There are many stereotypes surrounding startups and corporations, but when it comes to company culture, some of them are actually valid. While startups can act as the young character, ever-changing and always with an innovative mindset, corporations may be embodied as a more wise personality, with a well-defined structure.

As we know, collaboration leads to innovation, so when startups and corporations partner, often interesting projects arise. The only difficulty is their different type of “personalities” which can sometimes stand in the way of a natural bond.

So what are the steps for a fruitful partnership between these two? Fortunately, we had both perspectives on the stage of Techsylvania and this is what we’ve learned:

Simon McDougall submitted that corporations are always taking a strategic view on how their industry is going to disrupt and they want to maintain relevancy and be early investors in promising ecosystems. This is an aspect that needs to be taken into consideration by startups when they want to initiate a collaboration, as this is their promising standpoint.

Pitching to a corporate is different than pitching to a VC because they are more interested in strategic metrics and startups need to have in mind a broader business case.

Simon actually underlined the three most important questions that startups need to have in mind before initiating this type of partnership:

1. Understand corporates: the perspectives, the state of mind, the strategic goals, the objectives. How do I fit in the majority curve?
2. Understand the collaboration models: is it a joint venture? Is it investment? Am I looking at going into their incubator? — have a clear understanding of what their models are and bring them intelligently and proactively to the table.
3. Understand the partnerships models themselves — the risks, the clauses, the inflexion points and how you can integrate that into the structure of the deal.

Marius Stewart came with a different perspective, and he actually marks it down to identifying other three essential steps when creating a successful bond between the two parties:

• How are the decisions made?
• What gets prioritized?
• What gets incentivized?

• Am I building something that’s actually compelling?
• Do I have a good user interface, do I have a good product?
• Do I have a good product-market fit? Am I building something that’s actually interesting enough for the customers to use?
• Am I able to charge money for this product/service?
• Am I able to acquire the right amount of cash flow over time in order to become profitable?

These are just some of the questions that early-stage entrepreneurs ask themselves when they are starting a business, according to Husein Kanji. The road to actually building a business is paved with many obstacles, sometimes even with self-doubt and without a recipe for success, as every case is different.

At Techsylvania, we challenged investors and venture capitalists to share their part of the story and how they decide whether or not to invest in a business and we outlined some of the most important lessons we’ve learned so far, so we can lend a hand to entrepreneurs that want to give their business a check before going for funding.

Lesson 1

Brand new industries, brand new markets, brand new companies.

Husein characterized VCs as “momentum investors”. According to his checklist when he’s on the look for businesses to fund, the ones that get his attention are the ones that have the potential to turn into something really interesting. Usually, the disruptive shifts in the tech industry are generating new opportunities and that’s the point where a new company can capture all that value.

“So it’s not about your business plan or how good of a product you have, it’s really about the magnitude of the company: is this going to turn into something super interesting?”

*Apparently the millennial phenomenon of FOMO (the fear of missing out) is actually a thing around VCs also, so make sure that your product/service is so disruptive that you can trigger this around them.

 Lesson 2

Be in the right place.

What is a good place where you can get funding and start your business? When you’re a digital entrepreneur and want to have access to a larger market, you have to have this in mind.

Constantin Von Bergmann-Korn presented us Berlin as a great idea for starting a business. Besides the fact that it has a great startup ecosystem, this place has a friendly environment in general, it provides you with the right context to meet with like-minded peers and is super inclusive.

“As a founder, it’s not necessarily about what you know, but especially about whom you know.”

Berlin is a tech-hearted city and you can build a unique network being there. Of course, there are many other places where you can find the right context for your business, but Constantin put his town in such a good light that you just have to take it into consideration.

Lesson 3

Be interested, passionate, and… not completely sane.

Tim Draper is often on the look for new investments and he has a keen passion for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs. He’s a strong believer in taking that first step that transforms your perspective on things and throws you in the business world.

What’s his secret about making his first million? Exactly this

“If you want to advance, you’ve got to be interested and passionate about one thing and then be willing to be interested and passionate about another, and then another, and then another.”

Taking steps is all about advancing, even if many of them are backward. Being willing to fail is the first lesson of entrepreneurship, according to Tim.

“You’ve got Elon Musk that says he’s going to Mars and then you’ve got 96% of the population that will say he’s crazy and the other 4% that will want to work for him. It’s that 4% that we’re looking for: the greatest engineers in the world, the greatest marketers, the greatest business modellers. If you have a goal, a wild mission like that, I think that ends up attracting the best and the brightest people of the world.

[…]

So if you’re starting a business right now and it qualifies in that category that it might not be completely sane, then send me your plan.”

 Lesson 4

Just start that business.

“You have the world on your fingertips now. Your advantage is global distribution soft. You have the app store, you have Google Play, you have a global distribution, no matter where you sit.”

Stefan Glaenzer showed us something that maybe most entrepreneurs have in common: passion & determination. The most helpful confession was that he fails to see any risk in founding either a startup or a company, as the experience that comes with this is the most valuable and he doesn’t know anyone who has regretted doing this.

The times we are living have empowered remote connections and work has acquired a whole new meaning due to its ability to take place wherever. Entrepreneurial wisdom is now founded more on a global comprehension of the market and its needs than on the local overview. Yet, there still are some differences when it comes to businesses in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world.

During past editions of Techsylvania, we have debated many aspects of investing or growing a business in Eastern Europe and have discovered valuable insights both from entrepreneurs that have come from other parts of the world to invest or grow their business here or from local entrepreneurs that have chosen to take their businesses on foreign lands.

What did we discover?

Narrowing it down to Romania, the region is well-known for its technical talent and many entrepreneurs have put an eye on this scarce resource. Many business-oriented people have discovered this fertile ground for businesses in tech, as high-quality engineers are more visible and even assembling a team can be easier here.

During a panel with 4 worldwide successful entrepreneurs, we got many of our questions answered, regarding how our land may look in the eyes of an outsider and whether they see competitive potential with the tech skills that are found here.

“I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer — it depends a lot on the attitude and the beliefs of that specific person. Personally, with this environment, here, in Romania, I would try to succeed on my own, I would try to be an entrepreneur, maybe to ask for support, to develop my own idea by my own. We always have time to move from our own entrepreneurial initiative into a large corporation, but being young, being capable, having a possibility as it is here, in Romania, to start my own company — I would really do that.” Patrizio Mapelli, CEO at NTT Data

Patrizio is very fond of Romania and states that he has found very capable professionals here, ready to take it to another level. We hope he inspires you in creating or growing a business here.

How can Romanian entrepreneurs catch the eyes of global investors?

The relationship with a potential investors ultimately comes down to the same core aspects, regardless of your region.

“You have to start building bridges from Day 1.”

As Felix Peterson revealed his investor point of view , in order to catch someone’s eye, you have to make yourself visible. Concentrating on places like London or Berlin, where the tech movement happens at the time, going to 2–3 conferences/year, actively following-up with the quality later-stage investors, treating them like they already are your investors, are some of the key ingredients in his successful recipe.

Entrepreneurs have started to consider things differently, and, given our remote nature of interacting, they understand that good companies can come from anywhere nowadays.

“Silicon Valley investors found Facebook in a basement, somewhere in the Valley- so it doesn’t matter.”

But how about working from Romania for American clients?

Another satisfying aspect that comes along with our remote connections is our remote work. Many professionals choose this route, not necessarily for the monetary facet, but for the flexibility it gives you.

The first and most significant guidance Shahar gave us was that:

“It’s all about who knows you — you really need to realise that networking is your job. Your job is not to be the best developer out there, your job is to make sure that everybody knows that you’re the best developer out there.”

From his vast experience as a freelancer and consultant, Shahar has understood that you have to eliminate risks in order to be among the most sought-after experts in the market. Even though this type of contracting comes with many freedom, it also presents more risks, both for the contractor and the contractee. Here are some steps you need to have in mind if you want to present your work as a responsible and risk-free one:

How does your thinking process look like?

What’s your process of work?

What happens at the end of the project?

How are you going to transfer knowledge?

How do you do documentation?

How do you do testing?

*All these matters that people hate to do — these are the things that you need to talk about, because nobody else is talking about them and they represent the aspects that customers really fear.

And finally: How do you build a business in Romania?

“I think it’s the same as it would be anywhere else: just think of who the customer is, what problem you want to solve and go solve it. If that happens to be here, stay here. If that happens to be in New York, go to New York. Wherever you need to be to make the world a better place. I think the location is becoming more and more irrelevant.”

People and trends are changing and this drives also business and tech along with them. But what happens when business meets tech? As each side requires a different set of skills and a different approach, their convergence is slightly hard, but the results are directly proportional.

At Techsylvania, we have had many occasions of observing these two through the eyes of entrepreneurs who have already enough experiences in this field. One of our primary conclusions is that at this intersection lie the product people.

Let’s find out more about them:

Ted Persson believes that the role of a Product Manager is to discover a product that is valuable, usable and feasible. Because they have direct encounters with the technologic side of a business, they tend to be judged through an “engineer filter”, but they actually have a completely different set of skills. Product team members are the ones with conceptual thinking, but who also don’t mind to get their hands dirty, as Ted likes to put it.

Also, when thinking of a great team in this industry, we should have in mind that diversity grows better teams. This talk revealed us also a mathematical equation of the perfect team-balance:

“Let the product and design work one sprint ahead of developers.”

Products have an inception phase — that moment when the idea is just taking shape and the product owner is connecting the dots on its way to launch. In that phase, most people tend to approach the problem in one of the following ways: use themselves as a target group and build the product in the way they would like it or the data-driven way, when they set KPIs and follow them thoroughly.

One valuable lesson which we encountered at Techsylvania was Jennifer’s Beecher, from Soundcloud, who presented 10 Principles on building better products. Jennifer believed that one of the core principles of building better products was to blend these two approaches into one because having this overview can help owners better understand their products and work on the best deliverance. Validating one’s assumptions with data and KPIs guarantees a better comprehension of humans’ needs on a specific platform.

“Empathy and data go hand in hand.”

This and other important standpoints, like understanding user motivation or information architecture, can be (re)discovered in Jennifer’s talk:

“You do all this A/B testing, and growth hacking and data-driven decision making and ultimately discover that your product lacks personality.”

Chad Fowler pointed out the important steps to take when you’re on the mission to deliver the best experience, using both his product developer perspective and his highly-analytical skills. Coming with a rich background, having worked on a product that was truly loved by its users, Chad gave us valorous insights on why the best experience wins.

While we dived into the talks focused 100% on product, we also Vladimir Oane from Hootsuite, who listed another reality when it comes to this industry: product management and its roots. Product manager, as a job, hasn’t had a very long history and for many who don’t actually know the behind the scenes stories, this craft may come as a mistier one regarding the necessary skills and the actual job description.

“The harsh reality of being a product manager — the reality is our job doesn’t really exist. We haven’t finished the product management academy.” said Vladimir and revealed that most product managers have backgrounds as engineers, marketers or designers. Ultimately, the key role as a product manager is to be in charge of all the decision making for the product and to perfectly mix the skills of your teams at hand.

“So we may come from different backgrounds and we may have our own histories with engineering teams or design teams or marketing teams, but our job is to facilitate the interaction between all of these teams while owning the decision making for all these aspects. Because our main stakeholder is not the business executive, our main stakeholder is the user.”

What is innovation?

According to Wikipedia: “Innovation is often also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs. Such innovation takes place through the provision of more-effective products, processes, services, technologies, or business models that are made available to markets, governments and society.”

And we couldn’t agree more! But one thing that must be mentioned when talking about innovation — is its future tense. People focus on innovating because they’re concerned about the future and about making it a better place to live.

Martin Wezowki, Chief Designer at SAP, presented us two editions ago his approach on innovation, more exactly about the natural steps he takes in this process: mapping, building and inspiring a future everybody wants to live in.

If we look at the less technical side of innovation, we discover its abilities to open doors to new possible realities, thus people’s imagination towards a better future plays an important role. Martin took a leap into the future and fragmented innovation into steps that need to be taken into consideration when you’re starting this imagination exercise:

1. Exponential — the pace of change is faster and faster, going beyond human.
2. Convergent — technologies start converging in ways that we didn’t think possible
3. Fantastic — science fiction is becoming science facts

Ioana Cozmuta is part of NASA’s think-tank — the innovative team as she likes to say and brought to Techsylvania another perspective on innovation, one from another world. Having her mindset oriented through space, but still with her feet on the ground, Ioana has a broad perspective when it comes to resources for innovation — what terrestrial economy is and what are the differences to resources needed for outer space.

How have the two worlds evolved, what trends are in Space technology and how does innovation really work in her field, you can find out from her talk, if you’ve missed it

One fact that was pointed out in many talks at Techsylvania was that innovation has started to focus on megacities. Their infrastructures have evolved and they are the best illustrators of technology’s emerging features.

“When we talk about change — it’s not just equipment or devices, cities are changing, big cities are changing.” said Ralph Simon, from Mobilium Global. He took us on a journey around the world, showcasing the latest and coolest tech trends.

Have you heard about the collaboration between Google and Levi’s? Well, about this and other edgy examples, you can give a thumb up or down, while listening to Ralph: