From Startup To Funding In iGaming

Having worked in many start up i-gaming companies over the past few years, I have taken much pride in being a part of the success of these companies and I continue to look at their progress, and when they hit another milestone, I am one of the first ones to cheer, because I know how difficult it is to succeed against much more mature companies within this over-crowded industry.

At the same time, I have often wondered whether I would have taken the same path and have debated these thoughts on numerous occasions with the management of these startups along the way, giving them my experience, my in-depth knowledge of the industry that I gained through blood, sweat and tears, but quite often it has been overlooked or just swept aside, because it does not quite fit with their ideas or strategic plans.

So, what to do with all those learnings – the long hours and dedication to growing someone else’s business, training up of new staff – time and time again? Start your own business! Which is where I find myself right now – starting an i-gaming business, together with a number of colleagues that I have worked with for many years, each one with his own particular discipline, experience and skillset, which together forms the strategic and operational team collective necessary to run a successful i-gaming business. We have it all, the team, the experience, and the determination – except the funds needed to make it happen.

But where to begin? The first step is to determine what kind of business we want to create.

Taking into consideration that we live in rather uncertain times right now,  and having made the decision to be in the business for the long haul, we decide that the best way to run this startup would be as a “Camel”and notas a “Unicorn”. I had just read and was inspired by Alex Lazarow’s article in Entrepreneur.com – where he states: “Camels thrive when times are good; but can also survive without food or water for months in the world’s harshest climates.”In other words, survival is by no means assured, you need to be prepared for the unexpectedto survive and thrive. Also, Camel startups build diversification into their product mix, which is exactly what we intend doing going forward.

We decide to go the traditional venture capital route, to find ourselves a VC who can also act as a mentor, who can help and guide us through the entire funding process – all the way to IPO.

Now the excitement and anxiety start to build! Starting with the development of a solid business plan, we do extensive research on the type of investment and investor we will need to acquire funds to launch our startup. In addition, we put together a solid, albeit conservative 3-year budget, which is highly achievable, to show an investor the ROI and growth potential of our business. We also spend a lot of time putting together a powerful presentation of our brands, our differentiators and the markets we intend to enter – and we test all of it with a number of our colleagues in the gaming industry, to get relevant feedback prior to pitching for funding and mentorship. This process helps us a lot with refining our company vision, brands, unique selling proposition and key differentiators whilst developing our elevator pitch, so definitely worth the time and effort!

We get lucky! I find the perfect venture capitalist, who is also acting as a mentor to us, backing us and guiding us through the funding process – the initial seed funding, followed by Series A, B and C funding rounds, the company formation and the listing on the stock exchange(s).Just remember that the path for each startup company is different, as is the funding! Some businesses can spend months, even years in search of funding, while others, with ideas that appear revolutionary – can get inundated with funding. In our case, the funding is attached to us as individuals with a proven track record of success, which is seen as the value we bring, which in turn helps us move through the process of building capital more quickly. This can be a good or a bad thing, as it means we must constantly prove our worth!

Right now it’s all systems go, putting together the goals, KPIs, marketing plans and go-to-market strategies in various regions, developing the perfect “martech” stack, the investor presentations, refining the budgets, timelines, products and platforms needed for go live.

Timing is everything, so once you have determined the best  time to launch your business – you need to put your stake in the ground and make that agreed date a non-negotiable. It will keep everyone focused towards a common goal, including your mentor(s) and investors.

Starting with the end goal in mind, I would highly recommend putting together all product deliverables and dependencies, to map out a complete timeline for launch, and then work your way back from there.

And make sure you create checklists – of everything! Checklists are crucial for getting your tactical implementations in order – all the way through to launch date and beyond, to and your future success.