Stardoll for Little Girls: Mattias Miksche (Part 3)

SM: What stage are you at now? Revenue? Profitability? Traffic? Customers? Users? Advertisers? Any other metrics you track?

MM: We do not comment on our financials. We’re over 7 million uniques a month today and hope to be in the double digits soon. We’re over 2 million uniques in the U.S and over a million in the U.K.

SM: How did you finance the different phases of the company?

MM: We have VC financing – Index Ventures and Sequoia Capital.

SM: What financing stage are you at right now? Will you be raising more money? What timeframe? What is your ideal investor?

MM: We are not raising another round and we’re fortunate to already have the ideal investors on board. Their insights and networks are invaluable, especially for a Scandinavian company like ourselves, far from the epicenter of Silicon Valley.

SM: Describe some of your team building experiences. Is your management team complete now?

MM: We have been very very product-oriented from the start; hiring female illustrators, female designers and female product & project managers alongside the (male-dominated) development team. We’re never complete and are now looking to expand further on the sales and bizdev side.

SM: What is your growth strategy?

MM: Keep building a product the users love!

SM: What are your thoughts about exit?

MM: As long as we’re meeting the demands of our audience, I think we’re building value in the company. Fortunately, I have investors who are way better than myself in determining if, when, where and how an exit might happen. I focus on building the product and the company.

SM: What are some of your key learnings from this journey so far?

MM: As usual: do not underestimate the user – even if they love pink and are 11 years old.
Stay true to your vision – users appreciate something unique. I’d rather build something smaller and unique than build a me-too product. Succeeding in selling virtual items takes a lot of skill.

SM: Cool story, Mattias!

This segment is part 3 in the series : Stardoll for Little Girls: Mattias Miksche
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