Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

For several years now, I enjoy giving the Boostcamp’s Financial workshop, initially with Xavier Corman (now at edebex) and then with Impulse (formerly Brussels Agency for Enterprises) until today. It has always been a great experience for me to listen to the participants, their stories and their projects.

Now, in all those years, which types of boostcampers do I usually meet again at a later stage?

The first main characteristic: the ones who had a clear view on the problem they were trying to solve. So many starters think they can solve world problems, but are so oblivious to the difference between the “must-haves” and the “nice-to-haves”, let alone on how to make a living out of it. The common concept with our current “internet everything is free” generation of starters which I never understood is how easily they are convinced that customers will pay for their projects.

Next aspect: months later I usually meet more teams than individuals. So, try to join up, collaborate, be more than just yourself (think Startup weekend events, where teams are created on the fly). Even better is obviously a heterogeneous team; not all with the same background, nor same studies (no clones). It is the combination and diversity of characteristics and capabilities that usually will bring you further.

Finally, the “stayers” are the ones with holistic view and good knowledge on their financials. Call it quick and dirty, call it a back-of-a-envelop financial plan, but these starters have a firm grasp on their financial big picture of interactions and how to impact them. They often also considered subsidies in their scenarios. Oh, and by the way, according to me, funding is largely overrated for most very early stage boostcampers: fund it yourself at the very start, get funding from your customers and/or suppliers afterwards, and only once you have a solid base and a cash-proof of your business, you might start to consider external funding. Do not forget we are in a 1% (maximum!) success rate and on average 8-12 months discussions.

So, do not look at the charges you want to cover with your sales, no, you have to do it the other way around! Find a solution for a real problem (in the lean philosophy: get out of the building!), be sure people will be willing to pay you a “fair price”. Based hereupon, define what kind of organisation is financially feasible both for now and later, and how you will survive the classical starter’s cash valley of death.

And remember, an idea is just, well… an idea.

Martin van Wunnik is a seasoned and experienced independent project manager for financial projects. Next to realizing projects for large multi-nationals, he is a financial coach and strategist for individual starters (mainly tech). Martin also provides workshops and information sessions for several public and private organizations (e.g. Microsoft Innovation Center, Sirris) and co-founded in 2012 the Finance for Startups-community in Brussels (transferred to the Betagroup in 2014). Feel free to follow #MvanWunnik on twitter or browse through Martin’s previous presentations for starters on slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/financecoach24/ .