. In the next months, I will be taking a deep dive into the most interesting home health testing kits and sharing my product design insights. This will be fun! First up: ZOE 🇬🇧 A product based on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensor, an alternative to Levels in the UK. Some of my early insights after studying blood testing by ZOE:

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