Tag Archives: Stubbs Alderton

Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interview With Vaughn Blake of Blue Bear Capital

Join us to listen to Vaughn Blake of Blue Bear Capital speak about the Blue Bear’s investment thesis, current investment climate, startup advice and more. Company founders will have the opportunity to ask the investor questions at the end of the webinar.

Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interview

Featuring Vaughn Blake of Blue Bear Capital

Wednesday, April 21st, 2021

12:00 – 1:15 pm

 

Vaughn Blake

 

About Vaughn Blake

Vaughn Blake is a partner at Blue Bear Capital, a venture and growth equity firm focused on data-driven solutions across energy, infrastructure and climate. Prior to joining Blue Bear, he led manager selection across venture and hedge fund strategies for a Southern California family office and was the founder and managing director of Autochrome Ventures, a frontier-technology focused venture fund. He holds board positions at Emerge, Transect, Mira and First Resonance. He is a graduate of Colorado College.

 

About Blue Bear Capital

Blue Bear is backed by private equity investors, entrepreneurs and technical operators who have spent their careers in the energy and technology industries. We are committed to helping entrepreneurs execute on this historic opportunity.

 

About the Organizer of Investor 360

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is a business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, intellectual property, brand protection and business litigation practice groups focusing on the representation of, among others, venture backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent the full spectrum of Southern California business with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. Our mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of our Firm.

 

Register here for Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interviews featuring Vaughn Blake of Blue Bear Capital

Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interview With Joshua Posamentier Of Congruent Ventures

Join us to listen to Joshua Posamentier of Congruent Ventures speak about the Congruent’s investment thesis, current investment climate, startup advice and more. Company founders will have the opportunity to ask the investor questions at the end of the webinar.

Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interview

Featuring Joshua Posamentier of Congruent Ventures

Wednesday, March 17th, 2021

12:00 – 1:15 pm

 

Joshua Posamentier

About Joshua Posamentier

Joshua Posamentier is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Congruent Ventures. Joshua oversees Congruent’s investments in PolySpectra, Sense Photonics, Energetic Insurance, TeleSense, Bellwether Coffee, Xtelligent, ArcByt, Fox Robotics, and Emergy Labs. He has rich experience in venture (Prelude Ventures, Intel Capital) and operating roles (Intel, National Semi, TI), and entrepreneurship (CEO of Blipstream). He was an integral member of Intel’s first wireless chip team, started and ran National Semiconductor’s EV, Energy Storage and Smart Grid business units and initiated investment in several new business lines. Joshua has over 50 patents issued or pending, holds a BA in physics from the University California at Berkeley, and holds MBAs from the Columbia Business School and the Haas School of Business. Josh is an avid cyclist, skier, sailor, surfer, and photographer and lives with his family in the SF Bay Area.

 

About Congruent Ventures

Congruent Ventures partners with entrepreneurs to build companies addressing sustainability challenges, investing early across hardware, software, enterprise, consumer, deep technology, fin-tech, and business model innovation.

About the Organizer of Investor 360

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is a business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, intellectual property, brand protection and business litigation practice groups focusing on the representation of, among others, venture backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent the full spectrum of Southern California business with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. Our mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of our Firm.

 

Register here for Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interviews featuring Joshua Posamentier of Congruent Ventures

Preccelerator® U Presents: Financial Modeling & Fundraising with Mark Wald

Mark Wald, owner of Supporting Strategies Santa Monica, will deliver this casual talk and combine it with a Q&A.

To attract professional investor capital, you need to be in control of your financials and projections.

Every entrepreneur looking to expand their business should join us for this workshop by one of the leading financial accounting firms in town, Supporting Strategies Santa Monica. Over a 90-minute workshop you can expect to get a glimpse into the following.

Financial Modeling & Fundraising for Startups

Raising money? To understand the value of what they are getting, investors want to maximize their return and minimize their risk. You need to demonstrate to investors that you understand business and your business model, that you know how to make money, and that you can be trusted to deliver results. Learn how to build and understand your financial model so you can demonstrate credibility by presenting it to investors and win their confidence in you.

KPIs and How to Use Them

A Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively an organization is achieving key business objectives. Learn how to identify and track the most important KPIs for your business, and why it is important.

Tuesday, November 10th, 2020
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Presented by:

Mark Wald, owner of Supporting Strategies Santa Monica

About Mark:

Mark is an innovative problem solver who values simplicity, efficiency, and collaboration between people and organizations. Raised in the heart of Silicon Valley by a family of engineers, Mark has an intuitive curiosity and innate ability to understand and enhance disruptive business models. Since earning a BA in Economics from UCLA he has developed an extensive background in accounting, reporting, complex financial modeling, data analytics, and computer programming across a myriad of businesses and industries.

Mark actively volunteers his time as a mentor and advisor to entrepreneurs, is a USC and UCLA guest lecturer on the subject of financial modeling for start-ups, owns and operates a business providing finance and accounting resources and leadership to startups and small businesses, and is cofounder of a SaaS company offering cloud-based financial modeling tools for early stage entrepreneurs.

 

Register here for Preccelerator® U: Financial Modeling & Fundraising with Mark Wald

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles invites you to Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interviews

Join us to listen to Michael Rotgin speak about Shelter’s program, investment thesis, current investment climate, startup advice and more. Company founders will have the opportunity to ask the investor questions at the end of the webinar.

Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interviews

Featuring Michael Rotgin of Shelter Capital

Wednesday, October 21st, 2020

12:00 – 1:15 pm

About Michael Rotgin

Michael Rotgin is a Partner at Shelter Capital focusing on venture capital investments.

Prior to joining Shelter Capital, Mr. Rotgin was a principal at Rolling Oaks Capital.  Before joining Rolling Oaks, Mr. Rotgin practiced corporate law in New York and Washington, D.C.  Michael has worked for several members of Congress, was a staff member to the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and served as a team member of the economics cluster for a United States Presidential transition team.

He has served on the boards of directors of, and in advisory roles to, numerous companies, investment firms, and non-profit organizations.  In his various capacities, Mr. Rotgin has assisted many developing and established companies in formulating and executing all types of business strategies in the areas of corporate operations, financial planning, executive recruitment, market development, corporate valuations, securing funds, mergers and acquisitions, and public and private offerings.

Mr. Rotgin has been an invited speaker and participant in venture capital industry symposia and has been a judge for university business plan competitions.  Mr. Rotgin received a Bachelor of Science in economics with a concentration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Arts in history from the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center.

About Shelter Capital

Shelter Capital Partners is a Southern California based private investment fund, focused on investments in technology and technology-enabled companies at all stages of development, principally in the education, workforce, healthcare and media industries. We also invest in other areas where market or technological changes are creating opportunities for new industry leaders.

About the Organizer of Investor 360

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is a business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, intellectual property, brand protection and business litigation practice groups focusing on the representation of, among others, venture backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent the full spectrum of Southern California business with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. Our mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of our Firm.

Register here for Investor 360: Monthly Investor Roundtable Interviews featuring Michael Rotgin of Shelter Capital

Los Angeles County’s Eviction Moratorium/Rent Deferment Order

On April 14, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors amended its March 19 order that mandated an eviction moratorium on both residential and commercial tenants and gave defaulting tenants the ability to defer rental payments that become due through May 31, 2020 for months.

(March 19: https://covid19.lacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/19032020HP_MFP_M577143825.pdf; April 14: http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/145198.pdf#search=%22moratorium%20eviction%22.)

Specifically, the April 14 amendment expands coverage of the March 19 order to all cities in Los Angeles County that have not enacted their own eviction moratorium/rent deferment order and mobile home parks who rent space to mobile homeowners, in addition to the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County that the March 19 order initially covered.  Thus, cities within Los Angeles County who have enacted their own order, like the City of Los Angeles, do not fall under the Los Angeles County order.

Critically, while Los Angeles County’s order initially required defaulting commercial and residential tenants to demonstrate an inability to pay rent and/or related charges due to “financial impacts” related to COVID-19 in order to not be evicted for nonpayment of rent, the April 14 amendment provides that both commercial and residential tenants may “self-certify” their inability to pay as a result of “financial impacts,” and requires landlords to accept such self-certification.  Tenants must still provide notice to their landlords of their inability to pay within 7 days of the due date.

“Financial impacts” include “substantial loss of household income due to business closure, loss of compensable hours of work or wages, layoffs, or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses” that are “related to COVID-19” (i.e. if it is a result of any of the following: (1) diagnosed with COVID-19, or caring for a household or family member who is diagnosed with COVID-19; (2) layoff, loss of hours, or other income reduction resulting from business closure or other economic or employer impacts of COVID-19; (3) compliance with a recommendation from the County’s Health Officer to stay home, self-quarantine, or avoid congregating with others during the state of emergency; (4) extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses related to diagnosis and testing for and/or treatment of COVID-19; or (5) child care needs arising from school closures related to COVID-19).

Los Angeles County’s order as amended also prohibits both residential and commercial evictions based on the presence of unauthorized occupants, pets, or nuisance necessitated by or related to COVID-19.  Further, the April 14 amendment extends a defaulting tenant’s time to pay back the deferred rental payments from 6 months after the expiration of the moratorium period (which is currently set for May 31, 2020 but may be extended) to 12 months.

It is worth reiterating that if a city within Los Angeles County has enacted its own order, then that order would apply over Los Angeles County’s.  It is thus crucial for landlords and tenants alike to familiarize themselves with the order that is applicable to their location, as the vast majority of cities both inside and outside of Los Angeles County, as well as other counties themselves, do not allow for similar “self-certification,” and instead require a defaulting tenant to “demonstrate” or “show” an inability to pay rent due to COVID-19.  When such demonstration or showing is required, tenants should be prepared to provide some form of supporting documentation, which might include bank statements, financial statements, accounts payable/receivable, or any other reasonable documentation.  Given a lack of guidance on what constitutes sufficient supporting documentation, tenants should immediately begin the process of negotiating with their landlords to determine the supporting documentation that will be provided.

In sum, municipal eviction moratorium/rent deferment orders may differ from Los Angeles County’s order by: (a) excluding commercial tenants, or certain commercial tenants, from protection; (b) providing alternative timeframes for notifying landlords of an inability to pay or for making deferred rent payments once the applicable order or the COVID-19 emergency period expires; and (c) requiring a demonstration or showing of an inability to pay because of COVID-19.

For instance, while the City of Los Angeles’ eviction moratorium/rent deferment order also covers both residential and commercial tenants, it: (a) does not extend protections to commercial tenants that are publicly traded companies, transnational companies, or companies with over 500 employees; (b) only grants defaulting commercial tenants a 3 month window after the emergency period to make up deferred payments (defaulting residential tenants have a 12 month window); and (c) was revised to not require defaulting tenants to “show” an inability to pay rent for reasons related to COVID-19; however, it also does not provide for self-certification – whether and to what degree tenants will need to substantiate an inability to pay because of COVID-19 under this order is thus unclear at this time.  (LA City’s Order: http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2020/20-0147-S19_ORD_186585_03-31-2020.pdf.)

In light of the foregoing, all tenants (and to the extent applicable, landlords) should immediately:

  • Familiarize themselves with their applicable order, specifically the notice requirement and deferment periods;
  • If the applicable order so requires, be prepared to provide documentation demonstrating an inability to pay because of COVID-19; and
  • Understand that you will need to pay any deferred rent eventually, so start the conversation with your landlord as soon as possible to work out an agreement.

Preccelerator COVID-19 Resource Center
https://preccelerator.com/category/covid-19-resources/

SA&M authors:

Garett Hill

Jeff Gersh

For more information on these matters, please contact our COVID-19 Task Force at info@stubbsalderton.com or one of our attorneys at SA&M.

You’re Invited To “How I Got Funded” Presented By Pasadena Angels And Stubbs Alderton & Markiles

“How I Got Funded”
Presented by Pasadena Angels in partnership with Stubbs Alderton & Markiles

Wednesday, April 3, 2019
6:30PM-8: 30 PM

SA&M Preccelerator
1316 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 107
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Launching your start-up requires more than grit, determination and a great idea. A successful start-up requires funding, mentoring and strong community partnerships. Join us for our panel discussion with Pasadena Angels’ funded companies and learn how leveraging relationships, laser-focused presentations and perseverance got them over $2M dollars in funding from one of Forbes top 10 angel groups. Moderated by Scott Alderton.

Network with Pasadena Angels investors, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, fellow entrepreneurs.

Moderator:

Scott Alderton of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles

Panelists:

Danielle Cocanoupherhttps://www.mylabbox.com/

Phoenix Gonzalez: https://www.dotstudiopro.com/

Brian Nickersonhttps://www.magiclinks.org/

Food & Beverages will be served. Limited seating

About Pasadena Angels
Pasadena Angels: http://pasadenaangels.com/
The Pasadena Angels is Southern California’s most respected and connected group of accredited investors, ranked one of the top ten angel groups in the US by Forbes in 2015 , 2018 and Angel Research Institute in 2017. We invested more than $80 million dollars of early-stage capital in over 210 companies. Pasadena Angels funded companies have gone on to raise over $1 Billion from additional funding sources such as venture capital and private equity. Twitter: @pasadenaangels / Instagram: @pasadenaangels / FaceBook: @pasadenaangels

About Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP
With robust corporate, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and emerging growth, business litigation, public securities, entertainment, and intellectual property practices, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles’ attorneys assist clients with virtually every legal issue a business or an individual may face. Since its inception in 2002, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP has worked alongside innovators and leaders of businesses large and small whose ideas are world changing. Our firm takes the long-term approach to our relationship with clients, partnering with them all along their evolutionary path, from idea to growth to exit, or whatever their future may hold. Our mission is, and has always been, to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business advisory perspective.

Twitter: @StubbsAlderton / FaceBook: @StubbsAldertonMarkiles

SA&M Preccelerator® Announces Addition of $50,000 Cash and Services Investment to Program Offerings

Preccelerator

The Preccelerator® has added a cash component and legal services to its already robust package of offerings for early-stage startups

LOS ANGELES, Calif., November 8th, 2018 (Newswire.com) – The Preccelerator® Program, an early-stage startup accelerator focused on technology and digital media companies, announced today that, with its next class starting in January 2019, it will provide an unrestricted cash investment of $25,000 to each participant company, and will add to the already robust perks package $25,000 in legal services from Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP. The addition of the investment and services demonstrates a continued commitment to the Los Angeles tech community by Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP and the Preccelerator.

The cash investment and additional services will go into effect for Class 11 companies, with the class beginning on January 7th, 2019. The application period has been reopened for any founders interested in submitting their companies for review. The application deadline is December 4, 2018. You may submit your company application at www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

This announcement comes a few months after the expansion to the new Preccelerator office, located at 1316 3rd Street Promenade, which both increased the co-working space for in-house companies and increased event space. The Preccelerator remains strategically in the heart of Santa Monica to provide a technology hub that is close to many valuable educational and networking events, tech culture and other resources to facilitate company growth.

In 2012, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles launched the first-of-its-kind Preccelerator® Program to provide select start-ups with co-working space, mentorship, sophisticated legal services, curriculum and access to a strategic perks portfolio with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to a funded company. Over the past six years, 39 companies have graduated the Program, 27 of which have received funding, totaling over $12.5M in the aggregate.

Scott Alderton, managing Partner of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and Chairman of the Preccelerator commented, “An investment component is a natural outgrowth to the already robust package we offer participating companies in the Preccelerator, and frankly, is long overdue. We continue to evaluate ways we can serve the technology community and obviously a cash investment goes a long way towards the likelihood that participants in the Preccelerator will ultimately raise a significant round and become successful. The success we are seeing in the Program gives us great confidence, so we are doubling down on our commitment.”

About Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is a Southern California-based business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, intellectual property and business litigation practice groups focusing on the representation of, among others, venture- backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent a broad range of industries with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. The firm’s mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of the firm. For more information, visit http://stubbsalderton.com.

About the Preccelerator® Program
The Preccelerator® is a novel platform offered to select start-up companies out of
the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP Santa Monica office that provides interim office space, sophisticated legal services, education, networking, mentorship and $450,000 in usable perks from Google Cloud for Startups, Amazon Web Services, and HubSpot among others, with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to funded startup. The program also retains more than 100 active strategic mentors providing free office hours and discounted services, and provides over 75-plus educational workshops and networking events each year. The Program expanded in 2017 to accept a greater number of companies in more formalized classes, depending upon where the companies are in their evolutionary growth, and expanded benefits to accepted companies. To apply to the Preccelerator, visit www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

To read the full press release, click here.

Contact:
Heidi Hubbeling
Chief Operating Officer, Preccelerator® Program
hhubbeling@stubbsalderton.com
310-746-9803

Preccelerator Alumni Company Napkin Finance Partnered with JP Morgan Chase Bank

 Napkin FinanceCongratulations to Preccelerator alumni company founder Tina Hay on their recent partnership with JP Morgan Chase Bank to provide insight into topics like determining your risk tolerance, diversification, and rebalancing your portfolio.

You can check out the financial literacy campaign here.

We’re very proud of your success!

About Napkin FInance
“Everything about money in 30 seconds or less.”™ Napkin Finance is a multimedia company that grew out of their own needs for a better way to learn and understand finance. They developed their platform as a quick and easy resource on everything you need to know about money in 30 seconds or less. Napkin Finance’s mission is to empower their readers to manage their money and understand basic financial concepts in a simple, fun and engaging way.
For more information about Napkin Finance, visit www.napkinfinance.com

For more about the Preccelerator® Program or to apply,  contact Heidi Hubbeling, COO at (310) 746-9803 or hhubbeling@stubbsalderton.com

Startup Superhero Video Series! – This Week Featuring Preccelerator Mentor Mark Wald on “Mentor Partnerships & Financial Modeling with BallParq.io”

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and the Preccelerator Program are proud to announce the launch of their Startup Superhero Video Series – featuring SA&M Attorneys, Preccelerator Mentors, and entrepreneurs on topics specific to entrepreneurship and lessons learned throughout the journey.

This week we’re featuring Preccelerator Mentor Mark Wald as he talks about “Mentor Partnership & Financial Modeling with BallParq.io.”

Mark is an innovative problem solver who values simplicity, efficiency, and collaboration between people and organizations, with strong experience in financial modeling and data analytics to inform and support quick decisions on complex issues. Specific experience developing, deploying, and supporting new technologies to thousands of retail locations using 3rd party logistics and service providers.  Professional specialties: Financial strategy & fundraising, sourcing business opportunities, conserving resources, enabling people, satisfying customers, analyzing complex data.

 

_______________________

To learn more about the Preccelerator Program, contact Heidi Hubbeling at hhubbeling@stubbsalderton.com

Startup Superhero Video Series! – This Week Featuring Preccelerator Mentor Andrey Kudievskiy on “Startup Teams & Tech”

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and the Preccelerator Program are proud to announce the launch of their Startup Superhero Video Series – featuring SA&M Attorneys, Preccelerator Mentors, and entrepreneurs on topics specific to entrepreneurship and lessons learned throughout the journey.

This week we’re featuring Preccelerator Mentor Andrey Kudievskiy as he talks about “Startup Teams & Tech.”

IT executive, Serial entrepreneur, CEO and Founder at Distillery.com, and named one of the 25 Inspiring Entrepreneurs to Watch in 2017 by Inc. Magazine.  Andrey Kudievskiy started his career in tech at the age of 19 while working on his degree in computer science. Within five years Andrey had established his first company and played a key role in creating a successful cloud synchronization startup that was sold to a Fortune 500 company. A serial entrepreneur and talented developer in his own right, he is currently focused on enabling other entrepreneurs to build businesses and continuing Distillery’s expansion in the U.S. and international markets.

__________________________

Transcript

 

Speaker: Andrey Kudievskiy

Moderator: Heidi Hubbeling

Startup Superhero Series Featuring Andrey Kudievskiy on “Startup Teams & Tech”

Heidi: Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background and a little bit about Distillery.

Andrey: Absolutely! Distillery is a full-service software development company located here in Santa Monica. We like working with startups as well as enterprise clients. Now we are focusing on stack technology design and development. A little bit about myself, you can tell by my accent, that I came from Russia. Just a few years ago, not knowing anyone here in the States, I had a burning desire to build a business and to help other companies succeed in the area where I have a lot of knowledge and assist in technology. That’s how Distillery started  – and so far, we have been successful. This year we got on the Inc. 5000 list for the fastest growing companies in North America. I hope that we position ourselves for the next year as well.

Heidi: Congratulations on that, that’s a huge honor! You are one of the mentors of the program and Distillery, in the Los Angeles tech scene, is one of the premier agencies for startups. What do you like most of working with startups? I know you are one of the mentors of program. Distillery is one of the most well-respected agencies in Los Angeles and you work with a lot of entrepreneurs. What do you like most?

Andrey: Sure, I like working with startups because you can quickly see the value of the work you do. You can see the results of your work. When you meet someone, let’s say your friend on the street and you ask them to “hey can you show me your phone” and see the application I have developed and you can say “wow!” That is just pure happiness. That is when I feel my life is accomplished. Versus working with enterprises when you can work with them for years and years for one of the projects. When it’s released its just a small part of something huge, you don’t really feel like you’ve contributed enough.

Heidi: It doesn’t feel as impactful. When you work with younger stage startup you feel like you become part of their team. On that note, some of the advice that you give with startups. What advice do you give them when they are selecting a stack? What kind of stack do they need to select to be most successful?

Andrey: For technology stack as startups, what I like to say is that they don’t need to overthink it. All the companies who try to build something big in the beginning they go all in. They don’t test the market. They don’t really know what it is. It’s rather important to release something, test the market, see if people use it and then adjust as needed. When people do something enterprise scale for a startup, they spend months and months for development and end up being behind the time curve. So, they are late to the market. We try to build something at a scale you need right now. Something small, go to the market test it. Do the alpha version, the beta version do the public release later. Then at the end when you see that your idea is valuable, its fine to go and rebuild some of the parts. You will lose 50% of your time on building something with the right technology stack, but then this product will do better in the market.

Heidi: What are some of the pros and cons of hiring an internal vertical team versus hiring a team like Distillery, an outside tech team?

Andrey: I think the ideal scenario is when there is a ­­­combination. A tech team that will help you on stuff and you have an extension. A company like Distillery who would just help you move faster. When you don’t have enough resources, you cannot move fast enough or maybe some parts of the projects are simply outside of your core expertise. That’s when bringing an agency would be meaningful. It would help you. Outsourcing everything and giving control to an agency doesn’t seem right to me.

Heidi: I think so, because when you outsource without having a technical strategist that is overseeing development internally. If you don’t have that person that is vested in your idea and you fully outsource then you just have somebody whose just project-based developing it. When they’re done, they walk away from the project and walk away from your idea.

Andrey: You must have a vision. You must be able to provide a clear direction. Of course, the digital part of it that you choose. They need to be comfortable adding something to your idea. Advising, according to their expertise what to do and what not to do. At the same time, I feel that getting a technical co-founder for the team really does miracles.

Heidi: Absolutely, so let’s go back to the Preccelerator a little bit. Not to be self-serving, but we really appreciate you as a mentor and you’ve provided great value thus far with your mentorship. What are some of your favorite things about working with the Preccelerator and working with our companies.

Andrey: Well, first thank you so much for having me. The Preccelerator is an amazing group of people and amazing group of potentially big startups and companies, that I see will really grow. To me the value is talking to those young entrepreneurs, seeing them to be in my shoes 5 years ago maybe three years ago depends on how fast they will grow. And exchange knowledge, bounce some ideas around. I also like helping people. That keeps me motivated. When I see that I prevented one person from making the same mistake that I made 5 years ago. That’s the best I can do.

Heidi: I think that’s the definition of true wisdom. When companies take advice from somebody that has already been through that cycle, through that path. Rather than making those mistakes on their own. That’s very valuable. Appreciate you being here and we will see you all at the next startup superhero series.

Andrey Kudievskiy
Distillery
andrey@distillery.com

 

_____________________

To learn more about the Preccelerator Program, contact Heidi Hubbeling at hhubbeling@stubbsalderton.com