Rainmaking goals for 2010
Just finished a great team day in Rainmaking. As part of the day we set goals for the rest of 2010. These included:
- Launch min. 2 new companies in UK
- GreenWire (our new business for recycling of used electronics) to be launched in Germany and Scandinavia
- Min. 2 of the startups who have attended startupbootcamp should be on track to get funding
- Grow customer base by 25% in frokost.dk and get established in Aarhus
- Increase current number of treatments per month in Godt Syn by 1/3
- Have signed deals worth min. £ 100,000 for the new AdPod in Cyclepods
- Raise min. EUR 150,000 in donations through charity dinners in London and Copenhagen
- Raise min. EUR 150,000 in donations through BetterNow
Now it is all about execution.
/Carsten
Looking forward to Startup Weekend
As Rainmaking is co-hosting Startup Weekend throughout the Nordics, Startup Weekend found it interesting to interview Carsten Kølbek about Rainmaking’s involvement. Here is the result:
How have you got interested in Startup Weekend?
We have launched a European accelerator program called startupbootcamp. The critical factor for us is to attract the best European startup teams. When we met Clint Nilsen, one of the founders of startupweekend, we immediately saw this as a great vehicle for getting in contact with hundreds of entrepreneurs across Europe and that is the reason we are now sponsoring and co-arranging startupweekends in Vilnius, Kaunas, Stockholm, Lund, Copenhagen and Oslo.
What do you hope to get from Startup Weekend?
Personally, I hope to have a fun and rewarding weekend where I meet a lot of great people who are enthusiastic about entrepreneurship. From the perspective of Rainmaking, I hope we find one or two great teams who could be candidates for our startupbootcamp program this summer in Copenhagen.
Please, tell prospective participants about yourself and Rainmaking
I am the co-founder of Rainmaking, which is a “startup factory”. We have created 11 companies in 3½ years. Some have failed but fortunately we have also made our first two exits. Currently, our companies have an annual turnover of EUR 20 million. And we employ 60+ people.
God frokostordning styrker medarbejdertilfredsheden
Frokost.dk har i den forgangne uge været i medierne. Denne gang er det erhvervsbladet, 24-timer og P3, der alle har sat fokus på den seneste udvikling indenfor frokostordningen, og dens betydning for medarbejdertilfredsheden.
Mange virksomheder sparer i disse tider frokostordningen væk – en udvikling der ifølge Alexander Kjerulf, som er en af verdens førende eksperter i arbejdsglæde, både foringer motivationen og arbejdsglæden hos medarbejderne:
”Det er et rigtig, rigtig dårligt sted at vælge at spare, siger han og fortæller, at den fælles frokost betyder meget for såvel sammenhold, effektivitet og arbejdsglæde på en arbejdsplads” (Alexander Kjerulf, Erhvervsbladet, d. 26.2.2010)
Du kan læse hele artiklen her :http://www.erhvervsbladet.dk/ledelse/krisen-aeder-din-frokostordning
Læs 24-timers artikel her: http://www.24.dk/article.jsp?articleId=8222
For mere info om frokost.dk: http://www.frokost.dk/
Donation to orphanage
Rainmaking has made a donation of 1.000 USD to an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The orphanage is run by Sister Asayech and a very competent local staff. We have visited the facilities ourselves, and experienced first hand how well they take care of the children. We weren’t there to donate money in the first place, but instead to learn about development projects in the third world as part of our preparation of www.betternow.org.
However, when you see a place like that, you just need to make a small contribution.
A service level that inspires
At a trip to Istanbul I experienced a truly inspiring service level at an averaged priced local hotel. This letter was lying on the bed when we arrived! Of course with that dedication to customer satisfaction I did not need to use the owner’s mobile number.
When we left, two from the staff followed us out to our taxi, and stayed and waved as you drove away! And it wasn’t because they did not have anything else to do. In fact they hosted a conference for a lot of important people – including their tourist minister – at the same time as we were leaving. They just had that event planned very well, and they stayed focused on EVERY customer, even insignificant guests like my girlfriend and I.
When you experience something like this you want to come back. And that is good business!
/Martin
Spreading the positive rain
The other day Martin Bjergegaard was talking to a MBA class at CBS, which turned out to an incredible 2 hour Q&A. Here is what the MBA class wrote about their meeting with Martin and the ideas behind Rainmaking:
We want 25,000 hangarounds in startupbootcamp!
/Carst
Imagine if we can attract 25,000 people to follow and engage in www.startupbootcamp.dk and the ten selected startups, which will go into the startupbootcamp program in June this year!
It would have significant value for the ten startups if they can use this communication platform to spread the word about their new ideas and products. People could provide valuable feedback througout the development phase; help with contacts and network; and even be the first real customers.
Our goal is therefore to attract 25,000 hangarounds in startupbootcamp. We have to work fast … and if you can help us it is highly appreciated.
Be our next hangaround – follow us on: twitter, facebook and LinkedIn
/Carsten
I hate NDA’s!
Rainmaking receives about 10-20 potential new projects per month from entrepreneurs around Europe. The entrepreneurs and their ideas vary in quality but there are some really quality stuff in between.
Unfortunately, some of the teams insist on signing Non Disclosure Agreements (NDA’s) before they will even tell a little bit about their ideas. I have 100% respect for this if they had a pharma or biotech product, which need to be protected with IP rights, however, in most cases we are talking about very simple ideas with no chance of IP protection.
These entrepreneurs simply think they have invented the most fantastic idea in the world and now they are so afraid that someone will steal the idea. In 99% of the cases my guess is that exactly this type of persons will never succeed as entrepreneurs and I find this attitude wrong for two reasons:
1) It will be hard to sell anything if you are not willing to talk about your product/idea! And sales should start as early as possible when you develop new products and services. It is in the close interaction with your supposed customer that you will end up developing something that can turn into a success.
2) It is (almost) all about execution and the team – and not about the idea. There is therefore no reason to be so afraid of discussing your idea with other. It only helps developing it.
In Rainmaking we are very open about discussing our ideas and our experience is that this has great value. Often we can kill an idea much earlier because people we interact with can tell us why this idea will not work. And in other cases we can develop a good idea into a great one in just a few days because we discuss it with great people who each add a few good things to sharpen the idea.
/Carsten
Q&A: The background of Rainmaking and the beginning of Startupbootcamp
Carsten Kølbek is Partner in Rainmaking which is organizing Startupbootcamp - an entrepreneurial initiative where each entrepreneur can get DKK 25.000 as seed capital to start a company in three months.
What is the point with Startupbootcamp?
--The purpose of Startupbootcamp is to support and strengthen entrepreneurial teams with good ideas. The target group consists of entrepreneurial people in Northern Europe, and we hope to receive approximately 250 applications from teams. From these, 10 will be selected to enter a three-month program in Copenhagen over the course of the summer 2010. The goal is that the teams will move from idea to prototype or product, which at the end of the program will be presented to a large group of investors.
Who is Rainmaking?
--Rainmaking was founded in 2006 by Martin Bjergegaard, Morten Abildgaard Kristensen, Morten Bjerregaard Nielsen and I. Since then, we have had two exits with the GodtSyn and CityLasik, both related to eye surgery treatments, and both sold to the eye treatment company Memira with Investor Growth Capital as major proprietor. In the beginning of 2010, we opened an office in London, and we are planning to open an office in New York within the next two years.
Why did you initiate Startupbootcamp?
--More and more self-employed business people approached us wanting to do business, and with Startupbootcamp we have found a good way to comply with these approaches. Also, we want to be attractive towards new and edgy entrepreneurs and hopefully contribute to the making of the next Skype. Last but not least, we feel that we have learned a lot about entrepreneurship over the last couple of years, and we would like to give something back as well as pass on this knowledge.
Who’s helping?
-- Approximately 50 top mentors from our network will take part in Startupbootcamp passing along their good advices as well as open some doors to their own networks.
Who have been your “rolemodels” to start Startupbootcamp?
--We have been inspired by Tech Stars, Seedcamp and Y Combinator. We have not found any similar initiatives here in Scandinavia. Although there are plenty of councils, incubators and investors, we have not seen others, who help entrepreneurs with the first and crucial steps in such a hands-on approach.
By Anders Frick, Rapidus
Team day at Rainmaking
On January 27th the Rainmaking group gathered for a team day held at Martin Bjergegaard's appartment in Frederiksberg. We looked back at what had been achieved in 2009 and shared objectives for the coming year.
It was the first time I ever joined a Rainmaking meeting and it's safe to say this isn't your usual bunch of entrepreneurs and investors. We spent as much time discussing values, charity and protecting the unique Rainmaking culture as we did talking about deals, investments and startups.
2009 was a seminal year for Rainmaking with the exit of Godtsyn. This not only lays a solid financial foundation for the partnership but has raised the visibility which has in turn improved deal flow. At any one point Rainmaking is taking a close look at five to ten investments, internal startup projects or cooperation offers with other entrepreneurs. The current batch includes an online supermarket, a specialised chain of surgery clinics, a unique 3D mannequin solution, an innovative domestic transport provider, an online tutoring portal and several others. The list of existing projects includes Startupbootcamp which I didn't need to introduce; the whole team is aware of the potential it represents for Rainmaking in terms of financial upside, deal flow, and plain exposure.
Probably the other most significant milestone was the opening of the London office; the first of many which will expand Rainmaking's footprint and ability to launch startups rapidly on all major continents. The vision is to be able to plug ideas and proposals into the network for each office to determine the potential fit with the local market - without reinventing the wheel each time.
Equally important to the Rainmaking team is what was achieved in the charity and CSR area. When Martin, Morten B., Morten K. and Carsten formed their partnership in 2007 they signed a manifesto, which reflects their focus on the bigger picture. The part which resonates the best with me is "We want to be a part of the solution in this world, not a part of the problem." Of course at at the end of the day what counts is action not words. And in this area Rainmaking delivered by raising 600.000 DKK (which were multiplied by 4 by the EU) for a project in Bangladesh (picture). In 2010 one of Martin's priorities is to get BetterNow.org off the ground. BetterNow is a web-based video channel enabling donors to contribute to specific projects with full visibility and transparency. Watch this space, this could seriously impact the world.
Plenty on the plate, from continued execution for the existing startups to successfully launching some major initiatives. But come what may, Rainmaking intends to be a part of the solution, not of the problem and I'm thrilled to be in on the adventure.
/Alex Farcet