Using Entrepreneurial Skills to Create Startup Success Stories

Crowdfunding platforms for startups have become increasingly common in the 21st century, as the influence of digital media has a democratizing effect on the way business can be done. Among these platforms is kriticalmass, which has not one but two unique selling points.

The first of these is its focus on helping to write startup success stories with morals, by focusing on those which ‘power good’. The second is that as that it aims to raise more than money for the startups involved, but also looks to help develop their entrepreneurial skills through exposure to experts, as well helping them find non-monetary resources.

“Current crowdfunding platforms are all funding focused,” reflects Benni Lickfett, kriticalmass’ CMO. “We believe that, like in the real world, it often takes a lot more than just funds to turn a venture into a success. It’s often the business advice, promotion and support that make the real difference. That’s why we built kriticalmass, to allow people to not only raise funds but also volunteers, mentors and promoters.”

Read more about crowdfunding platforms >

Business advice to make the third sector compete

So, what motived the minds behind kriticalmass to focus their efforts on startups which aim to make a positive difference? Lickfett answers that it is because there was a need for business advice to make organizations and startups in the relevant sectors competitive. “We made this decision because we think that the CSR and charity sector often lacks the excitement and imagination that it should have…and because it is a great feeling to go to work every morning with the ultimate goal of powering good!”

But though they may be found wanting in some departments, finding deserving startups for this noble crowdfunding platform is the easiest part of the job, Lickett reflects.

“People ask us how we manage to source these amazing projects and that’s actually the easiest part. We continue to be impressed by how many people are out there that have really inspiring ideas and only need the confidence, business advice and the support to give it a shot. At kriticalmass we try to make that leap as easy as possible, we have built a platform that allows people to put their idea out there and let the crowd decide if it picks up momentum and support. We have been impressed by how receptive people are towards our concept, brand and messaging around powering good.”

Entrepreneurial skills to face the challenges

Since launching, kriticalmass has managed to attract the names behind some pretty prominent startup success stories to share the secrets of their entrepreneurial skills with the startups involved. These include John Hegarty, founder and mentor of BBH and Tom Teichman, chairman of Spark Ventures as well as an early backer of Moschi Monsters and lastminute.com.

Of course, as a startup itself, it has not been plain sailing for kriticalmass. “We are trying to disrupt different elements of the crowdfunding, fundraising and sponsorship industries and therefore naturally encounter some resistance. We often are faced with people who are still uncomfortable with possible win-win scenarios as a result of cause marketing – which is organizations supporting positive causes and actually talking about it.

“Many players in the CSR and charity space are, due to the nature of the industry, still incredibly risk averse and a lot better at saying no than yes. However, for us that resistance works as an extra motivation because it is proof that this market is ready for some change and disruption. On the average day we still make two steps forward and one backwards, but the important thing is that we keep moving in the right direction.”

An entrepreneurial environment at IE Business School

So what leads one to a company like kriticalmass? To find out, it is worth looking at Lickfett’s story before entering the world of crowdfunding platforms. The German and Swedish national is an MBA graduate of IE Business School, at which he enrolled in order to reinvigorate the entrepreneurial skills he gained in his early career.

“I joined two veteran entrepreneurs as a founding member of Compricer, a Stockholm based price-comparison service for financial products. Besides tackling a lot of classic entrepreneurial ‘Jack-of-all trades’ activities, I drove all brand building as well as marketing activities.”

He moved to work in brand consultancy at Prophet and Dragon Rouge, at which he worked on projects with names as luminous as UBS, Cartier, BestBuy, ExxonMobile, Zurich Financials, Rio Tinto and Tetra Pak. This, however, left Lickfett, with itchy feet: “While working as a consultant provided me with a fantastic learning curve I was eager to get back into an entrepreneurial environment that would allow me to create and have direct and measurable impact on a business.”

Enrolling at IE Business School, located in Spain, helped him to satisfy this desire. “Being part of such and entrepreneurial community and being exposed to so many inspiring startup success stories during the MBA strengthened my belief that entrepreneurship was the only way for me.”

Of course, the fact that he was able to build on his own entrepreneurial skills was also a plus point in this regard. “The MBA at IE Business School helped me to develop a more complete skillset, which is a great asset in a startup environment, from essential soft skills such as dealing with diverse teams or navigating complex negotiations to harder skills such as cash-flow management or operations management. However, in my opinion the biggest impact was a shift in mindset. The MBA helped me to foster a growth mindset: focus on self-improvement, accept possible failure as learning opportunity and follow a career that I am truly passionate about.”

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The peaks and troughs of startup success stories

While at IE Business School, he participated in one of the school’s Venture Labs, with the aim of participating in one of IE’s Venture Days – a series of global events which allow entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to a series of angel investors (learn more about these events here - the London Venture Day takes place June 5).

The group never made to the pitching stage, but as he states above, a key element in startup success stories is the ability to accept and learn from what’s gone before. “I participated in the Venture Lab at IE with a project that was based on a social recommendation based mobile shopping agent but unfortunately it stayed in concept stage. The team was too diverse in terms of commitment, location preferences and financial means to take the business to the next level. However, the experience and process of the V-Lab has produced some invaluable learning that I can apply to the current venture.”

The lessons have been applied well, it seems, with kriticalmass achieving some impressive coverage since its inception in the first third of 2014, even in the increasingly crowded crowdfunding platforms space – to the obvious credit of the CMO.

“We have seen some great momentum, including seeing some of our projects featured in Wired, The Guardian, The Telegraph and on the BBC. We have raised over US$100,000, seen 200 volunteers sign up, and brand sponsors such as Sony and Crockett & Jones brought on board. Every day we learn a lot of new things and keep optimizing our service. Our focus right now is on raising awareness and building scale, ensuring that we can enable more people to power good. We aim to become a top-of-the-mind destination for people and brands that are looking to be part of authentic stories with the potential to make the world a better place, inspiring others in the process.”

So, finally, in his capacity as both an entrepreneur and a facilitator of other entrepreneurs, what is Lickfett’s advice to those who aspire to launching a startup? “I think it is important to realize that whatever you start out with is most likely not what you are going to end up with a year later. You have to fail, learn and adapt quickly. You have to be okay with failing and with people wanting you to fail. You have to be brutally honest about your own shortcomings and build a team that’s truly complementary. If you are a thinker you need to hire at least two doers. At the end of the day it’s about the strength and motivation of the team and their ability to execute.”

He finishes with last piece of business advice for those looking to add to the pantheon of startup success stories: “You should start drinking more coffee.”

Learn more about IE Venture Days >