On September 25, 2018, Berlin Bootstrappers held its 9th event “Sales and Strategy” at Le Wagon @ Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 26. We started the night at 7:00 pm with networking over free beer, listened to two 30-minute presentations with short Q&A sessions, heard short introductions to projects from members of the group during the lightning presentation round, and closed out the night with another great networking session.

The following presentations were made at the event:

“Lessons Learned: How to increase your market share by up to 500% with same resources” by Andreas Berthold-van der Molen

Presentation Description

You have a groundbreaking idea but have already had cancellations from investors, customers, and potential partners? According to the study by CB Insights, 101Startup Failure Post-Mortems, 42% of startups fail because the target group is not clearly defined and its customer value is not clearly recognizable to investors and customers. Get inspired by Andreas’ various engagements, lesson learned and how he increased company revenue by up to 500%.

Presentation Slides

Andreas Berthold-van der Molen Biography

Andreas Berthold-van der Molen is a Chief Success Officer and Startup Mentor. With more than 20 years of experience in EMEA sales, innovation, and strategy, he has the experience to teach you how to quickly increase your market share. He supported IBM, Microsoft, and more than 370 partners as well as B2B start-ups, incubators such as NBT.AG (Next Big Think IoT, Blockchain) and built up sustainable profitable businesses. At the same time, after spending time in the world of ideas, he is passionately interested not only in developing ideas but also in realizing them and bringing them to life.

“Bootstrapping a B2B Business on the Side” by Alexey Klochay

Presentation Description

Many bootstrappers start their new ventures while still working full-time. Putting the effort into the new business to can be challenging after an 8-hour workday. In this talk you will learn about:
* how to better manage your time between work and a side business
* how to avoid burnout when working on multiple things at once
* how to prevent legal trouble with your employer regarding your side projects

Presentation Slides

Alexey Klochay Biography

Alexey is a product manager at a San Francisco-based startup and runs a side business around technical writing. He spent 8 years in Barcelona before moving to Berlin. Alexey likes tea, weightlifting and jazz music.

On June 18, 2018, Berlin Bootstrappers held its 8th event “Failures and Lessons Learned” at Kontist @ Torstr. 177. We started the night at 7:00 pm with networking over free beer, listened to two 30-minute presentations with short Q&A sessions, heard short introductions to projects from members of the group during the lightning presentation round, and closed out the night with another great networking session.

The following presentations were made at the event:

“You are probably going to fail – and why understanding this will make you successful” by Louigi Verona

Presentation Description

We all want to be successful. And part of the cultural narrative is to believe in your dream since only this attitude will make you successful. In this talk, I will argue that such a narrative is mostly unhelpful and leads to behaviors that are unlikely to make you succeed. I will then outline a more rational approach to success and how knowing your limits will for the first time make success not only possible but also probable.

Louigi Verona Biography

Born on Earth, raised by loving parents, currently reside in Berlin. Apart from my day job as a Product Manager, I am constantly involved in all sorts of projects, from writing music, to performing magic, writing games. Have considerable startup experience, have been a founder and co-founder in 2 startups, have been a CTO in a third one. I am also a science communicator and someone who tries to promote critical thinking. Check out my projects at http://www.louigiverona.com.

“Bootstrapping as a B2B SaaS Solofounder” by Benedikt Voigt

Presentation Description

Benedikt Voigt has found the perfect recipe to start a B2B SaaS startup (if you can code) by bootstrapping:

1) choose an industry niche

2) find 3 pilot customers

3) establish a weekly meeting with each of them

4) develop highly agile on a weekly basis

By this approach, you can beat every established competitor.

Presentation Slides

Benedikt Voigt Biography

Benedikt Voigt studied computer science, worked 8 years as an international SAP consultant before he founded his first startup trecker.com, a B2B SaaS for agriculture. After 4 years he quit his own company to found projo.zone, a B2B SaaS for architecture.

On May 15, 2018, Berlin Bootstrappers held its 7th event “No Money and No Plan” at Le Wagon Berlin Coding Bootcamp @ Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 26. We started the night at 7:30 pm with networking over free beer, dove into two 30-minute presentations with short Q&A sessions, heard short introductions to 3 projects from members of the group during the lightning presentation round, and closed out the night with another great networking session.

The following presentations were made at the event:

“42km is not a Sprint: Lessons from 8 Years of Running a Bootstrapped Company” by Oliver Rivo

Presentation Description

We started with no idea and no outside funding, just the drive to start something. Eight years later, we’re running a bootstrapped company which is profitable and pays for our livelihoods. This talk reflects on the success factors that led us to this point as well as the mistakes we made on the way. Topics include picking an idea and a co-founder, product decisions, and sales, when to quit your day job, and how hockey stick growth is an outlier phenomenon: More often than not, growing a bootstrapped company to success requires a lot of patience and perseverance.

Presentation Slides

Oliver Rivo Biography

Oliver Rivo has a Master’s in Computer Science, worked in the airline software industry for ten years, was a touring, Sony-signed full-time musician for two years, and founded Stock Performer with his long-time friend and colleague Luis Alvarez in 2010. Stock Performer provides data analytics to content producers who sell their work on stock agencies such as Getty Images, iStockphoto, Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, and many more.

“Bootstrapping While Inventing a New Business Model” by Cornelius Frey

Presentation Description

Opinary has built an interactive content technology helping 120 million monthly users share their opinions and see what others think. The business side lets publishers and brands engage, understand and convert their most valuable audiences. It all started with a late-night frustration at filter bubbles and fake news in Lagos, Nigeria and no viable plan for monetization – how do you bootstrap that?

Presentation Slides

Cornelius Frey Biography

Cornelius Frey is CEO and Co-Founder of Opinary, giving a users a constructive voice online and letting clients engage their audiences directly. Opinary grew as a side hustle while he was part of the team building the West African office for McKinsey out of Lagos, Nigeria. He started his career at J.P Morgan in London holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

On April 10, 2018, Berlin Bootstrappers held its 6th event “Developing Passionate Audiences and Customers” at Le Wagon Berlin Coding Bootcamp @ Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 26. We started the night at 7:30 pm with networking over free beer, dived into two 30-minute presentations with short Q&A sessions, heard short introductions to 3 projects from members of the group during the lightning presentation round, and closed out the night with another great networking session.

The following presentations were made at the event:

“How to build a loyal audience before you build your product” by Ed Shelley

Presentation Description

Ed Shelley discusses tactics that bootstrapped companies can use to start building a loyal audience before launching their products in order to increase their chances of success.

Presentation Slides

Ed Shelley Biography

Ed leads the Content team at ChartMogul, an analytics startup in Berlin. He runs a podcast interviewing inspirational business leaders and is an all-around product enthusiast with a passion for building things.

“Go Where the Others Aren’t: Finding and Monetizing a Niche” by Brad Benner

Presentation Description

Brad Benner, Founder of SmileBack, discusses the three products he has built, his business successes and failures, and his advice for building a successful SaaS product.

Presentation Slides

Brad Benner Biography

Originally from Seattle, Brad has called Berlin home these last seven years though he’s not always easy to find around town—to call Brad an avid traveler would be like calling a fish a good swimmer.

On March 13, 2018, Berlin Bootstrappers held its 5th event at Le Wagon Berlin Coding Bootcamp @ Rudi-Dutschke-Straße 26. We started the night at 7:30 pm with networking over free beer, dived into two 30-minute presentations with short Q&A sessions, heard short introductions to 3 projects from members of the group during the lightning presentation round, and closed out the night with another great networking session.

The following presentations were made at the event:

“Rapid Idea Validation Done Right” by Sherzod Gafar

Presentation Description

Sherzod Gafar demonstrates how to validate new business ideas by focusing on problems before jumping to solutions and producing quick-and-dirty prototypes that provoke reactions from users.

Presentation Slides

Sherzod Gafar Biography

Sherzod is an Innovation Product Manager at HERE Technologies leading a product line for Drones. He has worked at and consulted some leading startups in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Sherzod is passionate about everything entrepreneurship and innovation. In his free time, he is a happy husband, HIT/HIIT enthusiast, bookworm, and movie maniac.  Connect with Sherzod on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/sherzoda/.

“25 Euro Idea Validation: Insights on a Budget” by David McNeill

Presentation Description

Trying to validate your idea with new users while keeping on a strict budget? David McNeill will show you how to get some great insights on Google AdWords with a budget of only 25 Euros for two projects.

Presentation Slides

David McNeill Biography

Originally from the US, David McNeill is a product manager currently based in Berlin after 2 two-year stints in Tokyo and San Francisco. He is currently working as a Senior Producer at DECA Games and previously worked at ResearchGate and Fyber in Berlin. His blog on technology, travel and the challenges of living abroad can be found at www.davidemcneill.co­m.

On February 20, 2018, Berlin Bootstrappers held its fourth event at Kontist Gmbh @ Torstr. 177 in Berlin. We started the night at 8:00 pm with free beer and networking, dived into two 30-minute presentations with Q&A, had a short lightning presentation round, and closed out the night with another round of networking.

“From VC to Bootstrap: My Journey and Insights” by Amir Harel

Presentation Description

In this talk, Amir will share his personal experience from the time he decided to close his last startup and the thought process that led him to choose bootstrap as his guiding vision for his next ideas.

Presentation Slides

Amir Harel Biography

Amir has a versatile experience in software development, product management, and marketing, and holds a B.Sc in computer science and an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship. Amir has co-founded several startups in the past and now works as a freelance software developer while working on future projects.

“No Code Required: Bootstrapping without Developers” by David McNeill

Presentation Description

Think that you have to learn to code in order to start a business? Think again! There are tons of business opportunities for non-developers, and David will provide an overview of several of them in this presentation.

Presentation Slides

David McNeill Biography

Originally from the US, David McNeill is a product manager currently based in Berlin after 2 two-year stints in Tokyo and San Francisco. He is currently working as a Senior Producer at DECA Games and previously worked at ResearchGate and Fyber in Berlin. His blog on technology, travel and the challenges of living abroad can be found at www.davidemcneill.co­m.

 

On January 16, 2018, Berlin Bootstrappers held its third event at Kontist Gmbh @ Torstr. 177 in Berlin. We started the night at 7:30pm with free beer and networking, and then we had two 30-minute presentations with Q&A followed by some more networking to close the event.

“Ideation & Idea Validation for Small Business Owners” by Thomas Hauschild

Presentation Description

Having an idea is easy? Execution is hard? This presentation will showcase the basic methods & concepts to find, evaluate and pursue ideas for individuals / small teams.

Presentation Slides

Thomas Hauschild Biography

Thomas Hauschild is a B2B Product Manager with engineering background. He currently works in Product Management @ parlamind, a Berlin-based conversation AI company. His resume includes 5+ years as Product Manager at startups & enterprises including other companies such as RhodeCode and Fyber. He has also spent 1 year as a Cloud Consultant in IaaS / PaaS (Deutsche Telekom, Appzonaut) and 3 years as a Software Engineering freelancer (Python, php, JS).

 

“How to Build Your First Landing Page in Under 1 Hour” by David McNeill

Presentation Description

Creating your very first landing page to test out a business idea may sound like a daunting task, but there are plenty of easy-to-use tools available that make the process a breeze. In this talk, I will walk you through how I made my very first landing page so that you can feel empowered to get your business idea off the ground with a landing page of your own!

Presentation Slides

David McNeill Biography

Originally from the US, I am a product manager currently based in Berlin after spending two years in both Tokyo and San Francisco. I am working towards building my own products and want to meet others looking to do the same, so I started the Berlin Bootstrappers group. I blog on technology, travel and the challenges of living abroad at www.davidemcneill.co­m.

 

On November 21, 2017, Berlin Bootstrappers held its second event at 800A in Berlin. We started the night at 7:30pm with drinks and networking, and then we had two 30-minute presentations with Q&A followed by some more networking to close the event.

“So, what kind of business do you want to build? An overview of bootstrapped business models” by David McNeill

Presentation Description

A lot of us say that we want to become financially independent by starting our own businesses, but then we get stuck thinking through the kinds of businesses that we want to create. There are many types of bootstrapped businesses out there with a variety of interesting revenue models and differing levels of execution risk, which can make choosing one and moving forward with confidence a challenge. In this talk, I will touch on a few of the most common bootstrapped business models so that attendees will have a framework to use when thinking through the opportunities available to them.

Presentation Slides

[slideshare id=82645826&doc=anoverviewofbootstrappedbusinessmodelsberlinbootstrappers2017-171124100313]

Presentation Audio

David McNeill Biography

Originally from the US, I am a product manager currently based in Berlin after spending two years in both Tokyo and San Francisco. I am working towards building my own products and want to meet others looking to do the same, so I started this Berlin Bootstrappers group. I blog on technology, travel and the challenges of living abroad at www.davidemcneill.co­m.

 

“You are probably going to fail – and why understanding this will make you successful” by Louigi Verona

Presentation Description

We all want to be successful. And part of the cultural narrative is to believe in your dream, since only this attitude will make you successful. In this talk I will argue that such a narrative is mostly unhelpful and leads to behaviors that are unlikely to make you succeed. I will then outline a more rational approach to success and how knowing your limits will for the first time make success not only possible, but also probable.

Presentation Audio

Louigi Verona Biography

Born on Earth, raised by loving parents, currently reside in Berlin. Apart from my day job as a Product Manager, I am constantly involved in all sorts of projects, from writing music, to performing magic, writing games. Have considerable startup experience, have been a founder and co-founder in 2 startups, have been a CTO in a third one. I am also a science communicator and someone who tries to promote critical thinking. Check out my projects at http://www.louigiverona.com.