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Startup Tour @Axel Springer Plug & Play

Berlin, November 2013

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Very

warm

Welcome

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Intro Gunnar

Founder and former CEO of twago.com

Consulting (startups, business models, strategy, market places etc)

Mentoring Axel Springer Plug&Play

Preparing „the next big thing“

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twago ...

... is the #1 European marketplace for cloud working –we democratize the world of working

... focusses on everything which can be done online from anywhere in the world

… eliminates geographical boarders for contract work

… provides small medium businesses access to more than 190,000 freelancers and experts in the cloud from 189 countries – they realize 24/7 the 23.000+ client ideas

... contractors offer a wide range of online skills - from websites, online shops, mobile, logo- and graphic design to marketing, translations or writing

... has currently a clear focus on Europe with 7 local versions,local native experts

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30 out of 100 working people will work online as freelancer.

They need jobs!

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twago is the Wirtschaftswunder for freelancers worldwide

More jobs

More income

Growth

Safety

Less admin hassle

It is time to pay attention to Germany’s new Wirtschaftswunder.

about the German economy

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For customers: Get results easier and faster for half of the costs - The twago way saves time and money

Before Today

Time savings: about -50%

Cost savings: up to -70%

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Marc Andreesen

„If you turn toprofitability too early, you might end up as a small company!“

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Scaling is a mind game

• Manual work kills scale

• Invest in automation and processes (I know, I know)

• Working with templates (SEM landigpages, etc.)

• If you wonna go global, havethe option to quickly adddifferent languages

• Avoid local adaptions

and ...

Never lean back0

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twago has successfully monetized the world of work: We combine trans-action fees with established subscription model with recurring revenues

Transaction model

Memberships with recurring revenues (Freemium Model)

5€ - 79€ value add features such as highlighting of projects or projects with NDA

Highest priced in industry

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We changed major topics

To...From...

OutsourcingOffshoring

Combined Marketplaceand Memberships

Marketplace only

Focus on core countriesAll countries immediately

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TeambuildingHire only team members which make you better, not bigger

• Hire only team members which make you better rather than bigger

• Use the methods of headhunters: LinkedIN and Xing

• Create entrepreneurs – make them responsible

• Enable them to take decisions!

• Keep your risk under control: Use interns and trainees

• Min. duration = 6 months

• Really good people = high salaries, compensate with equity,

• Make a cut if it doesn’t work

• Invest your time: Coaching, coaching, coaching

• Celebrate!

Start Now

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Don‘t be afraid of paying high salaries for GREAT people –it‘s worth it

My Salary Best Employee

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Create a unique company cultureYour team must love to work with you and for you

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Have fun

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Friday lunch all together

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Impressive press coverage with more than 600 positive clippings helps us on the way to a global leader

“In countries like Italy, Portugal, Spain and, increasingly, France, where ongoing austerity measures and a tough business climate are having a devastating impact on permanent employment, it’s really encouraging to see Twago growing in these markets” (Top French Tech Blog ,31.01.2013)

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Journalists and our users selected twago several times for awards

Source: Voting for TheEuropas Award (techcrunch), TheNextWeb, Wirtschaftswoche et.al.

We are honored to have an award winning team

Mass media loves us: hundreds of articles worldwide

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Do not start with 3 people overhead – Co-founders should be nerds!

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Non experienced guys might lead to wrong setup and missing speed later

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Don‘t be afraid of the holy cows – Be faster with the B-players

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Stay flexible and ...

... adapt to customerneeds and learnings

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We changed major topics

To...From...

OutsourcingOffshoring

Combined Marketplaceand Memberships

Marketplace only

Focus on core countriesAll countries immediately

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Work on the most important topics which solve your problem (recurrings)

Put more resources on it

Courage for more own ideas

Have great people – no divas

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Building the product – We eat our own food

Product specification:

Spec. Homepage-Design:

Coding:

Translations:

Branding/Name:

Design of Webseite:

Design of Company Logo:

(Internally)

Germany

Russia

Switzerland

USA

Canada

Philipines

twago made use of outsourcing and offshoring:

twago successfully showed the „proof of concept“ –Huge chance for all startups

Which experts to choose depends on

your requirements

expertise

Savings roughly 60%

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Measure

Think

Analyze

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Analyze, analyze, analyze:Measure – think – change!

Key drivers

Traffic and customer behaviour

Conversion tests (A/B)

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Few words: Focus „Clean“ Build trust:

Verisign Logo, Phone number, green bulltes

Reduce exit-options

Improvements New DesignOld Design

Quelle: twago

Landing Page Test optimized conversion rates and reduces useracquisition costs significantly

Landing Page A/B Test

3%* 20%*

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Funding is very time consuming

Ask for enough money

Include buffer in your business planning

Avoid too many rounds

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Raising Capital – Welcome to lemming country• The right target group – VCs, Angels, Family

offices, Strategic investors

• How much? Not 1.0 Mio.!

• If you have one, you have many

• Expect stupid VCs

• Contact them en-block – everybody at the same time, not sequentially

• Don‘t use „businessplan@earlybird.com“

• The market is setting your price, not the VC valuation method

• Create and show your BATNA (best alternative to negotiated agreement)

• You can be peer to everybody

• Everything takes longer, expect 6-9 months

• Don’t over optimize the percentages

• It’s over when it’s over

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Expect the unexpected

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Thanks and feel free to follow me...

www.facebook.com/gunnarberning

www.twitter.com/gunnarberning

or email me: Gunnar.Berning@gmail.com