Team Europe Ventures

Founders with a business idea

We are looking for young, exceptionally talented entrepreneurs. The earlier we are contacted, the better we can support you in answering the first important questions (for example, regarding setting up a team or deciding on a business model). Nothing is worse than finding out that the business model or the team are weak after the fact - by then it is usually too late. If interested, get in touch with Kolja - founder(please put an @ here)teameurope.net

Founders without a business idea

We are always looking for potential founders with whom we enter an innovation management process which optimally ends with the formation of a new company. If interested, get in touch with Kolja - founder(please put an @ here)teameurope.net

For companies in seed rounds

If you already have taken the first steps successfully, for example, have a product or prototype available, and a complete and committed team - Team Europe Ventures would be happy to offer you support & financing. If interested, get in touch with Pawel - submit(please put an @ here)teameurope.net

For companies in A and B rounds

Your business model has proven itself and you already have generated your first revenues - Team Europe Ventures is also a potential partner during Series A and B investment rounds. If interested, get in touch with Pawel - submit(please put an @ here)teameurope.net

There are a number of ways to pursue an entrepreneurial career path:

• Supplementing existing founder teams/ teams in formation
• Jobs - both entry-level as well as executive positions
• Project-based positions
• Internships

If interested, get in touch with Kolja - kh(please put an @ here)teameurope.net

Workshops

Twice a year (spring and fall) we hold entrepreneurs workshops for potential founders. In these workshops, we interactively shed light on the entire process from brainstorming a business idea to market entry.

Lectures

We regularly give lectures at universities or keynotes or panels at industry conferences.

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We differentiate between ENTREPRENEURS and those becoming SELF-EMPLOYED. The goal of an entrepreneur is to start a company that will grow quickly and will hopefully generate millions in revenue within a few years as well as employ numerous of employees. The goal of someone becoming self-employed is mainly to make a living for themselves and to be independent - they are trying to create a workplace primarily for themselves.

We support entrepreneurs and do not focus on those whose goal is to become self-employed.

We are looking for:

• Entrepreneurs with whom together we can found companies. If interested, get in touch with Kolja - entrepreneur(please put an @ here)teameurope.net (if possible, please include your resume).
• Investors that want to invest in our companies or invest together with us in other companies. If interested, get in touch with Lukasz - lg(please put an @ here)teameurope.net
• Promising companies with a need for financing or expertise. If possible, please include just the executive summary, and not the entire business plan (The executive summary that we receive from you should contain the following information).
  If interested, please send an email to submit(please put an @ here)teameurope.net

If you have general or other questions, please send an email to info(please put an @ here)teameurope.net

Our main area of expertise is the online sector - primarily consumer internet areas, but also infrastructure of B2B applications. In addition, we are active in related sectors like software or mobile applications. In general, we do not make any investments completely unrelated to the internet.

see What found

We are active investors that invest not only money but also time and know-how. In doing so, our focus is on the following areas: teambuilding & HR, business model and strategy, financing, distribution, operative support in core success factors (for example SEO, if necessary).

Good question. Yes, see About us - philosophy

Yes.

The start is a mutual decision that we want to start a company together with a particular team. Team Europe Ventures always has a few rough ideas on hand which we then discuss with the team and research further to answer the core questions. We consider 2-3 ideas simultaneously and meet up every one or two days to evaluate new findings and coordinate research related to-do’s. We end the process as soon as we have found an idea that fits the team well and which we all strongly believe in.

The next step is the actual formation of the new company.

If we are considering building a company, we usually prefer projects without business model risk that quickly generate revenues. What does "without business model risk" mean?

1. The business model has already been proven in other regions (for example brands4friends, studiVZ)
2. All components of the business model have proven successful in other projects (for example Absolventa, Playnik).

Quickly generating revenues means in plain language: the business model should not be advertising-based, but transaction-based (yes, there are exceptions to the rule!).

From an industry standpoint, all business models that solve an actual problem can be interesting. Currently, interesting sectors are:

• Mobile
• e-Commerce
• Services
• Marketplace, Lead generation
• Content
• Games
• SaaS

also see About Us

Obviously we would like to hit some home runs Europe-wide and dream about another SAP or Skype. But our general rule of thumb is: a project really becomes interesting to us when it has the potential to be sold for 100 million Euros within 3-4 years. In reality we do deviate from our rule of thumb, especially if the risk is manageable. Our rule of thumb for evaluating a company is: EBIT or potential EBIT in the 3rd or 4th year after founding, multiplied by 10-20.

First time entrepreneurs usually work 12-16 hours a day, 6 days a week. In the first 2 years, no or very little vacation is the rule. So it only makes sense to become an entrepreneur when you stand behind the idea 100% and enjoy high workloads.

Every team needs to have a leader - not two or three, not none - one. The leader is the person who sets the tone, the alpha dog - the one who says how things are going to be done. A leader must also be analytic and not just a good salesperson. We enjoy working with socially competent leaders who can identify themselves with our philosophy.

Having a good leader is more than half the battle. A good team also needs the following characteristics: different people with complementary personality traits, where each team member covers one of the most important parts of the business model. A team should be as diverse as possible (with respect to age, experience, profession). All team members must respect each other 100%. Optimally, they all should have previous experience working together, have developed a system of conflict resolution, and maybe even resolved a conflict or two. In series A and B rounds, we also pay attention to a high level of "domain expertise" (technical expertise in the respective sector). In cases of younger founders, a lack of competence can sometimes be replaced with craziness. ;-)

No, we don't steal any ideas!

However, it is quite common that different teams present the same or a similar idea.

An idea alone isn't worth much. The implementation is what counts - which means that the team alone is responsible for the success of the idea! For this reason, the evaluation of the same (or similar) ideas coming from different teams can result in different decisions.

We determine the amount of our investment for every company individually. But as a rule of thumb, we orient ourselves on the following rough guidelines:

• Start-up phase: between 25,000 and 200,000 Euro
• Seed Investments: between 50,000 and 500,000 Euro
• Series A and B Rounds: between 1 million and 5 million Euros (only in exceptional cases)

We actively help secure follow-up financing for companies in the start-up phase or in seed rounds.

This is also dependant on the respective phase. In the best case scenario, you can assume that from our first meeting to the time money is in the bank the following period of time will be needed:

• Start-up and seed stage: 7 days to 7 weeks
• In later phases: 3-12 weeks (because of due diligence, more complex contracts, or a larger number of parties investing)

If we are considering building a company, we usually prefer projects without business model risk that quickly generate revenues. What does "without business model risk" mean?

1. The business model has already been proven in other regions (for example brands4friends, studiVZ)
2. All components of the business model have proven successful in other projects (for example Absolventa, Playnik).

Quickly generating revenues means in plain language: the business model should not be advertising-based, but transaction-based.

The criteria for seed investments and series A and B rounds are similar, but somewhat more relaxed. If the first hurdles have already been overcome, based on the circumstances we may also invest in advertising-based companies (for example toksta, Netzathleten).

From a topical standpoint, all business models that solve an actual problem can be interesting. Currently, interesting sectors are:

• Mobile
• E-Commerce
• Services
• Marketplace, Lead generation
• Content
• Games
• SaaS

also see About Us

As an investor, we offer you the opportunity to invest in our portfolio companies. Furthermore, we syndicate seed and Series A and B rounds, in which we invite interested investors to participate in the framework of a simple fund model.

Investments (Seed stage, Series A and B)

In this case we are looking for a company with the potential to increase our investment tenfold. In later rounds, the potential can also be lower (for example fivefold increases of the investment amount with relatively low risk in series A rounds or tripling the investment in series B rounds). This also provides information about the attainable valuation of the company with regard to venture capital.

A compelling executive summary should fulfill the following criteria:

• it is extremely short and succinct
• it is only one or at the most two pages long
• it briefly describes the team members and the distribution of their shares as well as any other investors and their shares, if applicable
• it describes the concept - briefly and without explanations
• it describes how clients will be acquired - briefly and without explanations
• it gives well-founded statements on the current status of the project
• it indicates whether similar models exist in other countries, and if so, who they are
• it contains statements on the timetable for financing
• it indicates the level of revenues targeted and profitability

In the cover letter one should additionally indicate which investors have already been approached - or at least indicate how many have been approached and how long the search for investors has been carried out.