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
Rainmaking enters the climate-race
Rainmaking has entered the climate-race by becoming 100% Co2 neutral. In the past week, Rainmaking - as well as all six companies included in the portfolio - has been accredited with the prestige’s Co2 neutral label.
Hereby, Rainmaking ensures that the collective 63 ton Co2 footprint, for all seven companies, is covered in collaboration with “The carbon neutral company”. Such a contribution helps to develop and operate a range of clean technology projects e.g. wind power, hydropower, methane capture and biomass or in other words the energy of tomorrow.
Article about Nordic startup initiatives
This article http://tinyurl.com/ybugw4c covers two important initiatives on the Nordic startup scene: Seedcamp and Startupbootcamp.
Startupbootcamp is the initiative, which I am running (via Rainmaking) together with Alex Farcet.
Season greetings to everyone. Looking forward to lot of entrepreneurial activities in 2010.
Teaming up with startupweekend
Met with Clint Nelsen of www.startupweekend.org yesterday. Impressive what they have created in 2½ years. More than 10,000 participants have been through their program and around 30% of the startups created during those weekends are still running.
We found out that there are great synergies between startupweekend and www.startupbootcamp.dk, since many participants from the startupweekends are looking for something more after finishing the intense weekend program. And the next logical step could be to join startupbootcamp, which offers a 3 months program allowing the startup teams to really get in depth with their ideas, attract the first customers and by the end of the program picth their startup to dozens of investors.
For startupbootcamp it is interesting to team up with startupweekend since this can prove to be a very promising source of potential candidates for the program.
We have therefore decided to run 4 startupweekends in parallel in the weekend commencing the 9th of April 2010 in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Oslo. Startupbootcamp will be co-hosts and the winning teams will have a preferred route into the startupbootcamp program.
What an exciting weekend waiting in the Nordics!
/Carsten
Meeting a legend
Rainmaking partner Martin Bjergegaard today had the honor to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The talk was about our new fundraising portal, that we are about to launch April 2010 together with leading NGOs. 78 years old Mr. Tutu is full of enthusiasm, energy and jokes! He laughed a lot during the short conversation, and is clearly a very warm and friendly person. It was a true pleasure to meet him, and we hope to be able to establish a collaboration with his organization; Desmond Tutu Peace Center.
Launching Startupbootcamp
Today is the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009 (http://www.unleashingideas.org/?_c=1), during which "for one week, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people, to generate new ideas and to seek better ways of doing things."
This is a fitting time for the Rainmaking partnership to launch its latest initiative: Startupbootcamp (link to www.startupbootcamp.dk).
Startupbootcamp is for entrepreneurs with great ideas and great teams who are looking to convert their idea into a live company in 3 months. Following a rigorous selection, up to 10 teams will come to Copenhagen in summer 2010 to be part of the first generation of Startupbootcamp companies. We will host the teams in an incubator environment in the heart of Copenhagen, we will inject some cool cash and lots of top notch mentorship, and we will close with Investor Day - a unique opportunity for the 10 to pitch to the most active Danish, Nordic and international investors. See how to apply here. (http://startupbootcamp.dk/apply)
Feeding the underforrest
Small plants have trouble getting sunlight and growing in the shadow of big trees. The recent financial crisis has reduced business angels' and venture capitalists' appetite for risk and a natural reaction has been to invest in more mature startups with proven business models and existing customer bases.
Startupbootcamp feeds the budding underforrest of young entrepreneurs by giving a highly selected group the ideal conditions to reach up to the big trees. Rainmaking calls itself a "startup factory" because this is exactly what it's good at: converting an idea on a napkin into a live company by injecting the needed energy, creativity, and business acumen. The key for entrepreneurs joining Startupbootcamp is that they not only get the support they need but experienced co-founders who have 'skin in the game'.
Born global in Copenhagen
Startupbootcamp's roots are Danish but our ambitions are global. We aim to attract the very best teams and ideas from the Nordic region (in our broad definition that not only includes the Baltic countries but also Poland and northern Germany). but we're not concerned with the candidates' age or nationality. Our ambition is to have several Startupbootcamp companies expand on several continents. We already have an international team and we are not limited by our location.
Come meet us
We are celebrating the launch of Startupbootcamp by inviting David Cohen, founder of Techstars, to Copenhagen this Wednesday Nov. 18th. David has a long track record with his own tech startups and he runs Techstars which is recognised as a leading program for tech entrepreneurs.
We will be using the occasion to officially launch Startupbootcamp and we'd love to meet you. Sign up here. (http://startupbootcamp.dk/apply-cohen).
We look forward to reading your comments below and will answer your questions via email (info@startupbootcamp.dk) or phone (+45 24 29 4000).
Kind regards,
Alex Farcet
Rainmaking in the UK
In the light of the very positive progress in Rainmaking throughout the last 12 months, we have decided to expand to the UK. For this reason, we are now looking for a Business Developer in London - see the job description here:
http://www.rainmaking.dk/media/18597/business%20developer%20with%20partner%20potential.pdf
We are already active in the British market due to our engagement in CyclePods (www.cyclepods.co.uk) that sells eco-friendly, design bicycle racks to customers such as Sky, BBC, IKEA, Sainsbury, and The Guardian among others.
Furthermore, we have a number of interesting points of contacts and projects, which are to be looked more in to.
Our goal is to create a full-grown London-office within a few years with 3-5 local partners and 20-30 employees in order to launch new concepts to the large British market. However, to begin with, we are starting fairly slowly with a single Business Developer having his/her working space situated in an entrepreneurial office space. In this way, we can create a couple of start-ups with positive cash flows which will lay the ground for further expansion.
Do you have any good ideas or contacts in London, which we should know of?
Is the financial recession over and done with?
For the last three months, we have gradually experienced indications that the recession might be abating.Throughout the worst six months of the recession, Frokost.dk experienced a decrease going from 6.000 to 5.000 place-settings. This decrease was quite evident and required careful adjustments. For the past three months, we have had a steady number of approx. 5000 place settings. Now, we are speeding up in activities such as sales and marketing (which was totally useless to do at the time of the recession’s peak), and it will be exciting to see whether the next three months will offer progress yet again.
In GodtSyn, we are experiencing greater sales than ever in these weeks – even greater than the sales numbers from last year at this time.
Our investors are showing cautious signs of being favorably disposed towards new projects, and our dialogue with new investors is progressing very well.
What is your experience – is the financial recession coming to an end?
Welcoming Hampus Hellsvik
As of August 10th, Hampus Hellsvik has been appointed Senior Manager in Rainmaking. Hampus has for a number of years worked as Senior Manager in Accenture, where he has been working with supply chain and strategy for a vast number of business enterprises across Scandinavia and Britain.
We are very delighted – and proud – of the fact that Hampus has chosen Rainmaking as his next professional challenge, and we are looking forward to an exciting and fruitful collaboration.
Partner no. 5 in Rainmaking
Since the founding of Rainmaking in 2006 we have been four partners. It has all along been the plan to expand the partner circle, so that we can reach our goal in 2016 with having 30 partners spread over 6-8 countries in Rainmaking offices.
We have been taking it slow here in the beginning, partly because we wanted to create a strong cultural and valued foundation and partly because we wanted to make sure to absorb just the right person in our warm-hearted and unique functional partnership, which for us is our biggest asset.
We have now succeeded to get Jesper Krogh Jørgensen on board from 1st of August as the 5th partner, which we are delighted and proud of.
Jesper comes from a position as Senior Partner in the renowned consultant firm Stig Jørgensen and Partners (SJP). At SJP he has trough the years worked with consulting some of the largest corporations in Denmark, in particular sales and marketing as well as development and monitoring costumer loyalty. In addition to this, Jesper has taught himself the reality in smaller companies partly through sitting in various boards of directors (e.g. Frokost.dk) and partly through strategy- and consultant work.
Formerly Jesper has worked for web firm Framfab as well as the consulting firms Andersen Business Consulting and Deloitte Management Consulting.
In private Jesper is married to Emilie, lives in Birkerød and has four children.
We genuinely appreciate the trust shown by Jesper by investing his future with us in Rainmaking. We are convinced that there will be a significant administration of our already strong partnership.
Read more about Jesper on his LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=1913127&authToken=SfZe&authType=name
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