The typical pitfalls and gems for startups going international

Aimo is a long-time global sales, marketing and operations manager for Nokia Telecommunications. He was brought in to a number of critical sales, marketing or operational challenges, where he scored many major successes: swap out of the Ericsson system in Telia, Sweden; major win against Motorola in O2; building highly successful operations in Russia.

In his talk Aimo will talk about common mistakes startups make when they try to go international.

Transcript

1. Arc$c  Crossing  Consul$ng  Oy   Global  expansion  for  Nordic     technology  companies   ValoStart  up  event     25.5.2012  
2. •  Founder  and  CEO  of  Arc$c  Crossing  Consul$ng  Oy,  Management   consultant  and  investor  since  2006   •  17  years  at  Nokia  Telecommunica$on  in  various  global  sales    and   Product  Marke$ng  posi$ons,  out  of  that  8  years  abroad,  Stockholm,   London  Moscow   •  EB/Nemo  Technologies  VP,  Sales&Marke$ng,  export  to  80  countries.   Ac$ve  role  on  company  sales  process  to  interna$onal  investors   •  6  years  as  Business  Angel,  60+  case  reviewed,  two  investments     •  Educa$on  :  MSc  Electrical  Engineering,  Nokia  Management  training   cources   Aimo  Savukoski,  CV  
3. My  observa$ons  with  Start  ups   •  90%  of  business  my  cases  has  been  very  product   oriented,  insider  knowledge  of  target  business  new  for   team  members   •  Compelling  Teams  are  not  yet  there,  compensated  by   energy  and  de$ca$on  to  learn     •  OWen  too  Op$mis$c  sales  plans  and  missing  customer   experience/in$macy,  (Regional  and  Finnish  challenge)   •  Impact  of  sales  channel  to  business  case   underes$mated  or  not  thought  at  all.    
4. My  observa$ons  with  Start  ups   volume  2   •  Ambi$os  Exit  plans  ($ming,  size,  to  whom)   •  High  Valua$on,  always  above  1M€    even   without  POC,  and     •  Too  oWer  fund  rising  is  strange  business  for   start  ups       •  Fund  rising  (seed,  first  round  etc)    is  delayed  or   started  too  late   •  Average  consultants  as  advisors,  Time  is   money!!!  
5. Ten  point  Business  Plan  presenta$on  by  FiBAN,   Mikko-­‐Jussi  Suonenlah$  and  many  others   •  1.  Overview  of  company   •  a.  Market  opportunity   •  b.  Market  posi$on   •  c.  “Fully  funded”  cash  need  (cash   required  to  break  even)   •  2.  Management  (1  –  2  slides)   •  a.  Present  team   •  b.  Recruitment  plan   •  3.  Market  opportunity  (4  slides)   •  a.  Market  need:  “Which  problem  is   solved?”   •  b.  Market  size  –  TAM  (total  available   market)  and  SAM  (Served  Available   Market)   •  c.  Market  development   •  d.  Market  posi$on   •  4.  Product  and  technology  (3  –  6  slides)   •  a.  Descrip$on   •  b.  Value  Proposi$on  –  cost  benefit   analysis  /  ROI   •  c.  Development  plan   •  d.  Intellectual  property   •  e.  Architecture   •  5.  Sales  /  distribuGon  (2  –  4  slides)   •  a.  Sales  /  distribu$on  plan   •  b.  Customers  /  trials   •  c.  Pipeline   •  6.  Pricing  and  promoGon  (2  slides)   •  a.  Pricing  structures  and  models   •  b.  Promo$on  plans   •  7.  CompeGGon  (1  –  2  slides)   •  a.  Compe$$ve  analysis   •  b.  Market  posi$oning   •  8.  Financials  (4  slides)   •  a.  Financial  plan  (profit  and  loss,   balance  sheet,  cash  flow)   •  b.  Capitaliza$on  structure,  valua$on   history   •  c.  Fund  raising  plan   •  d.  Exit  plan   •  9.  Risk  analysis  (1  –  2  slides)   •  a.  Key  iden$fied  risks   •  b.  Risk  mi$ga$on  plan   •  10.Synthesis  /  summary  (1  slide)  
6. The  ways  ACC  contributed  on  Start   Up’s  on  their  path  to  foreign  markets   •  Help  finding  right  business  /Sales  strategy(focus)   •  Help  finding  right  funding  and  with  right  $ming  among   Tekes/Finnvera/VeraVenture  ,  VC’s  or  Business  angels   •  Special  marget  insight  into  Nordic,  Europe,  USA  and   Russia  markets,  (China/Asia  asked  once  by  my   customers,  why?)   •  Building/finding  direct  customers  contacts,  Distributor   channels  or  recornised  Agents  for  customers,     •  U$lizing  Network  of  partners  all  over  the  world  
7. Who  else  could  help  you  on  your   business  focus   – First  of  all,  ask  your  customers   – Right  type  of  Board  members   – Advisor  board  structure   – colleagues  in  the  region   – Ac$ce  business  networking  and  pitching   – well  defined  competences  of  selected   consultants  (3  cases  )!!  
8. Thank  you   Aimo  Savukoski   +358  50  3878638   Isokatu  77  A  5   90120  Oulu