The Triathlon towards getting investment from Antler

3 disciplines you have to get right to win in the “Investment Committee” 

“How on earth should I run 42.1km with those legs?” This thought or a similar one, which wouldn’t be appropriate for a blog, went through my mind as I transitioned from the 180km bike ride to the marathon on my first Ironman in 2016. 

“How on earth should we decide what to focus on to get investment by Antler?”, might be a question from future or new Antler cohort members in the frantic first weeks of one of the most intensive Startup generator programs globally. 

If you don’t know Antler, it’s an early stage startup VC, focusing on tech startups with global impact. Antler runs programs across the globe, bringing business & tech people together, letting them create ideas, pitch those to an Investment Committee and invests in a few selected teams. 

Like in an Ironman, you have to get three things right to get investment from Antler: Finding the right team, crafting a VC back-able business idea, and delivering a great pitch. 

If you are considering joining the Antler program, or if you made it through the highly selective interview process, then this article is for you. 

The context: Mesg.ai - the writing assistant for salespeople

I joined Antler in London in September 2020, found a team early on and we jointly developed the idea of helping salespeople getting more responses on their outreach. We pitched to the Investment Committee mid December, got funding, and incorporated on Dec 24th, 2020. 

You can learn more about Mesg.ai and sign-up for early access here: www.mesg.ai 

I’ve met two congenial founders in Alex Bilbie and James Turner. Together we cover a broad skill-spectrum from software development, product design, to business development. 

Getting investment from Antler is a team-sport. You need strong players on all bases to get investment.  

Discipline 1: The Team

Establish a team early, have a product expert, and build teams of three

The determining factor for success in the Antler program, and for your startup, is the team you are building. Everything else is a consequence of the team. Antler will provide you with plenty of opportunity to get to know each other, not only from a professional but also from a personal perspective. But don’t play it slow. Time is running and my first advice is: 

Form the team as early as possible 

Don’t wait to try out different team configurations. If you have a setup that could work, then go ahead. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity. It’s a 70/30 call, not a 90/10. Every day that you decide earlier can be used to work on your business. If the team fails, it gives you more time to reconfigure. 

Have a product expert on the team

My background is in business development. From the beginning it was clear that I would want a product expert in the team. It’s an immensely strategic position. It usually also brings rigour, attention to detail, and process culture to the team. Without it you might have difficulties in building a coherent product-vision. 

Teams of three over teams of two 

More people, bring more complexity, no doubt. But in the best case, it also adds more perspectives, balances the team culture, and simply adds two more hands to get more stuff done. Don’t care about the future company’s equity split at this stage. Dividing zero by three yields the same result as dividing it by two. What matters is, what gives you the best odds to create a 10M or 100M valuation out of the zero at hands.  

Discipline 2: The Business

Get paying customers and pivot early if needed

Most people coming into Antler, bring their own ideas. For some it’s difficult to let go of them. If you stick to your ideas, you might find it difficult to motivate others to join your team, and without a team there will be no investment from Antler. 

Be open to new ideas, co-create your business model with your team, and don’t get attached too early to your “soon-to-be” business.

When you pitch your proposition to the Investment Committee, your idea will be less than two months old. So how are investors going to evaluate if they want to invest? 

Focus on execution and get customers to pay for your service 

It’s not difficult to come up with new ideas for your business. What matters is execution. It’s also one of the few things investors can really assess. What traction has the team created in those few weeks. How many customer interviews did you have? Which quality of customers did you speak too? Did you run experiments on your value proposition? 

Like winning the triathlon world championship in Hawaii, the pinnacle for a startup team at Antler is to get paying customers before your pitch at the Investment Committee!

It doesn’t really matter how much your customers are paying. It’s more the fact that you managed to have customers that are willing to open their wallets. 

We started by offering a concierge service, where we’d optimise outreach messages for our customers. From this we learned which suggestions they liked and which they didn’t like. We benefited on two fronts: We were able to show to investors that we can execute, and we learned which of our optimisation rules produced the best results. 

Pivot early  

Having to change your business model, target market, or overall value proposition is almost unavoidable when building a startup. Be very fast in pivoting. If you get too close to the Investment Committee, a pivot might not be possible. You would potentially lose the traction you have built. In such a case you might be forced to power through and then to discuss a potential pivot with your investors (which adds a layer of complexity). So don’t get attached to your idea, have a “cold eye” and pivot early. 

 Discipline 3: The pitch 

People invest in people, cover your bases and over-prepare 

Antler will give you plenty of opportunities to practice your pitch. Take each pitch as an opportunity to practice your communication style, to show your peak, and to collect feedback.  

Collect all feedback and be selective in what you implement 

Throughout the program our team has collected over 160 feedbacks on our pitch - from colleges in the cohort, from Antler team members, and from external investors. Sometimes one person will recommend the exact opposite of another advisor. Make sure you capture all feedback in a structured format and then discuss as a team which recommendations you will implement. 

Make people excited about what you’re building 

You’ll have so many things to go through in your pitch and so many questions to prepare for, that you might forget about one of the most important parts: making people excited about what you are building! It’s almost banal, but don’t forget about your delivery. Be energetic, stand-up when presenting virtually, use your voice and body to transport your message. 

The final test: the investor Q&A 

The Q&A in the Investment Committee was probably the scariest part of the pitch. The obvious advice is to (over-)prepare. Split up questions in the team, have your question cards, and become confident in your answers. But you also have to expect the unexpected. Make sure you have agreed who will answer questions that haven’t been prepared, and also think about how you could answer them. The worst you can do is to start talking without a plan not finding an end to your unprepared answer. 

Final remarks: Enjoy the privilege 

The program is busy, hectic, stressful. You might face tough discussions in the team and you’ll have days where you doubt that this is the right path for you. But don’t forget, it’s an incredible privilege to be part of the program. It’s a privilege to be in a room with people who all want to build a business. And it’s a privilege that you get guided through the difficult process of raising a pre-seed round. 

No matter if you’re in the Antler program already, or if you plan to apply. Think of it like the training for an Ironman. While it’s often hard it’s a privilege that few have. Enjoy it! 

Thank you friends, Antler and advisors! 

I can’t thank my friends, colleagues, Antler team members and cohort fellows enough. Without your help I wouldn’t have made it this far. 

Special thanks to my wife Sabine; my family; my co-founders Alex Bilbie and Jamie Turner; our Antler coach Lars Kavaalen; the Antler London team Emilie Pain, Emelie Holgersson, Kira Jang, Veronika Patkai, Antoine Poirson, Darren Murphy, Ollie Purdue; the wonderful 3rd cohort of Antler London; my advisors: Andreas Ridder, Charlotte Masons, Christian Dreyer, Fredrik Tuxen, Klaus Eldrup-Joergensen, Manfred Althammer, Nikolaj Kromann J?rgensen, Philip Birkner, Regina Ridder, Sebastian Eldrup-J?rgensen; my close friends: Andreas Weinfurter, Alexander Kribus, Barbara Stering, Clauida Timm, Edith Wyss, Günter Oblasser, Helmut Kothbauer Manuel Wyss, Mario Perez, Mateusz Kurysz, Simon Lindenthaler.

About me 

After 25 years in sales working for both, bluechips like IBM and AWS, and startups, I decided it’s time to build something myself.  

I love most sports, both active and passive. You might find me up in the mountains when the sun goes up, or down in my basement on my bike-sim when it’s late night. 

Happy to connect on LinkedIn.

You can also reach me on [email protected] 

If you’d like to learn more about Mesg.ai, sign up for our waiting list on www.mesg.ai