From zero to exit: a full startup journey

FROM ZERO TO EXIT: A FULL STARTUP JOURNEY

Michele Orsi

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Why this presentation?

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2016 - R&D in London new software projects

2008 - Master degree in Software Engineering

2011 - Co-Founded Map2app .. in Bologna, with two friends

2009 - European Space Agency(especially proud to be in the Rosetta team!)

2015 - Map2app acquired .. by lastminute.com group

Who am I?

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Two perspectivesOur reality

Not in selling /funding mood

“Give back” attitude

Why is this presentation different?

Map2app overview

What platform for creating

mobile travel apps

Who 3 co-founders with

different backgrounds

Where Bologna, San Francisco,

Chiasso (CH)

How paying customers +

FFF + 2 investments

When started in 2011,

acquired in 2015

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The startup engine: co-founders, ..

Met with co-founders 2008, March

Founded Map2app2011, January

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Acquisition

End of stocks plan

(Co-founder relationship)

2015, February

2017, February

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.. investors and advisors, ..

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.. employees .. A difficult mix!

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Knowledge in the domain

Experience but not too much

New market emerging in popularity

An “obsession” in all discussions

The myth of “idea”

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Bologna Smart City app: a real product

How we started: the first paying customer

Municipality of Bologna

Good: the money (30k)

Bad: not real validation

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STARTER

FREERevenue sharing

iOs app

Android app

Fixed app price

map2app logo

Professional

$500+Full revenue

The market: our first business model

iOs app

Android app

Free or payed app

White label

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FAIL

’C’ Attitude

Content

Opportunity

Problem vs

solution

Revenue sharing

Customer

lifetime value

Support

.. and the first “storm”

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Market niche

Early adopters

Big projects

Startup network

.. a little umbrella that moves us forward..

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“Good” metrics, but ..Ready to scale, but ..

Working, but .. Idea implemented, but ..

Technical frustration

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Design for validation focus on market fit

Long term vision money will arrive

Find “secret sauce” do not rely on ads

Be a small company focus on saving time

Some lessons learnt

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The difficult part is in the visibility (of the “good” part)

The bad times (beginning of 2012 for us)

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Won Mind the Bridge first seed funding: 50k

Late 2012: the BIG opportunity

Incubation period me as biz “front-man”

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San Francisco the context

Accelerator advisors, entrepreneur, events

The lean startup get out of the building!

B2B solution subscription

Pitch elevator found the “value proposition”

New investments50k (instead of 300k)

Silicon Valley accelerator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDE1sVPCHHg

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Data driven decision

Insight & KPI drive features

Move fast and (do not) break things

Good enough code for validation

The iterative new process

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Availability eager to help

Difficulties raising money

High competition top universities and startups

US centric lack of knowledge

Tight network of recommendations

american track record

Outsider

.. together with Silicon Valley disillusion

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European marketwas the biggest one

America Europe Asia / Other

30%

60%10%

Italy, the return

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The incubator no events or advisors

Funds stick with Italy

Our growth 20% per month

B2B growth with big publishers

Trade fair travel specific

Champions are resellers

Italian package

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new, smart and more efficient Travel promotion

better experience for tourists Curated content

app creationFast and cheap

600 apps and 2M downloadsDistribution channel

Map2app: our real values ..

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.. and the acquisition

“How many 'no' are you able to say?”

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Rapidly growing Chiasso, Madrid,

London, Bangalore

Big OTA one of the biggest in Europe Tourist centric

deliver the best experience

What is ?

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THANK YOU!

https://ch.linkedin.com/in/micheleorsi

@micheleorsi

Keep in touch:

https://github.com/micheleorsi

Work with us:

http://careers.lastminutegroup.com