Start-up and venture capital.
What You Need to Do to Successfully Raise Finances for Your Company?
Step by step the author initiates and guides the reader comprehensively through the world of venture capital (VC). The starting point is the presentation of the current situation on the Polish VC market. Janiak educates “from A to Z” on what funds are – who creates them, how they earn, where they take projects from or how they differ.
In his book, the author addresses the following issues, among others:
- How to prepare a company to attract an investor and what elements should be taken into account when doing so;
- What structure a pitch deck should have and what it entails, as well as the importance of feedback, which is forgotten by both VCs and founders;
- how the next investment rounds are going, as well as the potential and real exit.
Why did the author write the book and who is it aimed at?
“When years ago, still as a start-up, I reached for VC funding for the first time, there were no reliable sources of knowledge that would show what to do. On the market, there was mainly information from the United States, which did not apply to Polish reality. You had to learn from your mistakes”, explains Szymon Janiak, author of Start-up and Venture Capital. Today, many years later, when I manage my own fund, I see the same problems among founders. I still haven’t found a book which would show in a simple and comprehensive way what one needs to know in order to effectively obtain financing from VCs. This is how the idea for the book was born.
This is particularly important now that the Polish venture capital market has reached a historic peak. The record results concern each of the key metrics: the number of investments, their value, the percentage of follow-on rounds. Never before has capital been so accessible to start-ups, which significantly contributes to the development of innovation in Poland, thus marking its position against other European countries. And although there is a lot of capital, the market invariably remains very competitive, so every effort must be made to count on this type of funding.
“In the Polish reality, the best VCs invest̨ in about 1-3% of the start-ups that come to them̨, and there are thousands of them. We ourselves, within the fund I manage, look at more than 1300 young companies every year. There is no time for mistakes and verifying the same ideas several times, which is why it is so important for the founder to prepare as well as possible. There may simply be no second chance for an interview – explains Szymon Janiak.
First positive reviews
Janiak’s book was well received by the community, gaining its first positive reviews. Among the people who decided to recommend it are Paweł Sikorski, partner of the ProtosNext fund, Jarosław Kuźniar, founder of the Kuźniar Media agency, Michał Olszewski, partner of the Movens VC fund, Mateusz Łagowski, Chief Executive Officer at INKsearch, Marian Noga, professor and economist, Kacper Winiarczyk, Chief Commercial Officer at Dott, Mateusz Bodio, managing director of the RKKVC fund, Kazimierz Krupa, former editor-in-chief of “Forbes Polska”, economic columnist, representing Drawbridge company, Marek Kapturkiewicz, co-founder and partner of Innovation Nest fund or Karol Sadaj, Country Head Poland in Aion Bank.
“In a world where everyone wants to be a start-up, Szymon Janiak brings people down to earth and cools them down. Emotions, plans and dreams. Rightly so! Standing usually on the other side (looking for investors), I think that the more knowledge and less illusions, the better for the market, business and dreamers. Usually one hears: “Make an MVP of an idea and come back”. Janiak’s book suggests doing a pre-MVP to be able to correct plans faster. Importantly, it does not absolve you from making mistakes”. – comments Jarosław Kuźniar, founder of Kuźniar Media agency.
“Educational, substantive, honest, uncompromising and even… brutal. Such is the book by Szymon Janiak. The author is the first in Poland to comprehensively present the world of start-ups – he describes, explains, asks simple questions, and even gives points. It is a position, above all, for people who are thinking about starting a start-up. But not only! The author’s style, language and directness make it a book that everyone will find something for themselves. Such a book has been sorely lacking in the industry. I am glad that Szymon filled this gap” – this is how Karol Sadaj, Country Head Poland in Aion Bank, reviews Janiak’s book.
The book “Start-up and Venture Capital. What you need to do to successfully raise finance for your company’ is available to buy in physical form and as an e-book at http://www.szymonjaniak.pl/.
About the author
Szymon Janiak is co-founder and managing partner of Czysta3.vc, which is one of the most active venture capital funds in Central and Eastern Europe with capitalization of 50 million PLN. In the last 3 years alone, he has made over 30 investments in internet ventures. He has been involved in the innovation market for over a decade from the start-up, advisory and fund sides. In the past he was, among others, a member of supervisory boards of several technological companies and a member of the supervisory board of a company listed on the WSE, managing investments and providing corporate finance services.
For many years, he has been educating about startups, creating expert articles published in various Polish media and on LinkedIn, where he reaches almost 30 000 followers. Former academic lecturer at prestigious universities, including Wrocław University, SWPS University and Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa.
Partners and media patrons
The book’s partners are BNP Paribas Bank, Czysta3.vc, EVRY1 and Adventures of Entrepreneurs.
The media patrons of the publication were (in alphabetical order) Bezprawnik, Brief, Comparic, CRN, DoRzeczy, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Fxmag, ITwiz, MamStartup, Marketing przy Kawie, Mediarun, My Company Polska, Media Portal, Reach4.biz, Startup Wroclaw, StockWatch and Telepolis.
More information about the book “Start-up and Venture Capital. What you need to do to successfully raise finance for your company’ can be found at https://szymonjaniak.pl/.
