How to Pitch Investors?

Coming up with brilliant business concepts that you strongly believe in may be easy; selling them to others is hard. Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to listen to a number of pitches from both Swedish and American entrepreneurs. Here are my notes that I will take into consideration the day I come up with my grand business idea. 

The Shark Tank panel at the Life Tech Forum hosted by SACC NE; Johan Christenson (Health Cap), Jeffrey M. Arnold (Boston Harbor Angels and Mass Medic Angels), Rasmus Goksor (Bison) and Doug Cole (Flagship Ventures).

First of all, you have to adjust the pitch to the people that you are pitching to. If you are pitching to American investors, with the aim of entering the U.S. market, I can guarantee you that they do not care about the market demand in Sweden, amounts in SEK or competitors in Sweden. Skip all references to Sweden! 

• Investors are humans: You have to connect with them on an emotional level and understand what they are interested in. You also have to convince them that you are going to make your dream come true with or without their help – they just have the opportunity to be a part of your success story. Connect with the investors by telling an inspiring story that addresses the market problem you are trying solve. Do not hesitate to talk about who you are, your background and why they should choose you.
• Investors are business oriented: Even if the investors do get inspired, they will not make a move if your business concept is vague or fuzzy. You need to have a deep understanding of your business concept and market. You should be prepared to answer the following questions:

1. Is your product solving a problem or is it a "must have"? 
2. How large is your market, and is it big enough? 
3. Who are your competitors? 
4. What are the advantages of your business concept compared to others?
5. What is your customer acquisition strategy? 

• Be precise and straightforward: Do not use a super complex 20-slide PowerPoint. I always find it easier to connect with, and fell attracted to, a simple idea. Furthermore - stick to the timeframe, which I find really depends on the relevant circumstances. 
• Do not forget your team: You may be an excellent business leader and your business concept may be awesome, however, you will never make it in the U.S. by yourself. Your team has to be strong; it should be a dynamic and powerful core of the business. Frictions within the team will scare investors, and bad partnerships can ruin any brilliant business concept.  
• Investors are not investing to be nice: Investors expect to get back at least as much as they put in, and in most cases a lot more. Therefore, you need a strong exit strategy with clear information on how the investors will get their money back - otherwise they will share their wealth with someone else. 

Finally, you have to practice your pitch – and keep in mind that, you will probably get different feedback from different people. Even if you take into account all the feedback you get, I guess it all boils down to hard work and commitment, but also timing and some luck.  

Jonathan Ortheden, AppUniverse pitching.  

By: Kajsa Morawetz

kajsa.morawetz@sacc-ne.org

The Swedish Government decides to open a Consulate General in New York

The Swedish Government recently decided to upgrade the Swedish presence in New York by opening a Consulate General. The Consulate General will open in December and replace the honorary consulate.

According to the Government's press release, the focus of the Consulate General will be to promote the image of the innovative, creative and competitive Sweden of today. Trade and investment promotion at the Consulate General is expected to largely focus on conveying knowledge and offering a network and platform for promotion activities for Swedish companies.

The minister for Enterprise and Innovation, Mikael Damberg, foresee a need of a Consulate General in New York in order to promote contacts, trade and investments with the United States, and it is an important measure implemented in light of the new Swedish Export Strategy.  

The Consulate General will also work with cultural promotion and contribute to increased cooperation between Sweden and the United States in the area of culture.

SACC NE is looking forward to a future strong and stable cooperation with the Consulate General.

By: Kajsa Morawetz

kajsa.morawetz@sacc-ne.org

SACC Accelerator program with AppUniverse and Upstain

This week, SACC New England (SACC NE), has had the privilege of welcoming the Swedish companies AppUniverse and Upstain to Cambridge/Boston as participants in the SACC Accelerator program. The SACC Accelerator Program has been designed to connect Scandinavian start-ups with the resources needed to launch and succeed i the U.S. SACC NE has been working with the companies through online webinars for 6 weeks, and it has been a pleasure to conclude the SACC Accelerator Program on-site. 

AppUniverse: The founder of AppUniverse is Jonathan Ortheden; 18 years old, and winner of Apple's WWDC scholarship award 2014 and 2015. From the basement of Jonathan’s parents house, he has developed 20 apps on app store and has over half a million downloads. Nowadays, Jonathan together with his team, develops new apps focusing on creating a great experience in order to get as many users as possible.

Upstain: The company has developed a first impression eye-tracking camera that makes it possible to prove exactly where a viewers attention is targeted. Upstain makes it possible to measure how much attention ads actually are getting - an important first step to measure the effectiveness of advertising. Jason McMillion, the founder of the company, has been working with marketing for many years, and has been developing the camera and the method of analyzing the results for a period of 3 years.  

Jonathan Ortheden, AppUniverse and Jason McMillion, Upstain. 

One goal of the SACC Accelerator program has been to contribute with knowledge to make it easier for Swedish companies to enter the U.S. market, and another goal has been to help the companies to deal with cultural differences that exits between Sweden and the U.S.

When AppUniverse and Upstain arrived to Boston, we started off with a legal session at WilmerHale, where one of the firm's partners Gary Schall, guided us through the most important issues in order to operate a U.S. business. The focus was on legal issues such as; choice of legal entity, equity compensation, protecting intellectual property and capital raising. Crammed with a lot of new and valuable information, we continued with a session held by Gregory G. Pierce at NorthStar about insurances - a jungle where it is very easy to get lost, especially from a Swedish point of view. 

The day ended with a pitch and demo night at Workbar, Cambridge, where we heard the entrepreneurs behind AppUniverse and Upstain, pitch to a panel of experts consisting of Ray Skoglund (investment banker with CFSC), Bill Jacobson (co-founder of workbar and partner at Techpoint Ventures, LLC), Carolyn Thomas (head of Bank Boston’s Loan Syndications and Trading) and Camilo S. (strategy consultant, business development adviser and angel investor).

"Mobile apps are everywhere you go" - Jonathan Ortheden, AppUniverse pitching. 

We would like to thank the panelists for participating and for the valuable feedback! Jason and Jonathan did a remarkable job at concisely describing their companies, business models and market opportunities. It is a huge challenge to pitch a complex concept within a short timeframe, and to convince the audience that your concept is better or more unique than the competitors on the market.

The panelists: Ray Skoglund, Bill Jacobson, Carolyn Thomas and Camilo S.

Demo of Upstain's eye-tracking camera.

SACC NE would also like to take the opportunity to thank Workbar for the hospitality in hosting the event!

This morning we started the day with a workshop discussing Market Strategy with Louis Hatzis and Evan Antonatos. We touched upon headlines such as how to create measurable value for potential costumers and investors, but also how to reach the relevant target market.

Stella Lovén, President of SACC NE, and who has been working with taking a start-up company to the U.S., underlined that the most challenging part to enter the U.S. market as a European company is to comprehensive understand your unique value proposition from an American perspective.

An update from the rest of the SACC Accelerator week will be posted later on this week. 

By: Kajsa Morawetz

kajsa.morawetz@sacc-ne.org

Sweden’s new Export strategy – SEK 800 million Allocated to Increase Export

After the economic downturn during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, the export has recovered poorly, and the motor in the Swedish economy has been internal consumption. In the light of this, the Government of Sweden, in October 2015, presented a new export strategy developed in collaboration with the business sector, where the challenges faced by Swedish foreign trade are addressed.

Stella Lovén, President of SACC New England (SACC NE), welcomes the export strategy.

– “The strategy clarify that organizations like ours, has an important role to play as an active actor on-site, to accelerate trade, investment relationships and promote entrepreneurship, innovation and business opportunities. The activities conducted by SACC NE should not be underestimated as a resource to achieve the goals stated in the strategy.” 

The Swedish economic is heavily dependent on exports. In 2014, total exports of goods and services were equivalent to 45 per cent of Sweden’s GDP. According to the export strategy, exports remain strong, but Sweden’s share of the export market is decreasing in relation to the rest of the world.

In order to meet the challenges that Swedish foreign trade is facing; Swedish exports must reach emerging markets to a greater extent, more small and medium-sized enterprises must have the courage, and the will, to export and services and systems must reach even higher up the value chain. In addition, Sweden’s attractiveness to investments, and tourism must increase. The Government is also pointing out that open global trade is of primary interest to confront the challenges.  

EU’s internal market for goods and services has so far been vital for the growth of Swedish enterprises and exports. However, the Government has concluded that due to an expanding middle class, and growing income levels in other markets, Swedish export must increase to countries outside Europe in both the short and the long term. The Government has listed 26 markets that should be prioritized – one is the market in the U.S.

The aim of the export strategy is partly to contribute to the Government of Sweden’s ambitious overall goal to have the EU’s lowest unemployment rate in 2020.* The goals in the export strategy are to:

• increase exports; both in absolute figures and as a proportion of GDP
• increase Sweden’s attractiveness to investments, skills and tourists
• increase the proportion of export businesses
• increase Swedish enterprises’ participation in the global economy

In order to achieve these goals, the export strategy committee has elaborated 22 prioritized focus areas where general measures have been formulated. Within the scope of the export strategy, and in order to implement the measures stated therein, the Government of Sweden has allocated SEK 75 millions for 2015 and SEK 150 million for 2016 (in total SEK 800 million until 2019) as financial support.

To summary; SACC NE is an important actor in order to increase Swedish exports, strengthen Sweden’s image in the New England region, and thereby attract foreign enterprises to invest in Sweden, but also to reinforce Sweden’s attractiveness to talent and attract more visitors to travel to Sweden. The Accelerator Program developed by SACC NE, aiming to making it easier for small and medium sized enterprises to entry the U.S. market, is also functioning as a tool to create business opportunities and increase export.

By: Kajsa Morawetz

* According to a report published by the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise in February 2015 (EU:s lägsta arbetslöshet 2020?), the unemployment rate for Sweden 2014 was 7.9 per cent. Austria has the lowest unemployment rate, and has an estimated unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent for 2019. This means that 430,000 new job opportunities need to be created in order to be at the same level as Austria for 2020. 

Be Swedish, Think American.

Ray Skoglund is an investment banker at Colorado Financial Service Corporation with a specialty in mergers and acquisitions in the software and mobile technology sector. As an investment banker, Ray almost exclusively works with high-growth Swedish clients that are looking to partner with bigger technology companies here in the U.S

What is your connection to Sweden?

- My father was Swedish and I have been on the SACC-NE board for about 10 years. In terms of business, I enjoy working with Swedish companies because they are really at the forefront of new technology. The intellectual property coming out of Sweden, is as good, or sometimes even better than what is coming out of the United States.

Why should Swedish companies consider coming to Boston?

- Boston make sense for Swedish companies that want to open an initial sales or marketing outpost in the United States. Not only is Boston advantageous in terms of the comparatively small time zone difference, but it is also arguably the most European city in America, which makes it a good entry point into the United States.
I myself have been in Boston for about 20 years and location is ideal for working with European technology companies looking to access the United States. Being in Boston allows me to interact with Swedish companies in the morning and then interact with potential buyers, usually in California, in the afternoon.

How do I find a venture capital firm in the U.S. that want to invest in my company?

- Not many of the big tech companies in the U.S. know what is going on in Sweden, so my advice is for Swedish companies to start their acquisition outreach in the U.S. as soon as possible. And more often than not, a venture capital firm here in Boston or California will not consider investing in a company that has not made the move to the United States.

Any final advice for Swedish companies looking at the U.S.?

- I sometimes tell my clients that they should “be Swedish but think American”. There are a lot of cutting edge advances in technology coming out of Sweden right now, but it often takes an American “fire-in-the-belly” attitude in order for a good idea to turn into a growing company. So I would tell Swedish companies to be a little more aggressive and to market their products in the United States sooner rather than later.

What is your connection to Sweden?

- My father was Swedish and I have been on the SACC-NE board for about 10 years. In terms of business, I enjoy working with Swedish companies because they are really at the forefront of new technology. The intellectual property coming out of Sweden, is as good, or sometimes even better than what is coming out of the United States. 

Why should Swedish companies consider coming to Boston?

- Boston make sense for Swedish companies that want to open an initial sales or marketing outpost in the United States. Not only is Boston advantageous in terms of the comparatively small time zone difference, but it is also arguably the most European city in America, which makes it a good entry point into the United States.

I myself have been in Boston for about 20 years and location is ideal for working with European technology companies looking to access the United States.  Being in Boston allows me to interact with Swedish companies in the morning and then interact with potential buyers, usually in California, in the afternoon. 

How do I find a venture capital firm in the U.S. that want to invest in my company?

- Not many of the big tech companies in the U.S. know what is going on in Sweden, so my advice is for Swedish companies to start their acquisition outreach in the U.S. as soon as possible. And more often than not, a venture capital firm here in Boston or California will not consider investing in a company that has not made the move to the United States.

Any final advice for Swedish companies looking at the U.S.?

- I sometimes tell my clients that they should “be Swedish but think American”. There are a lot of cutting edge advances in technology coming out of Sweden right now, but it often takes an American “fire-in-the-belly” attitude in order for a good idea to turn into a growing company. So I would tell Swedish companies to be a little more aggressive and to market their products in the United States sooner rather than later.

Welcome to the SACC Accelerator Pitch & Demo Night!

Come meet the entrepreneurs behind Upstain and App Universe! See them pitch and receive feedback from our panel of experts. You will also get the opportunity to meet the SACC Accelerator’s team and advisors and end the evening by participating in an exclusive demo of Upstain’s eye-tracking camera. 

SACC Accelerator is a platform dedicated to providing Swedish startups to growth-stage companies a dynamic and interactive program designed to facilitate successful entry to the US market. 

Please join us for the pitch event featuring the SACC Accelerator companies and networking at 6.00pm on Tuesday, October 27th, 2015
at Workbar Cambridge, 45 Prospect Street, Cambridge MA
Refreshments and snacks will be served. 

Register HERE

6.00         Networking session
6.15         App Universe pitch and feedback
6.30         Upstain pitch and feedback
6.45         Eye-tracking camera demo
7.00         Networking session