1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Roman Kikta, Managing Partner at Mobility Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: A lot of entrepreneurs look for product-market fit. We also want investor-entrepreneur fit. It needs to happen for a deal to happen. The reason that I’m asking you all these questions about stage, geography, and styles of companies is that they are relevant to getting an investor-entrepreneur fit.

There is also this unfair advantage. If you can, as an entrepreneur, connect with an investor who also has an unfair advantage in the domain that you are working on, that is a multiplier. 

Roman Kikta: You have a great platform for entrepreneurs. There are great platforms all over the world. For several years, I’ve participated in an event called Slush that takes place in Helsinki. It’s an event that attracts 20,000 people. You have a couple of thousand VCs from all over the world and then you have thousands of startups from Africa, Russia, the US, and Europe.

There are a lot of events like that which become useful to VCs in sourcing these new opportunities. It’s also a place for collaboration. You have a great platform that promotes that collaboration. I believe that when you have entrepreneurs that come together, great things happen. 

Sramana Mitra: Further double-clicking down on the investor-fit question around the stage, to write a $100,000 check, what do you want to see in that company? Do you want the product already built? Do you want paying customers? What is it that you want to see?

Roman Kikta: It’s about a couple of things. It’s about the value proposition that is created by the entrepreneurs. Have they done their homework? Do they know what that value proposition is? What role will they play in the marketplace? How good are they? How conscientious are they?

It’s not enough to have a great vision; it’s also about execution. We look at the individual and we look at the overall viability of that vision. We do a lot of market validation. We know who to call and talk to for seeing how this opportunity would be placed in the marketplace.

It’s all about understanding that ecosystem. When I’m investing $100,000, I make those bets to see if this can happen.

Sramana Mitra: Let me make sure that I understand this. You want to understand the investment thesis of the entrepreneurs as well as the ecosystem. You want to understand why this company thinks that it can win based on a certain value proposition and a certain competitive landscape, but I’m not hearing you say that you want the product ready. You are not necessarily asking for paying customers, is that correct? 

Roman Kikta: That’s correct. I’ve backed up companies early on with individuals that had nothing but a PowerPoint presentation and a vision. We helped build companies around them. Indoor Atlas is a case in point. Federal Metrics is another one.

Indoor Atlas is a tech company that came out of a university in Northern Finland. It was created by a research professor and his students. We built a company around that and we have done that many times over. That’s what we do. Other investors have other criteria. They want to see paying customers and the technology developed where they are not taking a technology development risk.

I do not take market risks, but I do look at tech development. I work with people who are looking to create disruption. The market has to be there. That is a real challenge. 

This segment is part 3 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Roman Kikta, Managing Partner at Mobility Ventures
1 2 3 4