 Hello, wow, this is a rush because I'm here to talk about a big passion of mine Well, I have multiple but it is about growth. It is about growing people and growing businesses and When you grow businesses and grow people you need money, right? So I come now from a long career in finance And now actually also as a CEO and I'm here to share with you some of my Experiences and some thoughts and I hope that some of my experiences or Advice can help you as you think about how to build your business and how to fund that business throughout the way Now I'm looking for a How to Flip my slides, I don't have a Thank you. Thank you Yes, this is me And already I got this great introduction. So you know what I've done I'm also a non-executive board member of a company called fish brain It's also a rapid-growing tech business funded out of Stockholm their main Markets actually in the US. So, you know, my whole career and and passion is about rapid growth and tech companies But before we move into the funding, I wanted to give you some background on really and the really story and Really is the category leader in Europe for digital magazine subscriptions and We currently have around 1 million users in about 50 countries But we have local content from 12 markets. So we're now up to over 7,000 titles we have offices in Stockholm vekker Berlin London and lately also Paris actually because we recently acquired a French business so that's all very exciting and This is the really story the growth business it was founded by a serial entrepreneur called Joel Viquel and He got this idea When he was on vacation in Cyprus. He was by the poolside and he was Getting frustrated because he had run through all the magazines he brought with him Many of us at least I do tend to read a lot of magazines when I have time off And he was listening to music on his mobile and he was like I won a spotify for magazines Why why can't I access all the content? I want in my pocket But being a serial entrepreneur and successful founder of several tech companies before that he just went home and he built the thing and Then he launched Ridley in 2012 and since then we've grown as I mentioned to 12 markets and with a lot of amazing content from 1200 publishers and 1 million users and people in multiple offices and That takes money, right? So you can see here Our story the first time Ridley raised venture capital funding was in 2014 and of course that was a big landmark event for the business And then that gave the company a lot of funds to be able to grow into more markets And then in 2018 was the first institutional investor. It was a robber funds huge Fund institutional investor in Sweden and shortly thereafter we could welcome more institutional investors and Ultimately last year around this time or it was in September I rang the bell for Nasdaq as we IPO'd so that was a massive event, of course And so I mean both at Ridley, you know I have a lot of experience of how to think about or at least how Ridley and other companies that I work for have thought about funding throughout the year and some things to think about there so for Ridley We ended up doing an IPO, but other companies take other types of Roots and the other company that I worked for before I joined Ridley was a company It was called I settle at the time now. It's changed. I'm to settle by PayPal Some of you know that company as well. It was founded out of Stockholm rapidly grew into some 10 12 markets and their business idea when they found it was a very user friendly and Good-looking I might add Device to accept credit card payments on your mobile Which is a great thing for small businesses who can afford or don't want to pay massive amount of money for huge credit card companies So I will talk a little bit about the experiences both from the I settle case and and really So you start up right the startup phase and there are a lot of people contacting me Reaching out to say, you know, I just started my business. How should I think about funding and They reach out to me on LinkedIn or or wherever I go and I I always say Wait, wait for it wait for it You know, it's I know early on especially if you have a great idea that gets a lot of attention And there are a lot of people who are interested in investing in you investing in your idea That you get a bit starstruck and and you want to raise a lot of money because you also want to feel secure Right that you know, you have enough money to grow your business quickly But you need to think about when is the right time to start handing away control? Because that is what will happen as you raise money from outsiders, right? They will take a stake of your business and they want some control then and voting power and So I would really I you know, I at least I recommend that to people ask me Try to wait try to fund it as much as you can as long as you can When it's time to start raising external capital eventually I would also say Try to find the people who want you to succeed, you know angel investors or people in the industry Who have a passion for what you do? You have a shared vision of what you want to achieve in the world So they're not necessarily only doing it to make a buck They're there to make you succeed because they believe in what you do and maybe that can also lend They're a good name to you that can share advice to you that can sit on an advisory board or your board of directors or That can be like a poster name And I see a friend from Icelia. I had to say hi great to see you So That's what I would where I would start and it may not be so easy at first Where do you find these people? Where do you find these names, right? And I actually get a lot of people contacting me through LinkedIn complete strangers Who want to pick my brain who want to buy me a coffee or something? So that's one way to start Can be quite successful Yeah Next slide So now you reach the scale up fails you have a proven product or service You have a business you have a customer or many customers you have a proven demand And now you're just eager to really scale up that business and time to market is critical I've seen several awesome very disruptive ideas and they were just Not fast enough to launch it to market. So they got you know overrun by by others very quickly So so in these situations very natural think I need more money, right? I need to be able to scale up fast Then it's maybe time to start talking to Investors venture capital firms or other large-scale investors Maybe you're talking to some of them here today And then it's really about matchmaking matchmaking is key You should think about it as a marriage Like you're gonna go deep in bed with these people for a long time It may not be a marriage that is supposed to last forever but you should think about it at least for give or take five years and You know when these these investors They are willing to bet on you and your product, but that means they need a high opportunity for a yield back So they they will want a fairly big stake in your business I I imagine and so They're gonna be on your board. They're gonna have a lot of voting power So you really need to think hard and long is this the right match for me? Due to diligence on them try to see if you can talk to Other founders that they have invested in like what's their pet peeves? What's their style? What's their approach? What? How are they to work with you know, will they let the founder? Be quite self-sufficient and make the big decisions or will they get involved in every single detail? Because you need to be Know who you're gonna marry and live with for the next five years. That's what I was gonna say at this stage also I Saw there was a another Leader up here talking about performance metrics how to monitor your performance and Of course, it's very important when you pitch that you can Show them your vision That you have credibility in your track record, but these people Really place a large emphasis also on the business viability the business model Your unit economics is it a sustainable business and You need to be on top of your numbers You really need to be able to spit out the churn and the cake and the LTV and the you know Your forecast by a blink and so I would say that if you are not a numbers person And that's okay, right? We all have different strengths You know you should if you haven't already Hooked up with a CFO or some kind of really kick-ass Business controller somebody's really strong number person, you know, this is time you should do that Both to make sure that your business is running as you hope and plan but also that can pair up with you in investor meetings to be able to give the answers Immediately you cannot sit at a meeting with these investors and and they ask what's your churn and you're like Can I get back to you? That's not gonna fly. So that's very important at this stage Yeah, so hopefully You are able to attract great investors who is a great match for you and your business is continue to take off and then the last sort of Funding type event that I was gonna bring up today is You know either if you do an IPO for example or if you end up in an M&A transaction And it looks very different for everybody by this time some founders may already have left the business Some founders will stick around for another couple of years after the IPO and some will stay long term So it's very different for everybody but if we if we start with The subtle case I settle so this was actually not Meant to be an acquisition up front and it was not a planned dual track Process many companies do a dual track process. What does that mean? That means that you are both Looking for a potential buyer to your business at the same time as you're preparing to go public through an IPO That was not the case here was not a dual track Process until very late stage. I was actually brought on board as a CFO to take the company public And we worked very hard for one and a half year to make the company ready And I think at the end it turned out that PayPal came knocking on the door very late stage and did an accelerated super confidential due diligence and ended up Buying the company. It was only two weeks Before we supposed to ring the bell, you know, I say that every IPO has a defining moment And this was really it when I was at midnight I was sitting at home in my sofa and my suit was hanging there ready pressed because the day after I was gonna Meet investors the final push before the IPO and then I think it was five past midnight The ink was on the paper and the company was sold instead But I think some of the really success factors then Was that we had gone through the process of making the company ready for an IPO So if you look at a company like PayPal, especially US businesses They are quite risk-advert so They actually paid two point two billion dollars for I settle that was eleven times sales So that was a huge That was a huge success and why did they pay this amount of money? Why was he so successful they could they felt that they could trust I settle that the books were in order that it had been managed well that You know the IT controls worked. They tried a hack I settle, you know and things like that to see that You know, we were really on top of the business and they had gone through, you know I said I'm going through Enormous scrutiny by the stock exchange when they do the audit So they felt that they could really trust the business and they were they were willing to pay a premium for that the other thing was that You know I settle had a not a different option, you know two weeks later There was a huge demand It was the IPO of the year that everybody were talking about in all of Europe And we were also over in the US and talk to very interested investors, you know from the West Coast to Midwest to the East Coast So there was a real Option for I set up which gave the sellers a great leverage in those negotiations So there were a lot of factors involved here That made that was I was a great deal When he came to readly that was an IPO process through and through from from day one But getting a company ready for an IPO, you know as a founder or a leader of a business You should be aware that both I set the really any company that want to go public You really need to have good internal controls You need to have you know risk management long-term strategies. You need to have a professional board You need to be able to report your monthly and quarterly earnings Very fast with high quality. So there's a lot of work to get a company ready for that And at the end of the day, we really was approved to go public. We were great So I I walk around say I've done 1.99 IPOs because that's it was almost two But I mean when you also think about IPO you before you press the button you should really think about the afterlife So being a public company, you know has a lot of great advantages Not only are you leaving the bell ringing with the huge pile of money to fund your future growth But it also come with some things like you have to open up your books every quarter You need to maintain investor relations and these policies and procedures and board meetings and stuff. So You know, you're gonna be in the public eye A lot more and have a lot of more things to consider. So when it comes to the M&A track And this is where I think I settle did really well is to think about You know, if if you sell your company High likelihood is you will be locked up for years. They won't want you to leave And maybe you don't want to leave either. Maybe you want to continue to the with the journey So you need to really not just get Dazzled by the pile of money that they want to pay for your business But you need to think about do I have shared values with these people? Do we have shared vision? You know, what will it be like to work with these guys? Will will this be will they make my business more successful will one plus one equal three at the end of the day? Because otherwise it can be a pretty painful experience for the next couple of years if you if you end up selling your company to somebody who is like not on the same page as you and So, you know, I that's something that was very Obvious in the in the PayPal acquisition of I settle I think that those factors were very high on the agenda throughout the discussion So those were some things that I picked up about funding throughout the way wanted to Some other Things to think about when you build your business when you start out think big From day one and what do I mean by that? you know, if you Set up data tracking for example think about you know I'm not just going to manage my three transactions here in Excel sheet You know what kind of things will I want to track when we are a million users instead of three? How can I build my tech so it's scalable so? It's not going to require a complete a refactoring in just a couple of years How will I be able to scale it into more countries? How will I be able to scale my organization? So think really big from day one The other thing is don't be afraid to ask for help my my personal view is that it's a strength to To ask for help and not a weakness. There are so many people out there that have done, you know Have a lot of experience and and and done some mistakes and bumps in the road So, you know take advantage of that and learn from others and build your network I just mentioned LinkedIn. I don't know about you guys, but I find that LinkedIn is really really connecting people today and There are so many people that reach out to me Complete strangers and say, you know, hey, you know, I like what you've done. You've done so much Can I just pick your brain and I can give an example? I actually recently ended up investing in a female founded business startup and She contact me for the first time on LinkedIn. I never met her before we hooked up. We started to talk and and so it can really You know lead to great things A winning culture, what kind of company culture do you want and I Always talk about the second bullet Don't become a bottleneck at the same time because as a founder or owner It's so easy that completely unintentionally you become a bottleneck for the business because Everybody want to come to you for advice to hear your decisions your input your views on everything and Over time, you know, it's easy when you're three or five or even ten people But when you're 50 or a hundred or 200 people You don't want the business to be the pace of the business or the success of the business to be only resting with you You know, you hired a lot of people with great innovative Abilities and and great minds and so I always say try to eliminate yourself and create a culture where people Dare to make a move dare to make decisions and dare to challenge you actually Because I think that way you can really scale your business and it's all about the culture so, I Guess I'm coming to the end of my spiel here. I hope there is something in here that You can take advantage of and so think about dilution hurts You know match making is everything think really hard and long about that You're in it for the long run with these people who want to invest in you want you to succeed But we all know right it. There are a lot of things that has to match not just the size of the ticket and Yeah, it's a ride. It's a lot of adrenaline It's a lot of stress. It's not much sleep But it's fun and I hope you guys will be successful in building your business and funding your business and Reaching your goals and your ambitions. Thank you for listening