The Exchanges

Q And then do you have a demo day at the end where they show off their products to the angels?

A Yes, we do. Um, we had our first demo day for the FinTech program in London last year in November. Um, we experimented a little bit with a model. Um, so usually demo days, um, I think there's a template format for that, which is you have, um, the teams have got five, six, seven minutes However long for their killer pitch and, and on stage, uh, a lot of pressure they have to deliver and then hopefully they will get some conversations afterwards. Um, so we, we changed it a little bit. So we, we actually didn't have the startups pitch on stage. We had for each startup a mini stage where they had to pitch five times consecutively and investors in the room had to pick five out of the 10 startups that they really wanted to talk to. Um, but they had a much more intimate environment because each startup had every time, every rotation, uh, Only an audience from 20 to 30 people.

AI assessment note: “Yes, we do. Um, we had our first demo day”

Q First, I'm really interested to find out about how you got into the technology industry, and then later made your transition into the accelerator world of startup bootcamp. Can you tell us a little about that?

A Um, I can. It's, it's a funny one, because for somebody who runs a fintech accelerator, um, I have no background in financial services, technology, or entrepreneurship. Um, that, that is always, well, one of those kind of anecdote moments. No, I, I started off, I studied at university something completely different. Political science, media, sociology, uh, French, uh, Um, and just through a zigzag, uh, of, uh, possibilities and, and a few coincidental moments, I ended up working for a central securities depository here in London in the late nineties. That was my first kind of toe in the water with the financial industry. Then I worked with Swift for a few years. Um, Swift being, uh, the network that the banks use for transactions of all kinds. And Swift is a cooperative, um, and within Swift, uh, in, Uh, after the crisis in 2008, um, some of my colleagues there founded something called InnoTribe, which was an initiative to bring innovation into the financial industry and explain to the members of SWIFT, to the banks and the other financial institutions, what they need to be aware of and what they should be doing, and this is how I got my first taste of, um, entrepreneurs and startups in the financial industry space.

AI assessment note: “this is how I got my first taste of, um, entrepreneurs and startups”

Q And then do you have a demo day at the end where they show off their products to the angels?

A Yes, we do. Um, we had our first demo day for the FinTech program in London last year in November. Um, we experimented a little bit with a model. Um, so usually demo days, um, I think there's a template format for that, which is you have, um, the teams have got five, six, seven minutes However long for their killer pitch and, and on stage, uh, a lot of pressure they have to deliver and then hopefully they will get some conversations afterwards. Um, so we, we changed it a little bit. So we, we actually didn't have the startups pitch on stage. We had for each startup a mini stage where they had to pitch five times consecutively and investors in the room had to pick five out of the 10 startups that they really wanted to talk to. Um, but they had a much more intimate environment because each startup had every time, every rotation, uh, Only an audience from 20 to 30 people.

AI assessment note: “Yes, we do. Um, we had our first demo day for the FinTech program”

Q Absolutely. Now, focusing on the, the technology market as a whole now, um, Fintech is obviously the sector you're working in most closely, but is there one other sector that you're most excited about?

A There's, there's a few, um, uh, people, I mean, Internet of Things, IoT in, in any kind of guise is interesting. Um, people use terminologies like smarter cities, smarter living. I think anything that will go into the level of, uh, small data, not just big data, devices talking to each other, um, a lot of things that will, will automate, um, various aspects of our lives are very exciting. Um, Um, I think what excites me more is to see how now we already see a little bit of a cross industry, um, tendency. So people taking technology out of one world, like the fintech world, um, and looking to use it in other areas. So governments looking at blockchain technology, um, insurance companies are looking at, um, devices and all these things. This is where, where I get excited.

AI assessment note: “Internet of Things, IoT in, in any kind of guise is interesting.”

Q And what do you think made the best pitches? Was there a common theme? Was it a confidence within the founder? Was it a particular design product?

A Um, for a good pitch, I mean, so some people are natural presenters, uh, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a good pitch. You need to have a solid product. You need to have, uh, a reason why you're doing this, uh, and you need to be convincing. You need to be able also to show during the pitch that, uh, you know your metrics, you know where you're heading with this, um, you're not trying to boil the ocean, but you're very specifically focused on the next stage of your journey, and you're trying to get investors to get excited by, by you, by your team, which is also important, and, and by the vision that you have, but also being realistic about what you can achieve and what time frame.

AI assessment note: “You need to have a solid product. You need to have, uh, a reason”

Q And, and what's the day in the life of, of you, an MD at Startup Bootcamp? Can you provide a little insight into that?

A The great thing about this job is that there is no such thing. Um, there, there is no template. Um, I can give you some snippets, ok, so sort of insights. One of the great things is that when I come into the work and into the office in the, in the morning, I, I don't really know how many decisions I will have taken by the end of the day, uh, but when I finish, I usually have done something that has made an impact, smaller impact, bigger impact, but some decision that actually has changed something, and, and when you work in the corporate world, even the smallest decision sometimes takes weeks, and this is really frustrating. Um, the other thing that's exciting is that running a program like ours runs on multi So we need to manage our, our corporate, our industry partners. Uh, we need to manage our investors, the mentor community, but also then work with the startups hands on. And, and all these things have very different requirements. So it's a very varied, um, kind of day because it touches upon the different constituents pretty much every day. And on top of that, we've got different phases. So at the moment, the program in London is quiet, but we're in recruiting mode for our program in Singapore. Um, once we've closed the applications, it's all about selecting. Once we've closed the selection process, it's all about actually working with the startup. So every, every kind of …

AI assessment note: “The great thing about this job is that there is no such thing.”

Q And what do you think made the best pitches? Was there a common theme? Was it a confidence within the founder? Was it a particular design product?

A Um, for a good pitch, I mean, so some people are natural presenters, uh, but that doesn't necessarily translate into a good pitch. You need to have a solid product. You need to have, uh, a reason why you're doing this, uh, and you need to be convincing. You need to be able also to show during the pitch that, uh, you know your metrics, you know where you're heading with this, um, you're not trying to boil the ocean, but you're very specifically focused on the next stage of your journey, and you're trying to get investors to get excited by, by you, by your team, which is also important, and, and by the vision that you have, but also being realistic about what you can achieve and what time frame.

AI assessment note: “You need to have a solid product. You need to have, uh, a reason”

Q And, and what can startups do to prepare themselves for pitch day at Startup Bootcamp?

A Um, First of all, there's a lot of research on what constitutes a good pitch. Um, and people don't do that. People don't, there's, there's YouTube clips, there's, uh, uh, advisors, blog posts. A pitch needs to have some key elements that everybody wants to hear. Um, one of the things we see is that people don't do that. They don't really rehearse their pitches. Uh, the other thing that is interesting is that startups often, or just generally people, don't prepare for the audience that they have in One of the pieces of advice I give, I give to anybody is before you go and present to an audience, think about who, who they are. And every pitch has to be different. Is it a competition? Slightly different slant. Is it, is it, um, an investor presentation? Again, a very different focus. If it's about being accelerated, accepted in accelerator, again, think about what are the messages you need to convey. And also, Finish on an ask. Tell people why you think you should be selected, or why people should invest in you. People, people very often don't do that.

AI assessment note: “before you go and present to an audience, think about who, who they are”

Q Is working with the startups your favorite quarter?

A Working with the startups is, is very full on. Uh, so it has its highs and it has its lows. Sometimes you have to be very paternal to put it very carefully and very directive, um, and firm. And sometimes you just get inspired by the spirit and the flexibility and the creativity and the ingenuity of the people you work with. So definitely. But also I have to say one of the things, and it was funny because after reviewing last year's program with, with my team, we sat down and everybody in the team agreed that one of the highlights It was actually the selection weekend, where we have the, the 20 teams that made it to the end in London for three days, and out of the 20, with the help of our partners and the mentors, we picked the 10 that actually made it into the program. It's such an intense, uh, three days, but the, the, the, the, the, that experience was, was quite magical, so, um, the selection process is also very exciting.

AI assessment note: “So definitely. But also I have to say one of the things”

Q Now, London's a complete, very competitive tech landscape nowadays, and it's getting harder and harder, I'm sure, to be accepted into accelerators for startups, leading me to ask, what's the selection process like at startup bootcamp fintech, um, for choosing which startups to accept and which not to?

A We, we do this in, in different ways, and it's interesting what you're saying about a competitive environment for startups to get accepted in accelerators, but at the same time, there is a proliferation of accelerators, so we also need to be quite clear about the value that we articulate towards the startups. Um, there's, uh, we, we operate in multiple ways, so we run pitch days in all locations where we know that there's fintech activity, um, so we do this all the way from the U.S. through multiple locations in Europe, um, And Asia, so this year for, for 2015, we're also going into the Middle East, and we're going to Africa, because we think that startups have to come to know us, um, and we want the opportunity to get engaged with them quite early on, face to face, rather than rely purely on, on an online application. Um, another thing we do is we actually hunt startups, so we don't rely only on the teams that Consider coming to us and they apply online, but if we see a good team, we also need to sometimes talk to them and float the idea with them. They could be, um, getting some value out of an accelerator. Um, but, um, we, we need certain things. We need, we need a decent, um, team. We need, um, an idea that has legs. Um, so which means we also need to understand, uh, the sector that they operate in, um, And we need to have some codes. So that's a minimum requirement for us.…

AI assessment note: “we run pitch days in all locations... We need a decent team... have some codes”

Q And, and what can startups do to prepare themselves for pitch day at Startup Bootcamp?

A Um, First of all, there's a lot of research on what constitutes a good pitch. Um, and people don't do that. People don't, there's, there's YouTube clips, there's, uh, uh, advisors, blog posts. A pitch needs to have some key elements that everybody wants to hear. Um, one of the things we see is that people don't do that. They don't really rehearse their pitches. Uh, the other thing that is interesting is that startups often, or just generally people, don't prepare for the audience that they have in One of the pieces of advice I give, I give to anybody is before you go and present to an audience, think about who, who they are. And every pitch has to be different. Is it a competition? Slightly different slant. Is it, is it, um, an investor presentation? Again, a very different focus. If it's about being accelerated, accepted in accelerator, again, think about what are the messages you need to convey. And also, Finish on an ask. Tell people why you think you should be selected, or why people should invest in you. People, people very often don't do that.

AI assessment note: “before you go and present to an audience, think about who, who they are”

Q Absolutely. Now, focusing on the, the technology market as a whole now, um, Fintech is obviously the sector you're working in most closely, but is there one other sector that you're most excited about?

A There's, there's a few, um, uh, people, I mean, Internet of Things, IoT in, in any kind of guise is interesting. Um, people use terminologies like smarter cities, smarter living. I think anything that will go into the level of, uh, small data, not just big data, devices talking to each other, um, a lot of things that will, will automate, um, various aspects of our lives are very exciting. Um, Um, I think what excites me more is to see how now we already see a little bit of a cross industry, um, tendency. So people taking technology out of one world, like the fintech world, um, and looking to use it in other areas. So governments looking at blockchain technology, um, insurance companies are looking at, um, devices and all these things. This is where, where I get excited.

AI assessment note: “Internet of Things, IoT in, in any kind of guise is interesting.”

Q Now, London's a complete, very competitive tech landscape nowadays, and it's getting harder and harder, I'm sure, to be accepted into accelerators for startups, leading me to ask, what's the selection process like at startup bootcamp fintech, um, for choosing which startups to accept and which not to?

A We, we do this in, in different ways, and it's interesting what you're saying about a competitive environment for startups to get accepted in accelerators, but at the same time, there is a proliferation of accelerators, so we also need to be quite clear about the value that we articulate towards the startups. Um, there's, uh, we, we operate in multiple ways, so we run pitch days in all locations where we know that there's fintech activity, um, so we do this all the way from the U.S. through multiple locations in Europe, um, And Asia, so this year for, for 2015, we're also going into the Middle East, and we're going to Africa, because we think that startups have to come to know us, um, and we want the opportunity to get engaged with them quite early on, face to face, rather than rely purely on, on an online application. Um, another thing we do is we actually hunt startups, so we don't rely only on the teams that Consider coming to us and they apply online, but if we see a good team, we also need to sometimes talk to them and float the idea with them. They could be, um, getting some value out of an accelerator. Um, but, um, we, we need certain things. We need, we need a decent, um, team. We need, um, an idea that has legs. Um, so which means we also need to understand, uh, the sector that they operate in, um, And we need to have some codes. So that's a minimum requirement for us.…

AI assessment note: “minimum requirement for us... We need to have a prototype or an MVP”