Seed stage -- have you considered applying to Y Combinator?
Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
31–40 of 70 posts
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#32You will probably find people to give you better advices at Betahaus in Kreuzberg.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One thing in Berlin ist crucial: Social Proof Then work on that. Or try to partner with someone who has that How? Mingle. Go to meetings. Network "horizontally" (in your tech segment) and "vertically" (in your business segment). One way you're not getting that is by being the foreigner just off the plane (or even there for a couple of years) that can't speak German There's actually a funny series of bilingual books…
> One way you're not getting that is by being the foreigner just off the plane (or even there for a couple of years) that can't speak German So, like most people in the Berlin startup scene?
;)
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#34Please don't waste your time pitching to investors in this position in Berlin. If you make X "Very interesting. Let's keep in touch and come back when you make 5 * X EUR revenue." And if make X >= 100.000 EUR revenue per month, then you most likely don't need 50-75K. One thing in Berlin ist crucial: Social Proof. If you have it, you can raise 5 Mio EUR with basically zero traction and if you don't have it, it will be…
Really? Then the whole seed funding must make no sense to you, mustn't it? ;-)
It makes a lot of sense for people with Social Proof.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One thing in Berlin ist crucial: Social Proof Then work on that. Or try to partner with someone who has that How? Mingle. Go to meetings. Network "horizontally" (in your tech segment) and "vertically" (in your business segment). One way you're not getting that is by being the foreigner just off the plane (or even there for a couple of years) that can't speak German There's actually a funny series of bilingual books…
> Then work on that. I disagree. If you don't already have Social Proof, then it takes a big investment to try getting it. I believe for 99% of all startup teams, the time is better spent by working on your product or acquiring customers. Networking is not working. I have seen so many startups in Berlin, who had a good shot of making it, but who wasted time in "fundraising" or "networking" and therefore killed their…
> Networking is not working. I have seen so many startups in Berlin, who had a good shot of making it, but who wasted time in "fundraising" or "networking" and therefore killed their business.
You're right. But even for a technical person, spending "24h" coding is too much
But ideally one person would be dedicated to coding, another, to the business/financial/fundraising side
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#36Please don't waste your time pitching to investors in this position in Berlin. If you make X "Very interesting. Let's keep in touch and come back when you make 5 * X EUR revenue." And if make X >= 100.000 EUR revenue per month, then you most likely don't need 50-75K. One thing in Berlin ist crucial: Social Proof. If you have it, you can raise 5 Mio EUR with basically zero traction and if you don't have it, it will be…
Oh funny. Just like in Northern Europe (Finland).
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know why this is downvoted when it's got a valid answer in it: strangers tend not to be good for getting investments that size. Either crowdfund or get friends & family to invest.
50% of people, in the US at least, have less than $1000 in savings. They don't have $10,000 to put into your startup.
Welp, then you oviously have talk to the other 50%!
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#38Hanging out at co-working spaces, incubators, startup meetups/tech meetups can often be a good place to start, regardless of local.
I found that a huge waste of time. Most of the time you'll meet people with the same problems as you have (not having the capacity nor the network to help you out). I would try to network directly through people and get as much warm intros as possible. If you can't get an intro to business angels, start with intros to CEOs, if you can't get that, start by climbing up the tree. If that means to start with "cold calls/mails"... then this is how you have to start. Just make it happen.
EDIT: I spent my last year on Berlin meetups and i consider myself as pretty outgoing, eloquent and we've traction. But it simply was not worth my time.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#39Don't know about Berlin, but Munich/Bavaria has a pool of angels and family offices that they could connect you with: http://www.baystartup.de/finanzierungs-netzwerk/finanzierung...
I assume there's something like that in Berlin as well?
Disclaimer: have not tried this myself, no idea about the time needed or success probability.
Re: Ask HN: How can I get investor intros in Berlin?
#40[deleted]